• Entry type: Person
  • Entry ID: IMP0142

Rischbieth, Bessie Mabel

  • OBE
  • Maiden name Earle, Bessie
(1874 – 1967)
  • Born 16 October 1874, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
  • Died 16 March 1967, Bethesda Hospital Claremont, Western Australia, Australia
  • Occupation Feminist, Women's rights activist

Summary

Bessie Rischbieth’s interest in woman’s suffrage was aroused when she attended a suffrage meeting in London in 1908. A co-founder of the Women’s Service Guild of Western Australia in 1909, she was also co-founder and President of the Australian Federation of Women Voters (1921-1942). Rischbieth edited The Dawn, a women’s paper issued in Perth from 1914 to 1939. A talented craftswoman her art embroidery, beaten copperwork and word carvings were exhibited with the West Australian Society of Arts. In the later years of her life Rischbieth clashed with Jessie Street, whom she labelled a communist. Bessie Rischbieth was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for her work with women’s movements.

Events

  • 1915

    Appointed, in an honorary capacity, to the Children’s Court
  • 1920

    Appointed as a justice of the peace to the Perth Court
  • 1925

    Inaugural secretary of the Western Australian Women Justices’ Association
  • 1921 - 1942

    Foundation president of the Australian Federation of Women’s Societies (later Voters)
  • 1925

    Co-founder of the British Commonwealth League of Women, becoming foundation vice-president
  • 1928

    Leader of the Australian delegation to the Pan-Pacific Women’s Conference in Honolulu
  • 2035

    Appointed Officer to the Order of the British Emipre for her service with the women’s movements
  • 1926

    Joined the board of the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship
  • 1955

    Life member of the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship
  • 2001

    Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women
  • 1939 - 1945

    World for Australian servicemen at the Boomerang Club, Australia House, England
  • 1964

    Published March of Australian women
  • 1970

    Married wool merchant, Henry Wills Rischbieth (deceased 1925)
  • 1906

    Founding member of the Children’s Protection Society
  • 2009

    Foundation member of the Women’s Service Guilds of Western Australia
  • 1911 - 1922

    President of the Women’s Service Guilds of Western Australia
  • 1946 - 1950

    President of the Women’s Service Guilds of Western Australia

Archival resources

  • National Library of Australia, Manuscript Collection
    • Papers of Ruby Rich, 1906-1984 [manuscript]
    • Papers on various Australian women [19--] [manuscript]
    • Papers of Irene Greenwood, 1912-1981 [manuscript]
    • Papers and objects of Bessie Rischbieth, 1900-1967 [manuscript]
    • Papers of Ruby Rich, 1943-1948 [manuscript]
    • Papers of Jessie Street, circa 1914-1968 [manuscript]
  • State Library of Western Australia
    • Bessie Mabel Rischbieth papers
    • Women's Service Guilds of Western Australia records
  • National Library of Australia
    • Badges of women's suffrage groups worn by Bessie Rischbieth, circa 1913 [realia]
    • [Biographical cuttings on Bessie Mabel Rischbieth, benefactor, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals]
    • [Sash with inscription: Votes for women] [realia]
    • [Order of the British Empire medal awarded to Bessie Rischbieth] [realia]
    • [Saucer and plate belonging to Mrs. Pankhurst, presented to Bessie Rischbieth by the Suffragette Fellowship London] [realia] / [manufactured by] Williamsons, Longton, Eng
  • National Library of Australia, Pictures Collection
    • [Portrait of Bessie Rischbieth] [picture]
  • The University of Melbourne Archives
    • Pethybridge, Eva

Published resources

  • Resource
  • Book
    • Reflections : profiles of 150 women who helped make Western Australia's history; Project of the Womens Committee for the 150th Anniversary Celebrations of Western Australia, Popham, Daphne; Stokes, K.A.; Lewis, Julie, 1979
    • Uphill all the way: a documentary history of women in Australia, Daniels, Kay and Murnane, Mary, 1980
    • Women on the warpath : feminist of the first wave, Davidson, Dianne, 1997
    • March of Australian women : a record of fifty years' struggle for equal citizenship., Rischbieth, Bessie Mabel, 1875-1967., 1964
    • Women's sphere : a summary of the movement for women's electoral reform and representation in Victoria, Mackay, Louise, 1904- [prepared by ], 1989
  • Edited Book
    • Who's Who in Australia 1962, Alexander, Joseph A, 1962
    • 200 Australian Women: A Redress Anthology, Radi, Heather, 1988
  • Photograph
    • Women's Service Guilds members at unveiling of plaque on board the M V Kabbarli, West Australian Newspapers, 1954
  • Resource Section
  • Conference Proceedings
    • Australian Federation of Women Voters (non-party) silver jubilee 1921-1948 : Eighth Triennial Australian Conference, Melbourne, October 25-30, 1948, Rischbieth, Bessie Mabel, 1874-1967, 1948
  • Finding Aid
  • Book Section
    • Bessie Rischbieth, Jessie Street and the End of First-Wave Feminism in Australia, White, Kate, 1982
    • Bessie Rischbieth, Ogilvie, June, 1988
  • Site Exhibition

Related entries


  • Presided
    • Australian Federation of Women Voters (1921 - 1982)
    • Women's Service Guilds of Western Australia (1909 - 1997)
  • Membership
    • Women's Service Guilds of Western Australia (1909 - 1997)
    • KarraKatta Club (1894 - )
  • Related Women
    • Macdonald, Amelia Morrison Fraser (1865 - 1946)
  • Friend
    • Rossi, Daisy Mary (1879 - 1974)
  • Related Concepts
    • Women's Non-party Political Organisations

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