The Australian Women's Register

Meeting venues were initially at Canning Street, Ainslie, then in the living rooms of various women’s homes. The group grew quickly to more than twenty, with recruits mainly being students, junior academics, or teachers in their twenties and thirties. They rented a house in Bremer Street from 1972 to 1974. In 1975 it moved to Lobelia Street, O’Connor to Canberra Women’s House and shared that house with the Women’s Electoral Lobby, (WEL) which was formed in 1972 and the Abortion Counselling Service There was no formal membership, hierarchy or structure, although minutes of meetings were kept. Women enrolled on a mailing list and volunteered for jobs. They had a monthly newsletter, which ceased in 1976 as original members moved on to other activities.
Members undertook research into topics such as education, psychology, the nuclear family, and femininity and led the weekly meetings.
The group was invited to address organizations such as the Humanists, Rotary, schools and women’s service clubs. Other activities included running information stalls, celebrating International Women’s Day, consciousness raising and organizing conferences.
Julia Ryan has argued that ‘Canberra WL did not die. It changed our lives, and the ideology spread so wide that those of us who had known every feminist in Canberra now did not know every feminist in our suburb. The movement had grown, not in the way we imagined, but beyond our dreams.’