The Australian Women's Register

The Trailblazing Women and the Law Project and online exhibition showcases the experiences of women nominated for the Australian Research Council funded oral history project on Trailblazing Women and the Law (LP120200367)). The project, seeded by a pilot project between the National Library of Australia and the Australian National University (ANU) in 2010, evolved into a joint project of the ANU and the University of Melbourne from 2013. It drew upon the support of Australian Women Lawyers, the peak body for women lawyers’ associations throughout Australia, the Family Court of Australia, the Federal Court of Australia, the National Foundation for Australian Women and the National Library of Australia.

Hundreds of women were nominated as possible interviewees for the project.

As the project was funded for a finite (45) oral history interviews and those interviews were driven by the research objectives of the academic investigators of the project, it was determined that it was important to showcase in different ways all the women nominated up until June 2016, as having made a significant contribution as women lawyers to Australia. The exhibition has also identified lawyers already on the Australian Women’s Register.