The Australian Women's Register

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Judy Jackson was elected to the House of Assembly in the Tasmanian Parliament representing the electorate of Denison in 1986. During her parliamentary career, she held the ministerial portfolios of Health and Human Services from 1998-2002 and Attorney-General from 2002 until her retirement in 2006.

Margaret Reid is the first woman to have been elected President of the Senate. She held this position for six years, from 20 August 1996 to 18 August 2002. In 2004 she was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia for her service to the Australian Parliament and the community.

Jackie Kelly was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister in the third Howard Ministry on 26 November 2001. She was elected MHR (Lib) for Lindsay, New South Wales on 19 October 1998.

Bronwyn Bishop, Minister for Aged Care (1998-2001), was elected MHR (Lib) for Mackellar, New South Wales on 26 March 1994.

Helen Coonan is a former Australian politician, who was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate representing New South Wales from July 1996 to August 2011. On 26 November 2001, she was appointed Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer in the Howard Government. She was re-elected in 2001 and 2007. From 2004-07, she served as Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.

Since leaving politics in 2011, Coonan has transitioned into the corporate world, and vouches for the seminal importance of the law, including legal training, legal practise and legal experience as a common thread underpinning her capacity to perform across a diverse professional and public landscape for a very long time.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read a reflective essay written by Helen Coonan for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

Elected to the Senate for South Australia in 1984 (Liberal Party), Amanda Vanstone was appointed Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women on 30 January 2001.

Amana Vanstone was honoured with an AO in the Australia Day Honours list in 2020 for distinguished service to the Parliament of Australia, to the people of South Australia, and to the community.

On June 24, 2010, Julia Gillard became the first woman Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia and retained her position after the federal election, which was held on 21 August 2010. She led a minority Labor Government, supported by a member of the Greens party and three Independents. She lost the prime ministership on 27 June 2013, when Kevin Rudd challenged her for the position and won. She retired from parliament in August 2013.

Her career in parliamentary politics began when she was elected Member of the House of Representatives for Lalor (Victoria) in 1998 and re-elected in 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2010. She became Deputy Leader of the Opposition (ALP) in December 2006. On the election of the Labor Government in November 2007, she assumed the position of Deputy Prime Minister and took on the portfolios of Employment and Workplace Relations, Education and Social Inclusion.

In 2017, Julia Gillard was made a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia ‘for eminent service to the Parliament of Australia, particularly as Prime Minister, through seminal contributions to economic and social development, particularly policy reform in the areas of education, disability care, workplace relations, health, foreign affairs and the environment, and as a role model to women.’

Mary Tenison Woods (née Kitson) was the first woman to graduate in law in South Australia. She was admitted to the bar on 20 October 1917. Her application to become a public notary in 1921 led to a change in the law: the existing Act did not include women as ‘persons’.

When Mary married in 1924 her partners did not wish to work with a married woman. Mary left the firm and formed a new partnership in 1925, in what may have been the first female practice in Australia. In the mid 1930s, Mary moved to Sydney and worked as a legal editor.

Following the failure of her marriage to Julian Tenison Woods, she moved to Sydney with her son, where she worked as a legal editor. In 1941 she became a member of the Child Welfare Advisory Council (NSW), held many honorary positions and served on a number of boards. Mary lectured at the university on legal aspects of social work and wrote several legal textbooks on a range of subjects.

In 1950 Tenison Woods was appointed chief of the office of the status of women in the division of human rights, United Nations Secretariat, New York. During her term two major conventions were adopted: the Convention of the Political Rights of Women (1952), the first international law aimed at the granting and protection of women’s full political rights, and the Convention of the Nationality of Married Women (1957) which decreed that marriage should not affect the nationality of a wife.

On 13 June 1959 Mary Tenison Woods was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for public service, especially with the United Nations. Previously she had been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 8 June 1950 for services to child welfare.

Anna Brennan, member of a talented Victorian family, was a devout Catholic who actively pursued the cause of women’s equality throughout her life. She was one of the earliest woman to graduate in law at the University of Melbourne in 1909 and practised as a solicitor in her brother’s legal firm for fifty years. She was a foundation member of the Lyceum Club in 1912 and president from 1940-41.

The Victorian Legal Women’s Association was established in 1931 with Brennan serving as president. A founding committee member of the Catholic Women’s Social Guild in 1916, later the Catholic Women’s League, she served as president from 1918-1920. She joined the Victorian branch of St Joan’s International Alliance, holding the office of president from 1938-1945 and again in 1948 until her death in 1962.

Kemeri Murray attended Adelaide University, graduating in 1953 in Law and 1954 in Arts. She studied piano under Raymond O’Connell while doing articles at Vaughan, Porter and English, a well known South Australian Law firm. After being admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of South Australia she transferred to Brian Magarey and was offered a partnership, making her the first married woman to be offered a partnership in South Australia. In 1973 she was offered a position on the Bench with the District Court of South Australia, thus becoming the second woman judge in South Australia. A member of the Flinders University Council, in 1978 she was appointed to the Advisory Council for Inter-Government Relations.

The daughter of Archibald and Seca (née Lewin) Somerville, Dorothy Somerville was educated at Brownhill Creek School in Mitcham, the Methodists Ladies College (now Annesley College) and the Adelaide Law School. She was the third woman admitted to practice law in South Australia in 1922. Mary Kitson, the first woman admitted to the Bar, joined with Somerville in 1925 to form Australia’s first women’s legal partnership: Kitson & Somerville. Kitson later went to Sydney to work in publishing, and in 1950 she moved to New York to take charge of the United Nations affairs on the Status of Women. Somerville, who continued with the legal practice, became an honorary solicitor to a number of women’s organisations.

The daughter of a sea captain Winnie Levy grew up in Western Australia. She attended the White Gum Valley School and won a scholarship to the Perth Modern School. She completed a degree in French and Mathematics at the University of Western Australia and then went to the Sorbonne for two years. On returning to Western Australia she became a French tutor at the University of Western Australia. She was forced to resign when she married. After having a baby, she returned to the university to study law. Following her move to Adelaide Levy was admitted to the Bar, in 1945, and practised for 23 years. A member of the Lyceum Club Levy was a leader of the International Circle.

Aileen Bond, born Aileen Ingelby in 1898, was educated at St Peter’s Girls’ School and studied law at Adelaide University and was one of Adelaide’s earliest practising female solictors. She joined the Lyceum Club when it formed in 1922. In 1924 she married John Leslie Bond, a minister, and they moved around South Australia. During World War II her husband enlisted and went to New Guinea and she and the four children lived at Brighton, in Adelaide. After the war they lived at Clare and Victor Harbour. Her husband was given an administrative job and became in turn an Archdeacon and then a Canon. Following his death, Levy moved to Toorak Gardens, an eastern suburb of Adelaide.

Gwen McCarthy was born Gwendolen Helen Ure in Norwood in 1901. She was educated at Methodist Ladies College (now Annesley College) and studied law at Adelaide University, where, in 1923, she was awarded the prestigious Stow prize and medal, styled Stow Scholar because she won three prizes in her annual examinations that year. Gwendolen Ure was the first female Stow Scholar.

She joined the Lyceum Club in Adelaide in 1923 and was president 1967-1969. She married James McCarthy in 1927 and they set up a law practice in Kadina. Here she was involved in the Girl Guides. On her husband’s death McCarthy returned to Adelaide and joined the firm of Thompson, Cleland, Holland and McCarthy.

Patricia O’Shane was born in Northern Queensland in 1941. A noted activist for Indigenous rights, her achievements in the public sphere have been remarkable. She was the first Aboriginal Australian barrister (1976) and the first woman to be appointed to the New South Wales Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Board (1979). When she was appointed permanent head of the New South Wales Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs in 1981, she became not only the first Aboriginal person but also the first woman to become a permanent head of ministry in Australia.

Addie Viola Smith, lawyer and feminist, held various offices with the Australian Federation of Women Voters and the League of Women Voters (New South Wales) from the late 1950s until her death in 1975. She was Liaison Representative for the International Federation of Women Lawyers to the United Nations, 1952-1966. She was a member of the Australian delegation that attended the International Alliance of Women Congresses in Dublin, 1961, and Trieste, 1964. She served as Vice-President, 1968-1970, and was made an honorary life member in 1972, of the Australian Local Government Women’s Association.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Jeannette Patrick served as the member for Brighton in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1976-85. She held the position of secretary of the Parliamentary Liberal Party from 1979-82.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, from 1968, Prue Sibree served as the member for Kew in the Legislative Assembly in the Victorian Parliament from 1981-88.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Jan Wade served as the member for Kew in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the State of Victoria from 1988-99. As a Minister in the Liberal Government from 1992-99, she held the portfolios of Attorney General, Fair Trading and Women’s Affairs.

Educated at Sydney Girls’ High School, Firbank Church of England Girls’ Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, Jan Wade worked as a solicitor in private practice (1964-67), in the Parliamentary Counsel’s office from 1970-79 and as president of the Equal Opportunity Board (1985-88) before entering parliament in 1988.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read a reflective essay written by Jan Wade for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

A member of the Liberal party of Australia, Marie Tehan served in both Houses of the Victorian Parliament. She was the Member for Central Highlands in the Legislative Council from 1987-92 and for Seymour in the Legislative Assembly from 1992 until 1999, when she retired. As a minister in the Kennett Liberal Government she held the portfolios of Minister for Health from 1992-96 and Minister for Conservation and Land Management from 1996-99.

The first woman alderman, mayor and among the first women JPs and MPs in New South Wales, Lilian Fowler was a blunt and tenacious politician, who worked on behalf of women and the underprivileged.

Labor candidate for Newtown in 1941 (unsuccessful), 1944 (elected) and 1947 (elected). Lang Labor candidate for Newtown-Annandale in 1950. Alderman Newtown Municipal Council 1928, first woman alderman in NSW, re-elected 1935-37, 1938-40, 1941-44, 1948. Mayor 1938-39.

Dianne Hadden was the Independent member for Ballarat Province in the Legislative Council of the Victorian Parliament until 2006. She was elected as a Labor Member in 1999, but resigned from the Australian Labor Party in 2005. She unsuccessfully contested the 2006 state election, held on 25 November, as an Independent in the Legislative Assembly seat of Ballarat East.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Jenny Mikakos was elected as the Member for the Province of Jika Jika in the Parliament of Victoria in 1999. She held the position of Parliamentary Secretary, Justice in the Bracks , later Brumby Labor Government, from December 2002 until August 2007. She assumed the position of Parliamentary Secretary, Planning in August 2007. She was elected to the newly created Northern Metropolitan Region at the 2006 state election. She was re-elected in 2010 when the Labor government was defeated and again in 2014 when the Labor party returned to power. She currently holds the ministerial portfolios of Families and Children, and Youth Affairs.

Suzanne Ashmore-Smith was a once-only candidate (ALP for Bligh in 1978), who later had a varied and successful career.

A once-only candidate, Margaret Bradshaw ran for the Liberal Party in the Blue Mountains elections of 1984.

Michelle Calvert was Alderman in the Ashfield Municipal Council from 1991-95 and active in environmental issues. She later ran for the No Aircraft Noise Party in the Ashfield elections of 1995 and in the House of Representatives for Lowe in 1996.

Karen Fletcher is a political activist with a passionate interest in justice. She is a long-term member of the Democratic Socialist Party and stood in elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Marrickville (1995); the House of Representatives for Sydney (1996); and the Queensland Senate (in both 1990 and 2001).