The Australian Women's Register

Fran Bladen was elected a State Member (ALP) for Franklin in Tasmania and held her seat from 1986 to 2002. She held several ministerial portfolios from 1989 to 1992, and returned to the ministry as Secretary to Cabinet in 1998. She resigned from the Legislative Assembly in 2002 to unsuccessfully contest the Legislative Council seat of Huon.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Judith Troeth was elected as a Senator for Victoria in the Parliament of Australia in 1993. She was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy from October 1997 until October 1998, when she moved to become Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. She held that position until October 2004. She retired at the 2010 federal election, but remained in the Senate until her term expired on 30 June 2011.

A South African by birth, Gaye Tennent received her later education in London and at the University of Melbourne. Early crippled by poliomyelitis, she graduated B.A. (Hons) in 1930 and M.A. in English with a Dip. Ed. In 1934. She became a school teacher and later a tutor at Janet Clarke Hall, Vice-Principal at the Women’s College and tutor and lecturer in the University English Department.

Joan Bielski was a long time activist for equality for women in employment, education and public life. A founding member of the Council for Civil Liberties, she was also a foundation member of Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) in 1972 and continued her active involvement throughout her life.

In 1988 she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her services to women and girls education. In 2004 she was awarded the Order of Australia for her services to women in politics and public life.

Joan Bielski was a long time supporter of the National Foundation for Australian Women.

Nina Crone was Editor of the Australian Garden History Society journal, Australian Garden History, and a former headmistress of Melbourne Church of England Girls’ Grammar School (CEGGS). Crone worked in broadcasting, education and management in Australia, England and Switzerland. She was appointed a Fellow of the Australian College of Education and received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2000.

After leaving school Dorothea Henslowe worked as a teacher and governess. During World War I she was a Voluntary Aid at Hornsey Hospital at Evandale after which she returned to teaching. After both her parents died in 1935, Henslowe travelled to Canada and then settled in Battery Point, Hobart. She worked in an honorary capacity for the Australian Board of Mission, a missionary organisation of the Anglican Church that works largely in Asia, the Pacific and with Aboriginal communities, for over 30 years.

Christine Campbell was the Member for Pascoe Vale representing the Australian Labor Party in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1996. She was re-elected at the elections held in 1999, 2002, 2006 and 2010. She has held the ministerial portfolios of Community Services, Senior Victorians and Consumer Affairs. She retired from parliament in November 2014.

Kathleen Deasey was appointed assistant-controller Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS), Southern Command in November 1941. Prior to joining the AWAS, Deasey was lady superintendent at Melbourne’s Ladies College, Melbourne. Following World War II, Deasey worked with the Department of Immigration, after which she studied at the Sorbonne, Paris. Later Deasey returned to teaching and was a senior tutor in education at the University of Melbourne and then became Principal of St Ann’s College, University of Adelaide.

The second daughter of Vance and Nettie (née Higgins) Palmer, Helen Palmer spent a year in London after being educated at Presbyterian Ladies’ College (Melbourne) where she was dux in 1934. Returning to Melbourne she won a scholarship to the University of Melbourne and graduated with a BA and DipEd in 1939. She later obtained a B.Ed. (1952). From 1940 until 1942 she was a teacher in Victorian State schools.

Helen Palmer enlisted in the Women’s Australian Auxiliary Air Force on 18 February 1942 and during her service worked in the education division. After the war she worked with the Commonwealth Office of Education (Sydney). In 1948 she returned to Melbourne teaching in private schools.

She made several trips to China and in 1953 published her observations in An Australian Teacher in China. Through the bi-monthly publication Outlook (1957-1970), Helen Palmer provided a forum for vigorous discussion of all issues which were part of a radical critique of Australian politics and society.

The author (with Jessie MacLeod) of First Hundred Years (1954) and After the First Hundred Years (1961), she also authored books on Australian literature, popular culture and history. Helen Palmer was also a prominent poet and balladist and is remembered for ‘The Ballard of 1891,’ that describes the shearers’ strike.

Helen Palmer died on 6 May 1979.

A stenographer with the Department of Motor Transport, Eileen Price (née Lee) enjoyed dancing, surfing and roller skating before joining the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) on 6 June 1942. As a teleprinter operator, Aircraftwoman Lee was stationed at the Eastern Area Headquarters and the RAAF Station Canberra. After her discharge on 29 October 1945 she married Garnet George McLeod Price. The pair moved to Papua New Guinea when Garnet Price accepted a position as engineer with Guinea Air Traders.

Eileen Price returned to Sydney when she became pregnant, but her husband was killed in an aircraft accident and she raised their daughter, Catherine McLeod Price, with the help of her mother and by taking teaching positions with the Department of Technical Education.

Ruth Hamilton-Williams, the daughter of James Davidson, enlisted in the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service (AAMWS) on 1 May 1943. She served as Assistant Controller at the Australian Military Forces Headquarters in Melbourne before being discharged, with the rank of Major, on 21 November 1946.

The daughter of Thomas and Gwenelian (née Bartleman) Laby, Beth Laby completed her secondary schooling at Korowa Anglican Girls’ School. She graduated with a Diploma of Foods and Cookery, Institutional Management, from the Emily McPherson College of Domestic Economy before becoming a demonstrator with the Metropolitan Gas Company.

In 1942 Laby was appointed to the cookery department at Emily McPherson College and part of her college war work included teaching members of the Australian Women’s Army Service, the Women’s Royal Australian Navy Service and army hospital cooks. She demonstrated to civilian women the use of diverse foodstuffs during a time of food rationing and uncertain supply, as well travelling to country towns to show women how to make ovens from oil drums in case the war moved south from Darwin.

Laby became acting head of the Emily McPherson College cookery department following the resignation of Miss Jose and later taught at Prahran Technical College. In her retirement she was a delegate to the National Council of Women of Victoria (NCWV) for the Home Economics Association of Victoria. From 1992 to 1997 she was an associate of the NCWV and continued to contribute to council fund-raising activities and assist the home economics advisers well into the 1990s.

Bella Guérin became the first woman to graduate from an Australian university when she was awarded her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Melbourne (number 255) in December 1883. She taught first at Loreto Convent, Ballarat then as lady principal of Ballarat School of Mines university classes, resigning upon marriage to Henry Halloran. A civil servant and poet, Halloran married Guérin on 28 June 1891 aged 80. Following his death Guérin married George D’Arcie Lavender.

Bella Guérin was politically active and a member of the suffrage movement. She became vice-president of the Women’s Political Association in 1912, and later joined the Labor Party.

Elizabeth Nghia Bui was born in North Vietnam. Her family fled to South Vietnam in 1954 and settled in Saigon. Elizabeth entered the order of the Lovers of the Holy Cross and trained first as a teacher and then as a social worker. In 1975, at the time of the fall of Saigon, she was in charge of an orphanage which came under Communist control. Elizabeth escaped on board a fishing boat with 31 others in June 1976. After two weeks they were rescued and taken to Japan. From there Elizabeth decided to come to Australia. She was sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy and arrived in Adelaide in September 1976. Elizabeth helped to form the Indochinese Australian Women’s Association and for several years worked in a voluntary capacity to provide welfare services while the Association battled for funds.

Marina Berton was born at Mildura, Victoria in 1948 to Italian-born parents who had emigrated in 1937. Berton moved to Adelaide to attend Wattle Park Teachers College in 1965. Early in her teaching career she became involved in English language adult education for migrants, and more recently in developing Italian language education for second generation Italo-Australians. Throughout, Berton has been much involved with the Italian Federation of Emigrant Workers and their Families (FILEF), including six years as its President.

Mary Montgomerie Bennett spent her childhood in Queensland, returning to London from 1903 to 1908 to study, and again in 1914 to marry. When her husband died in 1927 she returned to Western Australia to pursue her interest in Aboriginal education. She worked at the Mount Margaret Mission from 1932, dramatically improving educational outcomes through the implementation of progressive teaching methods. Over the next three decades Bennett was a passionate advocate for Aboriginal rights employing her connections with international humanitarian groups and women’s organisations to support her campaigns to improve the lives of Aborigines, in particular Aboriginal women.

Born at Point Pass in 1901, Jessie March was educated at Adelaide High School and Teachers Training College. She joined the New Britain Methodist Mission in 1925, becoming principal of Vunairima Girls School in 1939. In 1940 she was a governess at Brachina Station in the Flinders Ranges. She was also a Croker Island Methodist Mission teacher in 1941 before being evacuated in 1942. After the war she taught in state government schools before returning to New Britain in 1967. She moved to Papua New Guinea’s eastern highlands in 1971 to translate bibles. Her life and work have been commemorated by the Jessie March Library at George Brown High School, New Britain.

The daughter of Edward and Amy (née Thiselton) Dolling, Alison Dolling was born in St Peters and grew up in Tranmere, South Australia. She was educated at Ellerslie College, Tranmere, and Methodist Ladies College, Wayville, before studying at the universities of Adelaide, Washington, Seattle, Berkeley and King’s College, London. Returning to Australia she taught in both South Australia and New South Wales, including ex-servicemen after World War II. Dolling joined the Chronicle newspaper as the editor of the Women’s Pages and was unemployed after the Chronicle closed down. Her publications include Chronicle cameos and a district history of Marion. She completed research on John Harvey and the Spoehr family, as well as being involved with family history and German ancestry. She also worked on the book South Australian Women Artists by Shirley Cameron Wilson. Dolling’s special interests included Australian history, especially early architecture, literature and art.

Esther Bright worked in the Education Department for 40 years as an infants teacher and finally as Inspector of Schools. She was a long standing member of the Adelaide Lyceum Club.

Dorothy Angove spent her childhood in Semaphore, South Australia and Perth, Western Australia. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Adelaide. Angove taught at St Peters College and Girton Girls’ School (Kensington Park, S. A.). She also helped Jewish graduate refugees as well as teaching at the Adelaide Children’s Hospital and Dr Barnado’s Homes. In 1939 she became President of the Lyceum Club.

Jean Cook spent her childhood in Quorn, South Australia. For a time she lived in Perth, Western Australia before returning to South Australia and living in Adelaide. She conducted some of her music studies under Maude Mary Puddy, a teacher of piano. Cook also taught music and was a teacher at Girton Girls’ School (Kensington Park, S. A.). A member of the Lyceum club’s embroidery circle, she also was involved with the English Embroiderers’ Guild. She helped embroider the Coat of Arms for the Law Court in Adelaide.

Patience Howard moved around a lot during her childhood. As a small child, she lived in Central South Australia at Bungaree. She was educated at Miss Dow’s boarding school at Glenelg, 1912 at “The Hermitage” in Victoria, and from 1914 at Frensham’s Girls’ school in New South Wales. Later she attended Bedford College in London to study history. During the 1920s she went to an International Students’ conference in Prague before returning to Adelaide in 1924. Howard became a teacher at Woodlands and then Girton Girls’ School in Adelaide. Here she met Mabel Hardy and together they established the Stawell School at Mt Lofty. In 1928 she married Roy Howard. Following his death she and her children moved to Bungaree and then Kensington Park. A member of the Lyceum Club and the Labor Party she also spent time working with meals on wheels.

Mary Frost attended Miss Carter’s School, East Adelaide School and St Peter’s Girls School. She went to Adelaide University to do English. At the outbreak of World War II Frost was in England teaching at a school in South Devon. She returned to Adelaide after the war, returning in a flying boat. Frost became an English teacher at St Peters where she won two Tennyson medals at the school. Later she became head of the English Department. Frost compiled A History of St Peter’s Girls’ School from 1894-1968, in 1972.

Dorrie West went to school in Horsham, Victoria, before moving to Adelaide with her family. She completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Adelaide in 1921 and her teacher training. A teacher at Adelaide High School she left her position upon marriage in 1934, as was the custom of the time. During World War II she returned to teaching. She was an active member of both the YWCA and the Australian Federation of University Women. Following the death of her husband she joined the Lyceum Club and was President 1957-59. Her bequest to the University of Adelaide supports postgraduate scholarships for women and concerts at the Elder Conservatorium in Adelaide. Relatives remember Dorrie as being very engaging and encouraging.

Lucy Retalic was born in 1910. Her mother was in the Red Cross and during WWI Lucy performed in concerts when she was 4 years old. She went to St Peter’s Girls’ School and joined Heather Gell’s Eurythmic classes after school. Miss Gell staged shows at the Tivoli theatre. Retalic became a kindergarten teacher and her first appointment was at the Riverside school. She became Director of the Lavis Kindergarten in Adelaide and then left teaching to work with doctors in Melbourne. In 1937 she went to England to work with ophthalmologists for 15 months. She returned home via Europe and during World War II worked with the RAAF trainee pilots to pass their eye tests. She married in 1948. Retalic was involved in the circles in the Lyceum Club and was leader of the Garden Circle. Retalic did a lot of overseas travel which she enjoyed. Retalic worked with ophthalmologists to provide screening for people in outback Australia to identify eye disease. This was organised through the Lions Club

Stroma Buttrose was a pioneering figure for Australian women in architecture. She was the first female Planning Assistant in South Australia, and the first female Commissioner of the Planning Appeal Board. She was the author of numerous architectural publications, most notably City Planning in Australia in 1975.

Irina Ozolins was born in Russia where her parents lived as refugees. Following the death of her father her mother returned to Viesite, Latvia when she was still an infant. Her mother worked as an accountant and they lived with her parents. Later Ozolins went to live with her aunt, in Riga, to go to a private college and then to University where she studied mathematics. The Russians came to the Baltic States and took 2,000,000 people to Siberia including her mother and six relations. Many died including all her male relatives. The Germans came in 1941. She completed her master of science. The Russians returned and she and her friends left by ship for Germany. They were sent to various workplaces. She went to Dresden to work as a scientist in the university. Dresden was bombed and the city was flattened. She and her friend Emily made their way to Emily’s aunt in Austria, travelling by train and escaping to the fields when bombers came. A month later all foreigners were ordered out of Austria so she was sent to a Latvian couple. There she met her husband, a lawyer who was retraining as an electrician. They went to the Latvian displaced persons camp and because of her languages she was employed as an interpreter for UNRRA. Her husband’s landlady had a son in Port Pirie and he organised a landing permit for them to come to South Australia. They moved to Adelaide and she taught mathematics at Norwood and Unley High Schools. She also enjoyed painting and joined the Royal Society of Arts, was made a fellow and had seven solo exhibitions. She was invited to give a talk at the Lyceum Club and then joined the Art Appreciation and Literature Circles. She also joined the German Circle.