The Australian Women's Register

The Catholic Female Refuge in Adelaide was established in Mitcham in in 1856 to shelter girls who were in ‘moral danger’. Its ‘clients’ soon extended beyond girls to women who also needed support. In exchange for care and shelter, women and girls assisted with the sewing and laundry work which helped to provide an income for the refuge. Some women remained at there for years as ‘Magdalens’ working and praying with the nuns.

From 1868 to 1962 Josephite nuns ran the refuge, which moved to Norwood in 1872, and into new premises at Fullarton in 1901. The institution continues to function today as a women’s housing co-operative.

The Ursuline order of nuns dates back to the sixteenth century when Angela Merici founded them in the northern Italian town of Brescia in 1535. Its presence in Australia dates back to 1872, when twelve of their order travelled from England to Armidale in New South Wales, at the invitation of Elzear Torreggiani – Bishop of Armidale. Knowing full well the Ursulines commitment to providing quality, Catholic education to girls, he requested that they join him in his quest to spread the word and teach the young in remote New South Wales. Thus began their influence in Australia, which is particularly strong in New South Wales and south east Queensland.

The Institute of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict was founded by Archbishop Polding at Pitt Street, Sydney on 2 February, 1857. It was the first institute of religious women founded in Australia. Until 1866 the sisters were called Good Shepherd Sisters but the title was changed to avoid confusion with an older order of the same name.

Established in Sydney by Reverend Mervyn Archdale and his wife Martha (who was familiar with the Kaiserwerth deaconess movement in Germany), the Church of England Deaconess Institution began training women ‘towards evangelization and furtherance of women’s work in the church’ in 1891.

Now called the Anglican Deaconess Institution Sydney Limited, the vision of the institution remains much as it was at the time of its first intake, that is: ‘Under the leadership of Jesus Christ, to be the nation’s most effective Christian organisation for equipping women to spread the gospel and for reaching out to those in need.’

The Society of the Sacred Advent is an Anglican religious order founded in 1892 by Caroline Amy Balguy (later to be known as Mother Caroline). She migrated from England to do the job at the request of the Reverend Stone-Wigg, Vicar of St John’s Pro-Cathedral in Brisbane, Queensland, who saw the need for an Anglican religious order for women in Brisbane. In its early days, the Society of the Sacred Advent focused on ministering to the needs of women and children. It established several schools and children’s homes throughout Queensland in order to advance its mission

The Society still has two girls’ schools located in Brisbane; St Margaret’s and St Aidan’s. Although the Sisters are no longer involved in the day-to-day running of the schools, two Sisters remain active on each of the School Councils.

The Broken Hill Munitions Annexe opened in 1942 for the manufacture of wartime munitions and employed dozens of Broken Hill women.

The U3A Warrani Chorale is a choir for senior women organised by volunteers, which is affiliated with the University of the Third Age, Australian Capital Territory. It was established in 1998 by its musical director and conductor, Pixie Gray, OAM, and its piano accompanist, Barbara Hall, OAM, and provides tuition in vocal and choral techniques and musicianship to its members. It holds annual free public concerts, as well as regularly performing at events organised by a wide range of community organizations. Its repertoire is drawn from a range of musical styles such as madrigals, classical, modern and sacred music, spirituals, ballads, folk songs and jazz, all usually sung in four part harmony. In 2006 it participated in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Choir of the Year competition. Its name, ‘Warrani’, is derived from an Aboriginal word for ‘to sing’.

The Militant Women’s Movement was the preferred name of the Central Women’s department of the Communist Party of Australia. It’s official publication was the newsletter/journal The Working Woman. was first published in 1928.

The Movement’s activities included: organising women’s conferences in Sydney and Melbourne; organising demonstrations and disrupting public meetings convened by bourgeois women’s organisations; activity in the Women’s Unemployed Worker’s Movement and the Militant Minority Movement and running candidates for municipal and State elections. They organised the first Australian International Women’s Day rally in Sydney on March 25, 1928.

Membership included such women as Jean Thompson, Joy Higgins, Edna Ryan, Hetty Weitzel (Ross), Mary Lamm (Wright), Edna Cavanagh and Alice McConville.

The Workers’ Educational Association (W.E.A.) of Queensland was formed in Brisbane in 1913 after the visit of Albert Mansbridge, the founder of the Association in Great Britain. Its aim was to bring extra-mural university education to the working class. Of the first thirty-eight people that enrolled, fourteen of them were women, with feminist and socialist Emma Miller being one of them. Women soon outnumbered men in most of the classes, particularly those that were concerned with leisure activities.

The W.E.A. was disbanded by the state government in 1939 for allegedly supporting subversive activities, although its membership list indicates that most of the members were women who wanted to learn how to enhance their leisure time. Having said that, it did operate as a forum for the discussion and promotion of new ideas. For instance, Marion Piddington delivered a series of her innovative sex education lectures to the association in 1928.

Inaugurated on October 10th, 1957, the Canberra Women’s Bowling Club was the first all women’s bowling club in Canberra. Prior to its formation, only the wives or sisters of Canberra City Bowling Club members could play the sport, so one aim of the women’s club was to open it to more participants.

Located on Wentworth Avenue, in the Canberra suburb of Kingston, the first green was installed in 1958 and the second in 1969. The clubhouse was officially opened on 25th February 1961. Until the opening of the Kingston green and clubhouse, members played on the Parliament House green, at the Canberra Bowling Club and on the private green at the Victoria Hotel in Queanbeyan.

The Canberra Women’s Bowling Club’s closure in 1992 was occasioned by dwindling membership and inflation. Membership peaked during the 1960s at about 136 and later dropped to 46.

The ANU Women’s History Group operated from 1982 to 1987. The Group held regular meetings and talks on various aspects of Women’s History. It also sent out monthly newsletters which kept members in touch with other activities, for instance, the Feminism Year at the Humanities Research Centre of the ANU in 1986.

Launched in 1933, the Australian Women’s Weekly is the most widely read magazine in the history of Australian publishing. The brainchild of George Warnecke, who was editor-in-chief of the magazine 1933-1938, the Weekly was originally owned and operated by Douglas Frank Hewson Packer, entrepreneur and newspaper proprietor, and Edward Granville (Ted) Theodore, former Federal Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister in the Scullin Government. As a ‘women’s interests’ publication, the Weekly offers feature articles on lifestyle, home decoration, cooking, fashion and beauty, parenthood, health and wellbeing, and current affairs. Today it enjoys a readership of 2.5 million, including well over half a million men, and it forms an important part of the Australian Consolidated Press holdings.

In 1911, 32 women came together to form a Literary Society. They were intelligent, creative and active women who contributed significantly to the social and cultural life of Brisbane at the time. These women were not only writers but worked in many charitable, feminist and cultural spheres. They were travellers and observers. They contributed to the Comforts Fund in World War I and were active in women’s suffrage movements. Some held a prominent social status by virtue of their husbands’ occupations in academia, medicine, law, civil service and the professions, but – until recently – little was known of the contribution of the women themselves. Jean Stewart’s Scribblers: A Ladies Literary Society in Brisbane, 1911 was published in 2007 by Kingswood Press.

Womensport and Recreation Victoria Incorporated (WSRV) is a non government, not for profit advocacy body, dedicated to enhancing the sport and physical recreation environment for women and facilitating opportunities for those wanting access to sport and recreation.

WSRV attach importance to the significant contribution women make to the sport and physical recreation industry, are committed to the principles of gender equity in the design and delivery of all sport and physical activity opportunities. WSRV are committed to working with a variety of agencies to promote a broader choice of inclusive, equitable opportunities for women of varying social, physical and cultural backgrounds.

Womensport and Recreation New South Wales (NSW) was formed in 1995 as a membership based non-government volunteer organisation to provide programs and services to increase female participating in all aspects of the sports industry. The organisation’s major objectives are to improve the status of women and girls in sport, recreation and physical activity and to encourage increased participation in all facets of the sports industry.

Cricket has been played by women in Australia since 1874. Organised competitions have existed at State level since the early 1900’s and National level since 1931/32. The first International game was played in 1934/35, against England.

The Australian Women’s Cricket Council (AWCC) was formed in March, 1931 to administer and develop the game at the National level. The original members of AWCC were Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland with South Australia and Western Australia affiliating in 1934. Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania affiliated in 1977 and 1982 respectively. In recent times ACT has amalgamated with ACTCA and Tasmania disbanded in 1992 and reaffiliated in 1998.

The AWCC was incorporated under the Victorian Companies Code in 1973 being one of the first women’s sporting bodies to incorporate and protect its members. It adopted the business name of Women’s Cricket in Australia (Women’s Cricket) in November 1995. In October, 1997 Women’s Cricket changed its status to become an incorporated association Women’s Cricket in Australia Inc.

Australia has been affiliated with the International Women’s Cricket Council (IWCC) since 1958 and is one of eleven countries currently involved in international competition. Australia is the No. 1 ranked international team in the world in both one day and Test Cricket. The first World Cup One Day Series was played by women in England in 1973, two years before the World Cricket concept began for men.

The official name of the National Australian Women’s Cricket Team is the Southern Stars

Women’s Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricket Board joined forces in 2003 to become a single governing body for cricket in Australia. The new organisation was formed after a two year transitional period and was called Cricket Australia.

St Mary’s College is a co-educational Catholic independent school situated in Gunnedah in the north-west region of New South Wales. Students are drawn from Gunnedah and the surrounding area for up to one hundred kilometres. Culturally the student body is relatively homogeneous, with the majority being from English-speaking Anglo backgrounds, with a small group of indigenous and Asian students.

Judith Carney’s St Mary’s College Gunnedah: A Profile of the First Hundred Years 1879 – 1979 presents the story of the foundation and growth of St Mary’s College, Gunnedah, and the work of the Sisters of Mercy of Gunnedah Congregation who founded, staffed and managed it during the first hundred years of its existence.

Adelaide Hockey Club was formed in late 1981, after ten years of sharing of playing fields and change rooms became formalised by the amalgamation of the Sturt (men’s) Aroha (women’s) and Sturt (men’s) clubs . It is one of the largest and most successful hockey Clubs in South Australia with over 300 members playing both the Junior and Senior competition.

Hockey Australia exists to provide Australians with the opportunity to play hockey from junior levels through elite competition, including the Olympic Games. Formed in November 2006 following the amalgamation of the Australian Hockey Association and Women’s Hockey Australia the organisation is a full member of the International Hockey Federation (FIH). It comprises membership of all eight states and territories. Each state association is comprised of regional associations, which in turn are made up of clubs. In some states, clubs affiliate directly with the state body.

Established in 1907, Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) is Australia’s major water safety and rescue authority and is one of the largest volunteer organisations in the country. Their mission is ‘to provide a safe beach and aquatic environment throughout Australia.’

Women had an active involvement in surf-lifesaving for many years before 1980, when they eventually became eligible to become active patrolling members of the association.

The Australian Womensport and Recreation Association Inc (AWRA) is a volunteer not-for-profit organisation that was incorporated in 2005 to provide leadership and advocacy for Australian women and girls in sport and active recreation. As well as seeking to encourage the participations of women of all ages and abilities to participate in sporting and recreational pursuits, the AWRA seeks to encourage governments and sporting and recreation providers to develop strategies that will increase the numbers of women in leadership roles in the sport and recreation industries.

Womensport Queensland Association (WQA) was incorporated in 1994 following a successful inaugural year in 1993 under the banner of the Women’ s Sports Foundation. It cam into being because its founding members believed that Queensland sportswomen deserved public acknowledgement of their achievements.

Up until recently, the main aim of the organisation was to increase recognition of Queensland’s sportswomen and their achievements. In 2007, the association plans to increase its advocacy role, by being ‘leaders in inspiring and creating winning opportunities for Queensland women and girls in sport’.

The War Widows’ Guild of Australia was formed in 1945 in Victoria by the late Mrs Jessie Mary Vasey OBE, CBE, widow of Major-General George Vasey. In 1947 the Queensland State Branch was formed. The Guild aims to watch over and protect the interests of war widows by lobbying politicians and offering its members friendship, empathy and comfort in times of need, particularly in the loss of a partner. Its motto is as relevant today as it was at the Guild’s formation over 60 years ago:-

We all belong to each other
We all need each other
It is in serving each other
And in sacrificing for our common good
That we are finding our true life

(Extract from an Empire Day Message from His Majesty the late King George the Sixth in 1949).

Gaelic Football was the preserve of men in Australia until 1994 when some Irish girls living in Sydney decided that anything the men could do they could do equally as well. With the support of their State association they organised games on an ad hoc basis and were successful to the extent that they played a demonstration game at the 1994 Australasian Championships. Much to the surprise (and delight) of spectators the game was of a very high standard and extremely well received.

As a result of the initiative in Sydney those visiting from interstate and New Zealand returned to their home bases and set out to develop women’s football locally. The development was rapid and in 1995 the first women’s football Australasian Championships were contested by New South Wales, Western Australia, Victoria and Aucklan, with New South Wales victorious. Subsequent to 1995, all affiliates have ongoing State leagues and their State teams have participated at the Championships

Presently there are 30 teams playing in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland.