The Australian Women's Register

Emily Bulcock was a poet and freelance journalist. She produced several volumes of verse and contributed regularly to major metropolitan newspapers in Australia.

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.

Fran Bailey was elected to the House of Representatives for the Liberal Party of Australia in the seat of McEwan, Victoria, in March 1990. She was defeated in 1993, but re-elected in 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2007. She retired at the 2010 election.

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).

Bronte Barratt began swimming when she was three years old. In 2009, she received a Medal of the Order of Australia for services to sport, having won a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008.

In 2001 Anna Meares was awarded the Australian Junior Women’s Track Cyclist of the Year. Since then, she has added an enormous array of trophies to her cabinet.

Meares made an astonishing come back from a very bad cycling accident at the World Cup in January 2008 when she broke her neck. But she fought her way back and qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, eventually winning a silver medal in the women’s sprint event.

In London in 2012, she rode a brilliant tactical race to win a gold medal in the sprint.

She was the flag-bearer and captain for the Australian team at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she won a bronze medal in keirin. This made her the first Australian to win individual medals in four consecutive Olympics.

On 16 October 2016 Meares announced her official retirement from her competitive cycling career.

Tanya Harding has won a medal at every Olympic softball tournament since the sport made its debut in 1996. She is one of only three Australian women to win medals at four Olympic Games, the other two being teammates Melanie Roche and Natalie Ward. Harding is regarded as one of the greatest pitchers ever to represent Australia, and has played an important role in some of the team’s most exciting games.