The Australian Women's Register

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Maureen Lyster served as the Member for Chelsea province in the Legislative Council of the Victorian parliament from 1985-92. She held a range of portfolios as Minister for Local Government from 1989-91, Minister for the Aged, 1989-90, Minister Assisting the Minister for Education 1990-91 and Minister for health 1991-92.

A member of the Australian Labor Party from 1969, Judith Dixon served as the member for Boronia in the Legislative Council of the Victorian Parliament from 1982-88.

Valerie Callister served as the Member for Morwell in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian State Parliament from 1981-88. A member of the Australian Labor Party from 1976, she was secretary of the Parliamentary party from 1982 and served on the Privileges Committee of the Victorian Parliament from 1982. Before her election to parliament she had a career as a technical school teacher from 1975-81.

Joan Chambers joined the Mortlake branch of the Liberal Party in 1969 and was elected Member of the Legislative Assembly for the seat of Ballarat South in the Victorian Parliament in 1979. She served on the Subordinate Legislation Committee in 1979 and the Public Review Committee, 1980-82. She suffered defeat at the 1982 election, but was an unsuccessful candidate again in the 1988 election. In 1992 she stood as an Independent candidate in the Legislative Assembly seat of Ballarat West.

Thancoupie was born at Napranum in Queensland, on the land traditionally occupied by her ancestors. Her father was killed in war. Thancoupie attended the local school before being sent to Brisbane to train as a preschool teacher. Upon her return to Napranum she established a preschool but was unhappy with the situation and resigned.

Thancoupie began writing down and illustrating (with paintings on bark) stories her grandmother had taught her, and had a number of exhibitions of her work. Her application to study at a Sydney art school was rejected because she lacked formal qualifications, however she came across a pottery school which accepted her as a student. Thancoupie then went to America and Mexico and worked with indigenous potters. This helped her develop her own style, and she has since been creating pots and tile murals at her studio in Cairns where she moved in 1976, after the Comalco mining company refused to allow her a house at Napranum because she had left the community. Thancoupie still visits her hometown on a regular basis.

In 1979, Gracia Baylor became the first woman member of the Liberal Party to be elected to the Victorian Legislative Council when she was electedthe member for Boronia. That year, she was one of the first two women to be elected to the Upper House, the other being Joan Coxsedge of the Australian Labor Party. Baylor held her seat until 1985 when she resigned to contest (unsucessfully) the Legislative Assembly seat of Warrandyte.

Justine Saunders was a member of the stolen generations of Aboriginal people. She became a professional actor in 1974 and was important to the establishment of Aboriginal theatre groups in the 1980s and 1990s.

Lucy Beeton spent most of her life on Badger Island, though she was sent to Launceston as a young girl to receive a Christian education. In adult life, the well-loved Beeton provided an education for the children of sealers on Badger Island and entertained visitors there.

Wendy McCarthy is an experienced businesswoman who has assumed many major leadership roles in both the public and private sectors for nearly forty years. Her first experience as a political lobbyist came about when, newly pregnant, she and her husband joined the Childbirth Education Association (CEA) in Sydney, campaigning for (amongst other things) the rights of fathers to be present at the births of their babies. Since then, she has had three children, and been an active change agent in women’s health, education, broadcasting, conservation and heritage and Australian business.

Her senior executive and non-executive positions have included: CEO – Family Planning Association of Australia (1979-84); Member – National Women’s Advisory Council (1978-81); Member – Sydney Symphony Orchestra Council; Director – Australian Multicultural Foundation. She has held executive and non-executive director roles in many of Australia’s leading private and public institutions including Executive Director, Australian Federation of Family Planning Associations; Deputy Chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) for eight years; General Manager of Marketing and Communications, the Australian Bicentennial Authority; Chair of the National Better Health Program; Executive Director of the National Trust; Director Star City; Chair of the Australian Heritage Commission; and Chair of Symphony Australia. In 2005 she compiled ten years as Chancellor of the University of Canberra.

In 2013 she is Chair of Circus Oz, McGrath National Youth Mental Health Foundation and Pacific Friends of the Global Foundation. In 2010 Wendy became a Non-Executive Director to GoodStart Childcare Limited. In 2009 after 13 years of service to Plan International, she retired from her most recent role as Global Vice Chair. She is Patron of the Australian Reproductive Health Alliance.

Wendy’s contribution to Australian life has been recognised in various ways. In 1989 she became an Officer of the Order of Australia for her contribution to community affairs, women’s affairs and the Bicentennial celebrations and in 1996 she received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Australia. In April 2003 she was awarded a Centenary of Federation Medal.

Christina Brown arrived in Western Australia in 1896. She was one of the first students at Claremont Teachers’ College, graduating in 1902, and married Thomas Blake in 1906. After his death, she became Western Australian’s first woman sworn valuator, first woman to be a commissioner for declarations, and unsuccessfully stood for parliament as an independent candidate for Leederville-North Perth in 1927. In 1928, she married Augustus Robert Sewell, son of Frederick Sewell. She was an active member of numerous societies, most notably the Travellers Aid Society of which she became national president, and was awarded the Coronation Medal for social work in 1953.

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.

Bessy Cameron was educated at a ‘native institution’ (later known as Annesfield) at Albany, opened in 1852 by Anne Camfield, a teacher and governess. Bessy took her certificate of Proficiency with honours, and was sent to Sydney to attend a ‘model school’, where she became an accomplished pianist. In 1866 she returned to Albany to help Mrs Camfield in the school and was employed as church organist. In 1867 Bessy was sent to the Moravian Ramahyuck mission as a teacher. Not being able to marry a European man of her choice, she was transferred to Lake Tyers, were she married Donald Cameron, a Jupagilwournditch man from Ebenezer in 1868. Bessy lost her initiative and enthusiasm, which was reflected in a marked deterioration in her status. Her married years were spent moving from Ramahyuck to Lake Tyers and back, in a struggle to support her four surviving children. Her marriage deteriorated, and in 1887 Bessy fell seriously ill following another miscarriage. The rest of her life was spent battling to prevent the forceful removal of her children and grandchildren.

Jean Rooney, whose father was a teacher, lived in Mt Gambier, Adelaide and Port Lincoln. Rooney attended Adelaide teachers’ Training College and worked in Unley and Nailsworth for four years. She married Cliff Rooney, a high school teacher, in 1935 and had two daughters.

Margaret Hodge was born in Adelaide in 1918. She subsequently moved to a Western Australian jarrah timber camp where her father was a teacher in a two roomed school. After his death, when she was nine, Hodge and her mother returned to Adelaide to live with relatives. She attended Presbyterian Girls’ School (now Seymour College) on a scholarship. Here she was particularly influenced by two of her teachers – in English and current affairs. On leaving school she taught at the Wilderness School.

Margaret married Scott Hodge in 1940 and had five children, including one who was born with spina bifida. She joined the Lyceum Club in 1971 and served in a number of official capacities over the years.

Mary Miller was born in Yorketown, South Australia and spent her childhood on Yorke Peninsula. Her work in munitions factories during World War II led to her involvement as an organiser in the iron workers’ union and a life-long commitment to the labour movement. In the mid-1950s she qualified as a primary school teacher and became active in child welfare and Aboriginal education.

Gertrud Wilkins was born in Brno-Bruenn, southern Moravia in 1910, which after World War I became part of Czechoslovakia. Her mother had a millinery business and her father was a chartered accountant. She completed a two year teacher training course, followed by course for foreign students in London.

Following her short-lived marriage, at the outbreak of war in 1939, Wilkins was living and teaching at a boarding school in Prague. After the German occupation she escaped into Poland and on to London.

Her situation came to the attention of the South Australian branches of the Women Graduates Club and the League of Women Voters who sponsored her immigration. She sailed to Australia via New Zealand in 1940. Wilkins tried to get work with the Education Department but was ‘knocked back time and time again’. Her sponsors found her a job in a private kindergarten for a year, after which time she remarried and ‘suddenly overnight became…worthy to teach Australian children’.

She taught for two years at Adelaide High School before moving to the country. In 1971 Wilkins was accepted for Australian Volunteer Abroad teacher service in Papua New Guinea and Thailand in 1980. Fluent in several languages, Wilkins continued to teach English as second language to migrants.

Margaret Edith Atkins grew up at Kensington Park where she attended kindergarten and small private schools despite the cerebral palsy and received regular physiotherapy and speech pathology. After leaving school she enrolled in a playgroup course at the Kindergarten Training College and commenced voluntary work in kindergartens. She later worked as an equipment maker for the Kindergarten Union and designed and made toys. Atkins decided to return to study social work at university but was initially refused entry to the course at Adelaide University. She completed a Bachelor of Arts with Honours majoring in psychology. Atkins gained a full-time teaching position with the Education Department as a teacher of intellectually handicapped children and was also supervised by the Department’s psychologist to allow her to gain membership of the Australian Psychological Society. She was employed at the Woodville Special School where she developed innovative teaching methods and designed equipment. During her career Atkins held positions as Deputy Head at Strathmont Centre for Intellectually Retarded Children, Head of Barton Terrace and Kings Park special schools, and then in 1975 the Ashford Special School. She retired on the grounds of invalidity in 1977 and become a resident at the Julia Farr Centre. Here she was funded by the Centre to undertake research into leisure activities for the residents and was able to travel overseas. After her health improved Atkins felt that she needed to return to a more home-like environment and was able to move to an aged care facility. She then became very active in community activities and events, WEA and University of the Third Age. Margaret Atkins was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her service to education in special education on 26 January 1982.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.