The Australian Women's Register

Kathy Ware was born in 1949 at Springsure in Queensland. She grew up in Gladstone and Cairns, later working in various offices, as a kindergarten aide and as a teacher’s assistant in a TAFE adult literacy program.

She joined the federal Department of Social Security in Cairns, and later became an assistant to the National Aboriginal Conference (NAC) representative for the Cairns region. After the NAC was disbanded, she worked with the Commonwealth Employment Service for two years.

In 1987 she took up an appointment as the administrator of Deeral Aboriginal and Islander Corporation at Babinda, 50 kilometres southeast of Cairns, and has since worked on the expansion of the corporation’s facilities and enterprises.

Ida Toby, also known as Queen, was born in 1899 at either Walgra or Carandotta station in Queensland. She was of Warluwarra and Wangka-Yutjurru (of Wangkamana group) descent. Her ‘skin’ was Bilarrindji and her Dreaming was Emu; she had a black birthmark on her elbow in the shape of a legless emu. She grew up along the Georgina – on Walgra, Carandotta, Roxborough and Glenormiston stations. She was married first to Deamrah, and then to his younger brother Belia. She had two children and raised three step-children. The family travelled about Carandotta, as the brothers worked together for years poisoning dogs on the station, until they both died in c1962.
Between 1967 and 1975 Ida Toby provided valuable linguistic information on the Warluwarra and Wangka-Yutjurru languages. She also had an acting ability which helped her make up and act out imaginary conversations in those languages.
She died in 1976.

Dosina Nona married Peo (‘Bul-Bul’) Nona of Badu in 1960. A song composed for their wedding has become part of the Islands musical heritage. She nursed her husband until his death from renal disease in 1987.

Dosina is a community worker. She lives on Thursday Island in Torres Strait, where she is president of the Mothers Union, an Anglican church organisation representing Torres Strait women. In 1990 she represented the diocese of Carpentaria at a conference of South Pacific Mothers’ Unions in Papua New Guinea. As a Mothers Union organiser, Nona has been responsible for arranging the catering for many large-scale church festivities, including the consecration of Kiwami Dai as bishop in 1986.

Angelina Noble was born in c1890 near Winton in central Queensland. After being abducted by an itinerant horse dealer, she eventually came under the notice of the police in Cairns, and was sent to Yarrabah mission. An expert horsewoman, she accompanied her Aboriginal missionary husband James Noble, in 1904, on a gruelling overland expedition from Yarrabah to choose the site for a new mission on the Mitchell River, where 1,554 square kilometres of land had been gazetted as an Aboriginal reserve. From there they went to Roper River for three years, to help establish a new church missionary society.

Further pioneering work began in 1913 when Reverend E. Gribble requested their assistance in establishing a new mission at Forrest River (Oombulgurri) in Western Australia. They stayed there until 1932, before returning to Queensland to assist with work on Palm Island. Angelina was widowed in 1941 and, after a short period at Palm Island, died at St Luke’s Hospital in Yarrabah in 1964.

Roslyn Watson is an Aboriginal Australian ballet dancer and choreographer of international renown. Born in Brisbane of Biri descent, she has danced in a number of Australian companies since beginning her career in the early 1970s. She has danced internationally, and with international companies, including the prestigious Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Maureen Watson was born in Rockhampton in 1930. Of Biri descent, spent her early life in rural Queensland, moving to Brisbane with her five sons in 1970. She became heavily involved in the struggle for indigenous right and justice throughout the 1970s and 80s, as her participation in protests at the Brisbane Commonwealth Games testified to. She developed a well deserved reputation as a storyteller, her major medium for the promotion of Aboriginal culture.

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.

Caroline Archer was born in 1922 and is best known for her leadership in the 1970s of the One People of Australian League (OPAL), an organisation that sought to promote the interests of Aboriginal people. She was appointed executive officer of OPAL in 1972, becoming the first Aboriginal person to hold the position.

Lady Phyllis Cilento was born in Sydney on 13th March 1894 and educated in Adelaide, graduating MB, BS from the University of Adelaide. She did postgraduate work at hospitals and clinics in Malaysia, New Guinea, London, Paris and New York. Later moving to Brisbane with her husband, (doctor and medical administrator, Sir Ralph Cilento) she became a prominent member of the Queensland women’s movement and highly influential in broader areas of public health. She was a medical columnist, broadcaster, journalist and author of several books. Her interests lay in nutrition, vitamin therapy, family planning and antenatal and childcare. She founded the Queensland Mothercraft Association in 1930; the Queensland branch of the Business and Professional Women’s Club and was president of the Queensland Medical Women’s Association (1938-1947).

On July 22nd, 1941, a number of prominent Brisbane women called a public meeting of women to discuss the possibility of forming a club for women who were interested in learning public speaking skills. The idea was received enthusiastically by the assembled group, and the first Queensland Women’s Forum Club was established on July 30th, 1941. The first ordinary meeting of the new forum club was held on August 20th, 1941 in the blue room at the hotel Canberra. The Chermside Forum was established in the 1960s.

The Women’s Equal Franchise Association (WEFA) of Queensland was formed in February 1894, marking a timely revitalisation of the woman suffrage movement in that state. Its first president was Mrs Eleanor Trundle, and it represented women who were Labor in their politics. From the outset, the association linked its struggle for votes for women with the campaign against plural voting in Queensland. Once both these aims were achieved, in January 1905, the association held a ‘celebration social’ and disbanded itself.

The Australian Women’s Land Army, Queensland Division, was established in July 1942, to help ‘fight on the food front.’ Queensland women comprised almost one quarter of the nation’s enlistees for war on this front. At its peak, 3,000 women were members of the Australian Women’s Land Army, 700 of who came from Queensland.

The ‘Women’s Place Women’s Space’ steering committee was formed in 1989 with the aim of securing a building and funding to resource a women’s centre in Brisbane; a building that would provide ‘a space for women by women for women, in Brisbane’. An ex-director of the University of Queensland Health Service, Dr Janet Irwin, is credited with initiating the concept, which received the public support of 173 women’s organizations, representing 200,000 women throughout Queensland. The then Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Sally Anne Atkinson, gave the proposal her strong support

The Women’s Community Aid Association was established in the 1970s in order to lobby local, state and federal governments for funding to establish a Women’s Resource and Education Centre in Brisbane.

The Lady Musgrave Lodge Committee was the initiative of a group of Brisbane women who felt that there was a need to provide a good home for working women and girls in Brisbane. The committee raised and administered funding to support the lodge where respectable young women could ‘take rest or board while waiting a new situation.’ Primarily designed to be a first port of call for young emigrant women arriving in the colony, it was also a place to stay for local working women and girls between jobs. It was named for its first patron, Queensland Governor’s wife, Lady Lucinda Musgrave.

The Ithaca Benevolent Society was established in 1900 by a group of Brisbane women to relieve poverty and hardship amongst the ‘deserving poor’. With the passage of time, the interests of the society evolved to encompass more women-centred interests. They were particularly concerned with the interests of mothers and their children, and spokespeople at the time claimed the association was instrumental in campaigns that sought to set up systems of state aid for mothers.

The Association of Queensland Women’s Forum Clubs was established in 1947 to operate as a central administrative and supervisory body for the growing number of Women’s Forum Clubs that formed in Queensland after 1945. The first of these clubs was established in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1941, with the aim of fostering public speaking amongst women. The club maintained a non- party political, non-sectarian stance, and was unaffiliated with any other organizations, except The National Council of Women. The association still exists, under the name of Forum Communicators Association Inc. It acts as the umbrella body for twenty-three (in 2004) forum clubs across Queensland.

The Bardon Women’s Club was formed in 1926 with the aim of providing a vehicle for community involvement for the women in this suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, as long as they were not Catholic. The initiative of Mrs. Vera Jones, a local mother and an ex-schoolteacher with a Masters of Science from the University of Queensland, the club was open to non-Catholic women who wanted to ‘widen their own horizons’, who wanted ‘a voice in the community’ and also needed some entertainment and ‘a social focus’. The club amended its constitution in 1996 to allow membership to non-Protestant women, in accordance with State government anti-discrimination legislation. It ceased operation in 1998.

The Women’s Voluntary National Register, Queensland State Council, was established by a gathering of representatives from Queensland women’s organisations at a meeting in Brisbane, Queensland on April 26th 1939. It was part of a federal government scheme to determine how many women would be able to provide ‘manpower’ and national service, if required, when the nation went to war. The list of organizations associated with the register provides evidence of the large number of women who were members of clubs and organizations in the interwar period.

Eve Fesl is a former discus champion of Victoria and Queensland and a Queensland netball representative. In 1988 she received the Order of Australia Medal for her work with the ethnic community and maintenance of Aboriginal languages. She gained her PhD with her sociolinguistic study on language policy and implementation.
Fesl has been a local councillor for Nunawading, Victoria, and a member of a number of national bodies including the Advisory Council on Multicultural Affairs, the National Museum of Australia’s Aboriginal Advisory Committee, the Aboriginal Literature Board and the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council.
In 1981 she became the first Aboriginal woman to be appointed Director of the Aboriginal Research Centre at Monash University, the position she currently holds. She also lectures in Koori and language studies, and she became an associate professor in 1992. In 1993 she published Conned! A Koori Perspective, a political history of the invasion and settlement of Australia from the Aboriginal point of view. She is author of numerous articles, book chapters, etc.

Queensland Rural Women’s Network Inc (QRWN) was formed in 1993 to meet the needs of women in rural communities throughout the state. Since then it has grown considerably and runs a series of programs in regional centre’s as well as being involved at a national and international level.
The membership of QRWN is not restricted to women in primary industries. Members include those who work in related roles in the rural and regional communities, such as Department of Primary Industries and Queensland Health Department. We actively seek, and have, a large number of members who undertake a huge variety of activities in their communities.
“Our focus is on all rural women and their families”
QRWN aims to provide opportunities for the self-development of rural women as well as being a lobby group that undertakes action in all areas affecting rural women and families, when the necessity arises
Vision
“To bring together women to support and enhance rural families and communities by building networks of information, friendship and resources.”
Mission
Is to help all rural Queensland women, whether living on the land or in the towns, to contribute more effectively to their communities.
Aims
• provide a stimulating and interesting forum for discussions and debate on all issues affecting women
• provide a support system through networking in all areas of our state network with other groups throughout Australia and the world to improve country-city relationships
• encourage provision of services by government agencies and private organisations
• praise the status of all rural women
• promote the value and diversity of rural industries and communities
• encourage personal development and education in rural communities
Structure
QRWN extends over six regions under the management of Regional Directors – Northern, Western, Central, Wide Bay Burnett, South East and Border. The Management Committee, with representatives from all over Queensland, meets. There are a number of local branches operating.

Isabel Flick grew up in a camp in northern New South Wales, and worked on health, education and other social issues across the state. She helped establish Aboriginal housing in Collarenebri, New South Wales. She was a recipient of the Order of the British Empire for services to the community. Together with her sister Rose, she fought a long battle for the protection of the carved trees at the Collymongle Bora (male initiation) ground, northern New South Wales. The last four years before her death she lived in Gunnedah, New South Wales. She regularly travelled to Sydney to teach Aboriginal history at the Tranby Aboriginal College where she was on the Board of Directors.

The Catholic Women’s League State of Queensland was established in 1975. It developed out of the Catholic Daughters of Australia, Brisbane, which was established in 1927. The League aims to unite Catholic women in a common bond of friendship for the promotion of religious, intellectual and social work. Membership is open to all Catholic women who are considered eligible by the branch executive. The organisation operates within the state of Queensland at all levels; state, diocesan/regional and branch. It is affiliated with the Catholic Women’s League Australia Inc. and the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations.

Trained as a pharmacist in Brisbane, Kate Carnell came to Canberra in 1977, becoming one of the first woman pharmacy owners there in 1981. From 1982 she held positions in a number of professional organisations, including inaugural and first female president of the Australian Capital Territory Branch of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia 1988–94. Elected to the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory in 1992 she became Liberal Leader in 1993 and Chief Minister from 1995 to 2000. Her subsequent positions include director of the NRMA and chief executive officer of the Australian Divisions of General Practice, the Australian Food and Grocery Council, Beyond Blue and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. She was the inaugural Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman from 2016 to 2021.

Joanne Willmot was born at Cherbourg, Queensland. Living at the mission and later attending a state high school at Ipswich raised her political consciousness. A mother at the age of 17, Joanne moved to Adelaide in 1971, bringing her baby with her. She began work as a secretary with the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement (ALRM) where she experienced both the excitement of being at the hub of Aboriginal activism and her growing awareness of sexism. Joanne left ALRM in 1976 to care for her family but maintained involvement in many Aboriginal organisations before taking up full time employment again with the Women’s Information Switchboard in 1983.

The Queensland Women’s Electoral League (QWEL) was an organisation formed in the last stages of the campaign to obtain woman suffrage for white women in Queensland. While the league claimed to have all women’s interests at heart, and that it was to be apolitical, it was very much a liberal-conservative organisation. Although its stated aims included the desire to ‘advance political knowledge among women’, they also included the desire to ‘encourage and preserve private enterprise, and to combat unnecessary interference by the State’. Labor women who attended the QWEL launch in 1903 left once the political agenda became obvious. They went on to form the Women Workers’ Political Organisation in opposition. The Women’s Christian Temperance Organisation, in response to this political wrangling, called upon its own members to avoid ‘the venom of party politics’ and concentrate on the task at hand.

Emma Miller was foundation president of the Woman’s Equal Franchise Association between 1894 and 1905. The vote for women in Queensland State elections was finally won in 1905; women had had the right to vote in Federal elections since Federation, and voted for the first time in the 1903 Federal election. On 2 February 1912, known as Black Friday, at the height of a general strike, Miller led a contingent of women to Parliament House, avoiding police with fixed bayonets. The women were charged by baton swinging police on their return from Parliament House. Miller reputedly stuck her hatpin into a horse ridden by the Police Commissioner, Patrick Cahill. Cahill fell from his horse and claimed to have been permanently injured. Direct political action was not Miller’s only cause. She was anti-militarist and opposed conscription in World War I. She believed that ‘those who make the quarrel should be the only ones to fight’. As vice-president of the Women’s Peace Army, Miller attended the Peace Alliance Conference in Melbourne in 1916. She also fought hard for free speech and civil liberties. During the First World War, Miller preached equal pay to those fearing that women would take the jobs of men away at the war.