The Australian Women's Register

The Women’s Information Centre at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, was established to assist female students with their studies and to act as a free library. The Centre was the focus of a campaign to save Women’s Studies at Flinders University when it was proposed that the course be withdrawn. This campaign was international with support from other women’s studies courses and lecturers. The Centre’s Name was changed to the Southern Women’s Recourse Centre and they published a newsletter Connections.

The Port Adelaide Girls Technical High School was established from the Port Adelaide Primary School and the Central School for Girls in 1940. In 1962 the school was moved to the a new building opened by Lady Bastyan, the wife of the governor.

The Tuesday afternoon group was formed in 1972 for older women interested in feminist issues. Over the years the group has included s Molly Brannigan, Eulalie Tapp, Alison Gent, Ruth Sullen, Constance Frazer and Barbara Polkinghorne. They were active in raising the issue of housing for older women. They also supported many women’s issues in third world countries fighting against social injustice. They have been active in the International Women’s Day Marches.

St Peters Women’s Community Centre was established in 1977 and provides a meeting place for the women of the St Peters/Norwood area of Adelaide. The Centre offers childcare and courses for women including fitness self defence, crafts, yoga, maintenance. It also has a strong volunteer program offering women the opportunity to gain new skills before entering the work force.

The Young Women’s Action Group was formed as a independent feminist group to support, encourage promote and take positive action on issues of concern surrounding young women in South Australia.

The Adelaide Women’s Prison Support Group was formed in 1996. A Meeting was called for 14 October 1996, initiated through the Adelaide Women’s Prison Project (AWPP).

The Adelaide Rape Crisis Centre was formed as an outgrowth of the Hindmarsh Women’s Community Centre, a free medical service for women. It became obvious after a short time that a separate service was needed, given the number of women reporting past rapes and the lack of available services. The founders of the Rape Crisis Centre had three main purposes: 1) to support women after the rape, 2) to change attitudes to rape and 3) to teach self defence. They organised the first ‘Reclaim the Night March’ in Adelaide. The group made a submission to the Mitchell Report on Rape and Other Sexual Offences.

Ms Print was established to provide inexpensive quality women’s work, to print women’s artistic work and to run workshops for sharing experiences. It operated out of the Women’s Studies Resource Centre from 1979 to 1983.

5 MMM was a public radio broadcaster that presented a number of women’s programs, including; Women’s Weekly, and Sunday Monthly . The programs had female presenters at a time when commercial stations did not. The women produced, wrote, presented and were the audio engineers. A small collective organised the programs’ content, time lines and themes. The station became 3D radio in 1988.

The Unemployed Women’s Union was a response to the economic downturn of 1980. The members wanted to debunk the myth of married women who were working as the cause of unemployment, to defend the right for all women to work, and to act as a support group for unemployed women. They picketed employers, published a newsletter, spoke at rallies, wrote letters to newspapers and politicians, and applied for jobs en masse.

The International Women’s Day (IWD) Collective is not to be confused with the IWD Committee which was formed in 1938. The IWD Collective was formed by the second wave feminists and was concerned with the IWD March; the festival or picnic after the march and the IWD Dance. They organised themes for the day and speakers. They also produced posters, badges and t-shirts.

Feminist Anti-Nuclear Group (FANG) was formed in November 1982, initially as an organisation which enabled women to demonstrate their solidarity with the women of the Greenham Common Peace Camp.

Central to FANG’s philosophy was a non-hierarchical structure, where women were free to feel empowered and express their desire to work toward the common goals of peace, social justice and a nuclear-free future.

The group organised several actions, including a peace camp at the US Base at Smithfield, and a 2-week vigil in support of the Pine Gap Peace Camp. The group also coordinated women’s only spaces at Roxby Downs actions, as well as information and film nights to educate women about worldwide peace movements and anti-nuclear actions, to educate its members about non-violent direct action techniques.

Hindmarsh Women’s Community Health Centre was the first women’s health centre in South Australia. The Women’s Liberation Movement recognised the need for a separate women’s health centre from the number of health related calls and personal enquiries it received and lobbied the government for assistance. Funding was granted in 1974 and 6 Mary St, Hindmarsh was officially open in 1976. The Health Centre became a teaching centre for women’s health in late 1975 and produced pamphlets on both general and gynaecological health. The Rape Crisis Centre evolved from the Health Centre.

Funding came through the state government and as a result there were some clashes between the bureaucracy and the feminist executive over how the centre should be run. This was further complicated by the clashing politics of the various feminist groups involved in the centre, which was run by a feminist collective. Conflict with the State Health Department eventually lead to the withdrawal of funding.

After the intervention of the Women’s Adviser to the Premier, who argued the case for the need for specialised women’s health services, the centre was moved to North Adelaide and became Women’s Health Statewide. The Centre then became known as the Welling Place, providing alternative health including a vegetable patch for the community. 6 Mary St was demolished in 1989 to make way for the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

Women Against Nuclear Energy (WANE) was formed as a result of a growing feminist concern about, and a desire for action on, uranium and nuclear power issues. WANE’s objectives included educating and activating women as citizens rather than as mothers and carers. The exclusion of males was felt to better enable this, providing women with an environment free from the constraints of sexism that were felt to be inherent in the hierarchical structure of other anti-nuclear groups.

WANE aimed to work with women’s groups in unions against uranium. The group also supported investigation into finding alternative energy sources. WANE believed the implications of a solar future were inherent in feminist theory (for example, people before profits). WANE maintained strong links to Campaign Against Nuclear Energy (CANE) and helped organise Women’s Action for Nuclear Disarmament (WAND).

The Women’s Theatre Group was active in Adelaide from 1975 to 1989. The group wrote, produced, directed, scored, performed and built the stage for their productions. They performed cabaret and theatrical works. All-women productions were a first in Adelaide. The women worked through a collective. They won the Adelaide Festival Centre best production award for ‘Redheads Revenge’ in 1978.

Other productions included ‘Christobel in Paris’ 1975, ‘Caroline Chisel Show’ 1976, International Women’s Day Concert and ‘Chores 1’ in 1977, ‘Chores 2’ and ‘I want I want’ 1979, ‘Out of the Frying Pan’ 1980,’ Onward to Glory’ 1982, ‘Margin to Mainstream’ and ‘Women and Work Women and Paid Work’ 1984, ‘Sybils Xmas Concert ‘1985, and 1989 ‘Is this Seat Taken?’, this last show explored relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous women. The group included the Women in Education Theatre Group and the Feminist Theatre Group.

The Adelaide Women’s Liberation Movement Archive was established in 1984 by a concerned group of women who wanted to preserve the history of what was called the second wave of feminism. With the aid of the Community Employment Program and the feminist community, memorabilia was collected along with the papers of a variety of groups and individuals. The material was collected from late 1969 through to 2008.

The Adelaide Women’s Liberation Movement began at the University of Adelaide in 1968, inspired by the women who were active in Young Labor, and the anti-Vietnam war campaign. These women questioned their role in these organisations and vented their frustration about these male dominated groups.

Anna Yeatman, Anne Summers and Julie Ellis are credited with starting the feminist newsletters Sisterhood and Body Political. By late 1969 they produced Liberation, the Adelaide Women’s Liberation Newsletter which replaced Sisterhood.

Their first protest was against the Miss Fresher competition, which brought media focus to the expression of their feminist ideals for women’s liberation. Public meetings where called and the broader community involvement brought about the establishment of the Women’s Liberation Movement housed at Bloor House situated in Bloor Court off Currie Street, in Adelaide. They provided an environment where ideas for supporting women’s rights were fostered.

The Group wrote a Women’s manifesto which was published in Liberation newsletter in June 1971. The Adelaide Women’s Liberation Group took part in the first Women’s Liberation Conference in Melbourne in 1970.

The Women’s Liberation Movement in Adelaide was the catalyst for the establishment of the Women’s Health Centre at Hindmarsh, The Rape Crisis Centre, Women’s Studies Resource Centre, Abortion Action Campaign, St Peters Women’s Community Centre, Women’s Health Centres at Christies Beach and Elizabeth. They lobbied for Women’s Studies to be part of tertiary education, women’s representation in parliament, a Working Women’s Centre to protect women’s working rights, the Women’s Peace Movement. Bloor House provided a space for women to express their personal political ideas and to get feedback and support. The Women’s Liberation Movement moved from Bloor House to Eden St in Adelaide and then to Mary St, Hindmarsh were it was closed in 1989.