The Australian Women's Register

Joyce Daws was appointed to the Order of the British Empire, Dames Commander, on 14 June 1975 for services to medicine.

On the 31 December 1977, Mary Durack was appointed to the Order of the British Empire, Dames Commander, for her services to literature. In acknowledgment of her accomplishments she was also honoured with an AC (1989) and OBE in 1966. Dame Mary Durack is remembered as being the author of publications that includes Kings in Grass Castles, To Ride a Fine Horse, Sons in the Saddle and Swan River Saga: Life of Early Pioneer Eliza Shaw.

Doris Fitton was an actor who, with a number of others, established the Independent Theatre in Sydney in 1930 and kept it going until its closure in 1977. The theatre provided a training ground for young Australian actors and playwrights. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 31 December 1981 for Services to the theatre (as Mrs Mason).

Monica Gallagher has been associated with church and other community groups in her voluntary work. Her positions have included associate member of the New South Wales division of Australian Church Women, member of the advisory committee of the Festival of Light, past chairman of the Appeal Committee, Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), Sydney, and board member of the Save the Children Fund, New South Wales from 1992-1994. She was chairman of the Friends of St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, from 1983-1987 and later from 1998-2000, as well as executive director of the Flower Festival Committee from 1996-1997. The Catholic church acknowledged her work with the award of the Papal Honour, Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in 1981. She gained the Good Citizen Award for Outstanding Community Service in 1979. She was appointed as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 12 June 1976 for services to the community.

Source: Who’s who in Australia 2002, p 719

Florence Cardell-Oliver became the first woman in Australia to be appointed to a cabinet or ministry when made Western Australian Minister for Health, Supply and Shipping in 1949.

For her services to literature, Mary Gilmore was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 1 February 1937. The major themes of her work covered nationalism, the spirit of pioneering, motherhood, women’s rights, history, Aboriginal welfare, treatment of prisoners, health and pensions.

Margaret Scott was appointed to the Order of the British Empire – Dames Commander on 13 June 1981 for services to ballet. She had previously been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Civil) on 31 December 1976.

Joan Hammond was appointed DBE 1974, CMG 1972, CBE 1963, OBE 1953. She received the Sir Charles Santley award from the Worshipful Company of Musicians, London 1970, ‘Musician of the Year’. In 1988 she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Recording for the Australasian Sound Recording Association, in 1994.

Zara Bate was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for devotion to the public interest on 8 June 1968.

Leonie Kramer was notable as an academic and public figure, particularly as Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 1982-1983 and professor of Australian literature at Sydney University from 1968, and later chancellor from 1991-2001. She supported conservative educational values in the face of progressive approaches and campaigned against the adoption of a republican form of government in Australia. She was appointed as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 31 December 1982 for services to literature and the public.

In 1955, Nancy Buttfield became the first South Australian woman member of an Australian Parliament. She was appointed the Order of the British Empire (Dames Commander) on 1 January 1972 for political and public services.

In 1951 Dr Kate Campbell, a specialist in children’s diseases, was the first person to prove the link between retrolental fibroplasia (a blindness in premature babies) and oxygen levels in humidicribs. She was appointed to the Order of the British Empire (Dames Commander) on 1 January 1971 for services to the welfare of Australian children. Along with Norman Gregg she was co-winner of the first Encyclopaedia Britannica award for medicine in 1964. Dr Campbell had previously been recognised for her services to medical science when appointed to the Order of the British Empire – Commander (Civil) on 1 January 1954.

Alice Chisholm, who was born in country New South Wales, was known for the provision of canteen services for soldiers in the middle east during World War I. On travelling to Egypt to be near her son who was wounded at Gallipoli, she was concerned at the inadequate amenities for soldiers in Cairo and subsequently, using mainly her own resources, established canteens in Heliopolis, an outer suburb of Cairo, and at Kantara, on the west bank of the Suez Canal. Ably assisted by Verania McPhillamy and Miss Rout, they developed Kantara into a soldiers’ club. Known as ‘Mother Chisholm’s’, it provided hot showers and competent, caring service to the thousands of soldiers who spent their leave there. At the end of the war the women insisted that the profits from the canteens be used to provide canteen facilities on the troop ships which were carrying the men home. In recognition of her work in Egypt, Alice Chisholm was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1918 and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 3 March 1920 for organisation of canteens for the troops. Her later work included the presidency of the Cumberland branch of the Country Women’s Association from 1923-1927, and a commitment to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Dame Mary Hughes was awarded the Order of the British Empire – Dame Grand Cross – Civil, on 31 December 1921 for public services to Australia during World War I. It was the highest award a woman could obtain, and she was the first Australian to receive it. Mary Hughes was the wife of the 13th prime minister of Australia, William Morris (Billy) Hughes (1915-1923), one of Australia’s longest serving parliamentarians.

The Honourable Dame Roma Mitchell was appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order on 1 January 2000. During her life Dame Roma achieved a number of firsts. She was the first woman Governor of an Australian State (South Australia, 1991-1996), the first woman Chancellor of a university in Australia (University of Adelaide, 1983-1990) and the first Australian woman Queen’s Counsel (1962).

Dame Nellie Melba (née Helen Porter Mitchell) was an internationally renowned opera singer, celebrated for her magnificent coloratura (soprano) voice.

On 1 January 1954, Pattie Menzies was appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (Civil). The official citation, conferring the GBE to her under her married name, Mrs R. G. Menzies, read: “In recognition for her years of incessant and unselfish performance of public duty in hospital work, in visiting, addressing and encouraging many thousands of women in every State of Australia, including very remote areas, and in the distinguished representation of Australia on a number of occasions overseas.”

Jacobena Angliss was appointed to the Order of the British Empire (Dames Commander) on 1 January 1975 for community and welfare services. She had previously been awarded a CBE on 9 June 1949 for her work as President of the Victorian Child Welfare Association.

Alice Berry understood the problems of living in rural Australia and was committed to finding ways to improve the lives of women and children in rural areas. Through her work in the Country Women’s Association in Queensland, and in the Associated Country Women of the World, she made a lasting contribution to the provision of services in country areas. She was appointed to The Order of the British Empire – Dames Commander on 01 January 1960 for Service to country women.

Dame Marie Breen was a Federal Senator for Victoria for the Liberal Party from July 1962 to June 1968 (retired).

Mabel Balcombe Brookes, who worked for many charitable organisations, was acknowledged as a talented organiser and effective committee member. Her greatest contribution was as president of the Queen Victoria Hospital from 1923-1970. She was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1933 and as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 9 June 1955 for charitable and social welfare services.

Hedwig Benz was the first full time interpreter at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital – a hospital for women – in Melbourne. Benz was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1972 in recognition of service to migrants in Victoria, for her work at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital. She played a valuable role in removing the responsibility from English-speaking children of migrants in liaising about their mother’s illness with hospital staff.

Elizabeth Govan was recognised by her peers as having ‘played a big part in the expansion of the social studies courses and social welfare work in Australia’ from her time in Australia (1939-1946) at the New South Wales Board of Social Study and Training in Sydney and later Sydney University. (Sydney Morning Herald, 15 March 1945)

Edith Morgan was the first social worker appointed by the Collingwood Council (1972), and worked to improve services such as childcare, community health and housing. She received the Order of Australia medal for service to the community in 1989 and was later recognised for her service as an advocate for social justice, women and the disadvantaged.

Sue Chilly is a staunch member of the Aboriginal rights movement, progressing reform both as an activist of groups such as the Australian Black Panthers, and as a field officer of the Department of Aboriginal and Island Affairs.

Marlene Cummins is one of Australia’s foremost blues musicians, a lifelong Aboriginal rights activist and the subject of Rachel Perkin’s 2014 documentary Black Panther Woman .

Joyce Stevens was a prominent member of the Sydney Women’s Liberation Movement, a socialist feminist member of the Communist Party of Australia, and a historian of the women’s movement.