The Australian Women's Register

Sisters Publishing Ltd was established in 1979 by five female publishers: Diana Gribble, Hilary McPhee, Sally Milner, Anne O’Donovan and Joyce Nicholson. As a feminist company they published works by and for women, and also had a mail-order organisation called Sisters Bookclub.

The Victorian Women Citizens’ Movement was established in 1922 for the purpose of lobbying for women’s right to stand for the Victorian Parliament.

In August 1945, the League of Women Electors, the Victorian Women Citizens’ Movement and Women for Canberra merged to become the League of Women Voters.

In 1902 “Merton Hall” was purchased by the Church of England, and henceforth the school was known as the Melbourne Church of England Girls Grammar School.

In 1893, Misses Hensley and Taylor purchased a red-brick house in Domain Road, South Yarra, for the purpose of establishing a school, which they named Merton Hall. Due to overcrowding, a new school was built on Anderson Street, South Yarra, and the buildings were officially opened on 16 December 1900.

In 1902 Merton Hall was purchased by the Church of England. Merton Hall was retained as the name of the boarding-house only, with the school renamed as the Church of England Girls Grammar School.

The Advanced School for Girls opened in Adelaide in 1879. It was the first state secondary school for girls in Australia.

In early 1908 the Advanced School for Girls amalgamated with the Pupil Teacher School and the Grote Street Model School to form the Adelaide Continuation School. The school was renamed Adelaide High School in July of the same year.

In 1951 the school was split into two parts to form the Adelaide Boys’ High School and the Adelaide Girls’ High School.

Refractory Girl was the first Australian women’s studies journal. The primary purpose of the journal was to force ‘an awareness in all those who presume to write about society that the world is not composed entirely of men’.

The Queen Adelaide Club was founded in 1909 by Mrs Margaret Annie Box. The Club, which was named after Queen Adelaide, was established as ‘an exclusive residential club for social and non-political purposes’.

Previously known as the School for Mothers Institute and Baby Health Centre, The Mothers’ and Babies’ Health Association (MBHA) was officially established in c.1927. The aim of the Association was to reduce infant mortality by providing expert advice to mothers. During the 1930s and 1950s the Association was known for having baby health trains which took clinics to small, isolated communities. In 1980 the MBHA was renamed the Child, Adolescent and Family Health Services and in 1995, it was renamed again to Child and Youth Health.

The Adelaide School for Mothers was established in 1909 by Dr Helen Mayo and Miss Harriet Stirling. In 1915 the school was incorporated and renamed the School for Mothers’ Institute Inc.

The Victorian Trained Nurses Association was first constituted in 1901.

According to a newspaper article in The Argus on 6 July 1901, the objectives of the Association were:

1. To establish a system of registration for trained nurses.
2. To promote the interests of trained nurses – male and female – in all matters affecting their work.
3. To establish a uniform systems of training and examination for nurses.
4. To afford opportunities for discussing subjects bearing on the work of nursing.
5. In due course to arrange for schemes that will afford to nurses a means of providing an allowance during incapacity for work caused by sickness, accident, age, or other necessitous circumstances.

In 1904 the title of “Royal” was granted to the Victorian Trained Nurses Association by His Majesty the King.

At the Annual Meeting of the Royal Victorian Trained Nurses Association in 1934, a vote was held resulting in the Association’s name being changed to the Royal Victorian College of Nursing.

In 1975 the Royal Victorian College of Nursing amalgamated with the Royal Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch).

The Queen Victoria Hospital was the name given to the Queen Victoria Maternity Hospital in 1966. The hospital provided maternity and women’s health services, and also operated as an adoption agency. In March 1989 the Queen Victoria Hospital merged with the Adelaide Children’s Hospital to form the Adelaide Medical Centre for Women and Children.

The Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales was formed out of the Women’s Literary Society in 1891. The League led the fight for women’s suffrage in New South Wales.

Established in 1883, Sydney Girls High School is the oldest state girls school in New South Wales.

Cornish immigrant Mary Wills Grigg selected and was granted a Mallee leasehold of land in 1885 in Victoria, and farmed sheep in Boort until her death at the age of 70.

Sister May Bartlett joined the Australian Army Nursing Service on 12 June 1915. In 1919 she was awarded the Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class. She worked at Perth Hospital for many years.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have made a significant contribution to their countries and communities that have often gone unacknowledged.

This entry is an ever-growing record of resources and entries on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in the Register.

The Friendly Union of Soldiers’ Wives and Mothers was founded by Lady Helen Munro Ferguson, wife of the Governor General, Sir Ronald Crauford Munro Ferguson, later Lord Novar, soon after the beginning of World War I.

The object of the organisation was:

The promotion of a friendly feeling amongst the relations of members of the A.I.F., and the giving of mutual help and advice in any trouble or difficulty arising in connection with the Members’ affairs.

Artist Jessie Traill was one of the most influential Australian painters and etchers of the inter-war period.

Valentine Leeper was the secretary and a long-time member of the Victorian Aboriginal Group, formed in 1933 to promote the welfare of Aboriginal people and influence public opinion in their favour. Its most active members were women including Leeper and Amy Brown. Leeper was close to the activist Mary Montgomerie Bennett, who taught at the school on the Mount Margaret Mission in Western Australia from 1932 until 1941. Bennett sent copies of the schoolwork of students at Mt Margaret Mission to Leeper, and the Victorian Aboriginal Group displayed the work in Melbourne to help the Group raise funds to improve Aboriginal education. The records of the Mt Margaret students are preserved within the Leeper Family Papers collection at the University of Melbourne Archives and are highly significant records of the lives of Aboriginal children and communities on missions.

In 1983 Joan Caelli was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 1983 ‘in recognition of service to the sport of gymnastics’. Joan was a gymnastic judge at the Rome and Tokyo Olympics and was also awarded a life membership of Gymnastics Victoria.

Lillian (Lee) Caelli was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia on Australia Day, 1976. She was also awarded a life membership of Gymnastics Victoria.

Norma Bull was a war artist in Britain during the Second World War.