The Australian Women's Register

Mary Maguire was the only child of her parents who lived in Cork, Ireland. Unfortunately Mary was charged with ‘petty thieving’ and her sentence saw her transported to Australia.

The Women’s Union Committee of the ACT was formed in 1976 and promoted the role of women and their interest in unions. Some of the Committee’s key areas of activity included petitioning for anti-sex discrimination laws to be introduced into the ACT, increased funding for child care and new child care centres.

Leslie Moira Henderson was born in Melbourne to parents Lina and Charles James Henderson. She graduated with a degree in arts and law from Melbourne University in 1920 and subsequently spent some time overseas. Leslie joined the Book Lovers’ Library (UK) in 1923 and in 1926 she became a partner and set out to reform the organisation.

In 1930 Leslie was appointed secretary to the Board of Social Studies, which eventually became affiliated with Melbourne University. During World War Two she worked in her brother’s legal practice and then served in the Navy, War Organisation of Industry and Defence departments, from which she retired in 1956.

Hilda Rix Nicholas made a significant contribution to Australian art in the period between the First and Second World Wars. Her art also achieved a high level of success and recognition in France.

Phyllis Boyd held strong views on the role of women as homemakers and was an advocate of motherhood. Phyllis was the Victorian president of the Australian Family Association and a member of its national executive, and later she became a founding member of the Family Council of Victoria.

The inaugural Composing Women’s Festival was held in Adelaide in September 1991. The Festival was founded by composer Becky Llewellyn and it brought Australian female composers together for the first time.

Charys Else Young was born in 1898 to parents Margaret and Charles Ernest Young. Charys was an occupational therapist and an active church member.

Hazel Rowley was an influential biographer who wrote the award winning life story of Christina Stead, in addition to works on novelist Richard Wright, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre.

Hazel completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in French and German at the University of Adelaide and later completed her PhD at the university in French literature. In the 1980s she received a position at Deakin University before moving to America in the 1990s, where she worked for a period of time at the Du Bois Institute at Harvard University.

Following her untimely passing in 2011, Hazel’s family and friends established the Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship in order to support Australian writers working on biography projects.

As its name suggests, the Federal District Women’s Bowling Association Past Presidents’ Association is comprised of the past presidents of the Federal District Women’s Bowling Association. The Association held its inaugural bowling match on Thursday 14 February, 1957.

Jennifer Compton was born in New Zealand and emigrated to Australia in the early 1970s. She has published several volumes of poetry, in addition to writing plays and short stories. In 1996 Jennifer was awarded the New South Wales Writers Fellowship and it was the first time the prize had been awarded to a poet.

Mardi Gething was the only Australian among 80 female pilots who flew with the Air Transport Auxiliary in Britain during World War Two.

Kathleen Gepp was involved in the Australian Red Cross and held various positions within the organisation including Honorary Public Relations Officer, the Junior Red Cross National Secretary and the National Director of the Junior Red Cross.

Vivienne Newson was both the vice-president and president of the United Associations of Women, Sydney.

Lady Jessie Powell Gepp was a member of both the Executive and the House Committee of the Austin Hospital, Heidelberg. She was also actively involved in Red Cross work in America during the First World War.

Journalist Sally Baker Clinch worked as a feature writer for the Sunday Sun and also as an assistant editor for Women’s Day.

Eleanor (Nell) Rivett worked in girls’ education in India from 1907 to 1947 with the London Missionary Society. She was the secretary of the Bengal Women’s Education League and the Bengal Advisory Board on Women’s Education.

Eleanor was educated at the University of Melbourne and graduated with both a Bachelor and Master of Arts.

Suzy Javor migrated to Australia in 1957 following the Hungarian revolution. She had an outstanding career as a table tennis player and was inducted into both the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and the Australian Sports Hall of Fame.

Margaret Crawford was interested in the position and working conditions of women in the Commonwealth Public Service and was involved in their equal pay campaign.

Margaret was the secretary, and later convenor, of the Women Graduates’ Committee of the Professional Officers Association and from 1951 until 1964 she was also a member of the Canberra Branch Equal Pay Sub-Committee of the Professional Officers’ Association.

Professor Helen Irving has been employed in the Faculty of Law at the University of Sydney since 2001. Prior to this, from 1988 until 2001, she was a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Christine Fernon is the Online Manager for the National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.

Grace Winifred Barnett was born in 1902 in Collingwood, Victoria, to parents Emma Jane (Hunter) and John Barnett. Grace married solicitor Herbert Park Philpot in Manly in 1955. She was a member of the ANZAC Fellowship of Women.

UN Women National Committee Australia (formerly the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Australia Inc.) was established in 1991. The committee exists to raise funds for, and awareness of, UN Women’s work in the Pacific and around the world.

Kate Nelson and her husband Dominica edited the book Sweet mothers, sweet maids: journeys from Catholic childhoods.

Carole Fay Deagan was involved in many women’s and children’s issues, particularly the matter of child care.

Playworks was established in 1985 and identified itself as the national women’s performance writing network. The aim of the organisation was to increase the number of women writing for performance. In late 2006 the Australia Council for the Arts consolidated both Playworks and the Australian National Playwrights Centre (ANPC) and a new organisation, PlayWriting Australia, was established.

Kate McNamara is Canberra-based poet and playwright.