The Australian Women's Register

The Victorian Woman’s Suffrage League was founded in 1894 at a meeting organised by Annette Bear Crawford in the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union headquarters in Melbourne. Its platform was votes for women on the same terms as men. Its formation was prompted by the belief that the three existing groups working for women’s suffrage in Victoria (the Australian Women’s Suffrage Society, the Victorian Women’s Suffrage Society and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union) were all associated with extremist views. Although initiated by the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, the League had an entirely separate existence, supposedly not linked to the prohibitionist agenda of the Union. The new League was formulated on a Christian, non-party basis. As such, it was an organisation that moderate women could comfortably join and was immediately popular. It ceased in 1908 with the granting of the vote to women in Victoria.

M U Australia (known for most of its history as the Mothers’ Union) is part of the worldwide Mothers’ Union which is an organisation within the Anglican Church. First established in England in 1876, its early objectives were:
1. To awaken in all mothers a sense of their great responsibility in the training of their boys and girls-the fathers and mothers of the future.
2. To organise in every place a band of mothers who will unite and prayer and seek by their example to lead their families in purity and holiness in life.
The first Australian Mothers’ Union was formed in Cullenswood, Tasmania, in 1892. The movement spread quickly across the country, becoming a major organisation both for Anglican women and within the broader women’s movement in the years up to 1960. Apart from Christian outreach, the Union has been involved in wide range of social and political reform activities, mostly relating to the welfare of women and children, as well as charitable work.

Endeavour Forum was established in Melbourne in 1979 as Women Who Want to Be Women, largely through the efforts of Babette Francis. It is a Christian, pro-life, pro-family lobby group with members in all Australian states. According to its website, the group was set up to ‘counter feminism, defend the unborn and the traditional family.’ Although outlawing abortion is high on their agenda, the group’s broader aim is to prevent economic forces such as high taxation ‘destroying families’. In particular it lobbies for the right of women to choose to be full time homemakers without suffering what they see as economic discrimination. While. it supports equality of opportunity for men and women in employment and education, it opposes affirmative action or positive discrimination.

The Girl’s Realm of Service and Good Fellowship was an Australian branch of a Guild founded in London in 1900. Its main aim was to encourage girls to help other girls. In 1934 their stated aim was to assist girls who show promise and ability to undertake an approved course of training when lack of means from any other source would prevent them from so equipping themselves. The Guild ceased to exist in 1976 and donated its assets to the University of New South Wales for a scholarship.

The Australian Nursing Federation Employees’ Section formed in 1953 out of an amalgamation of the Australian United Nurses Association [formed in 1949] and the Royal Victorian College of Nurses Employees’ Association. From 1971, this new body was commonly known as the Australian Nursing Federation and in 1975 it amalgamated with the Royal Victorian College of Nurses to become the new Royal Australian Nursing Federation. The ‘Royal’ prefix was dropped again in the 1980s.

The Victorian Federation of Catholic Parents’ Clubs, originally named the Victorian Federation of Catholic Mothers’ Clubs, was established in August 1958. The decision to form the federation was made at a meeting held in the Carmelite Hall in the Melbourne suburb of Middle Park. Five hundred women delegates from one hundred and six organisations associated with schools in suburban and country parishes attended. Its aims were to support and publicise the work, achievements and needs of Catholic schools in Victoria and to seek free education for all children in the schools of their parents’ choice. Its motto was ‘Love Conquers All’. It worked for forty years to achieve its aims and ceased functioning in 1998.

The Catholic Women’s League was established in 1913 as the Catholic Women’s Association,(later became the Legion of Catholic Women in 1941 and in 1959 the Catholic Women’s League). Its aim was to provide Catholic women of Sydney with a broader society, one which crossed parish boundaries and provided them with a focus for social life. As it evolved, the Parish branches became the power base, with women contributing to parish life as Catechists, Eucharistic Ministers, through hospital visitation, care and support groups, welcoming committees, discussion groups and fundraising. The Catholic Women’s League continues to provide a voice for Catholic women in Church and society by addressing social and moral issues affecting family life, particularly women and children. It is affiliated with the Catholic Women’s League Australia Inc.

The Catholic Women’s League Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn was established on 8 November 1945. It began as a small group in St Christopher’s Parish, Canberra to provide hostesses for official parish occasions and to raise money for the church community. It spread later to the city of Goulburn, to town and country centres outside the Archdiocese. Its affiliation with the Federal Council of Catholic Women of Australia in 1953 meant that its agenda broadened from parish affairs to the wider community and to matters of national and global importance to women and their families. It now promotes the intellectual, spiritual, cultural and social welfare of women. It is affiliated with the Catholic Women’s League Australia Inc.

Originally known as the Girls’ Friendly Society, GFS Australia began as a local branch of the Girls’ Friendly Society founded in England in 1875 by Mary Townsend. This was an Anglican Church group which formed to give maids and female domestic staff spiritual guidance and social activities for their days off. The Society later also functioned in part as an employment agency. The first local Australian branch was formed in Adelaide in 1879, with branches being established in all states by 1901. It aimed to facilitate friendship between ladies (Associates) and working girls (members). Associates would help find members jobs and encourage them in Christian behaviour. By 1910 there were 329 members in Sydney. The activities of local groups varied considerably. However, in its early days, branches generally held meetings for working girls and several also ran hostels to provide them with accommodation. More recent programs have included camps and leadership courses. The Society no longer focuses solely on girls. As of 2004, its stated aims were ‘to minister to children, youth and their families’, and there were 14 branches of the Society across all Australian states.

The Australian Board of Missions formed in 1850 with the aim of converting the indigenous peoples of the islands around Australia to the Anglican faith. In 1910 it was decided to employ women in a fund-raising capacity by forming the Women’s Auxiliary to the Australian Board of Missions. Beginning in New South Wales, Auxiliaries were attached to a particular diocese and by the 1980s were established in nineteen of the twenty four Australian dioceses. Initially, the funds raised went toward missionary training. More recently, they have been dedicated to specific projects such as the establishment of a training centre for lay, Indigenous evangelists

The Itinerants Literary Society began as a result of a dispute with the Hamilton Literary Society in 1894 when a group of members broke away to form a separate society. They are ‘itinerants’ in that they meet at each member’s home in turn. The Society’s rules set out the number of members, hours of meeting and terms of membership. At each meeting, members present papers which range widely. The minutes show how themes and topics are chosen and reveal a close adherence to the rules. Early subjects discussed included famous writers and political topics (including women’s suffrage), ‘women who have made history’ (including Jane Franklin, Sarah Bernhardt and Sonia Kovaleski).

The Hamilton Literary Society is the oldest continuing literary society in Australia. It was founded by Lady Teresa Hamilton, wife of the Governor of Tasmania, Australia, in 1889. Originally known as the Nil Desperandum Society, the group met twice a month at Government House in Hobart, Tasmania, to hear papers read by members. From 1892, members of the Society were also members of the Australasian Home Reading Association – which was formed under the auspices of the Literature Section of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, for the purpose of developing a taste for recreative and instructive reading among all classes, and directing home study to definite ends.

The first meeting of the Girl Guides Association of Australia Incorporated was held in Melbourne in 1926. The formation of this national body came over a decade after the first guides group was formed in Tasmania, the Girl Peace Scouts. Other states quickly followed and by the time a national body was established, all states in Australia had guides groups.

The Association celebrated their seventy-fifth birthday in 1985 and at that time had approximately 100,000 members.

The Catholic Women’s League Tasmania was established in 1941 in Launceston to bring together Catholic women, to help them meet socially, to engage in charitable work and to assist them to play their part in public life. Gwen Mullins, the catalyst for its formation, expressed concern about the isolation of Catholics from the general community in Launceston and particularly the non participation of Catholic women in any civic sphere at all. It has been involved in a range of issues including the family, immigration, media programs and educational opportunities for girls. By the 1980s it had developed a greater international awareness with the creation of the office of International Secretary. It is affiliated with the Catholic Women’s League Australia Inc.