The Australian Women's Register

Australian Women in War consists of lists of Australian women and women’s organisations who participated and assisted in the Boer War, World Wars and subsequent conflicts, with links to biographical, bibliographical and archival information about a small selection of them.

Funding for the project which created this dataset was provided by the Australian Government Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the Office of the Status of Women.

Stage one of this project commenced in April 2002 when the Department of Veterans’ Affairs invited ex-service women’s and related associations to form a working group. Many of the military and civilian associations were established during and after World War II. Association members, along with representatives from consulting institutions, met in October and November 2002 and commenced the task of recording the history of the associations.

In collaboration with the Commemorations Branch of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs it was decided that the project should trace the involvement of women during Australia’s military conflicts. The initial funding from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Saluting Their Service program covered entries nominated by the working group. The Office of the Status of Women provided additional funding which enabled an Australia wide focus.

At the working group meetings the consulting institutions’ representatives worked with association members and completed ‘capturing their stories’ forms, which focused not only on their service career but also the periods before and after. It was from the information obtained from these forms that the project staff compiled entries. Members were encouraged to write their own entry and also those of other members of their service or association. Copies of the form were also distributed to branches of the associations throughout Australia. A range of sources was used to supplement the detail provided, in particular records of the consulting institutions and other published resources.

Unbroken Spirit: Women in Broken Hill documents the historical experience of women living in Broken Hill, New South Wales since the city was established. Secondary sources and primary research (using archival materials, including images, and oral interviews) have been used to create an online, searchable database containing biographical notes on over sixty Broken Hill women – past and present – along with information about relevant publications and archival resources, and a rich collection of digital images from the Outback Archives in Broken Hill. Soundbites of interviews with a number of women may be heard online through the exhibition.

Dr Barbara Lemon was the principal researcher and writer for Unbroken Spirit

Funding for this project was provided by the New South Wales Government Office for Women, the Australian Research Council, Monash University and the National Foundation for Australian Women. The Broken Hill City Council provided in-kind support.

Putting Skirts on the Sacred Benches lists more than 700 women candidates who stood for New South Wales Parliament, recognising their significant contributions and achievements, despite, in most cases, their lack of success. Archival materials and secondary sources have been used to create a searchable database that allows users to: browse alphabetical listings of women candidates; browse women candidates by political party; browse women candidates by seat; browse women candidates by year and browse women candidates by jurisdiction.

Biographical entries about a selection of women have been prepared, some containing links to further bibliographical and archival resources.

Dr Emma Grahame was principal researcher for the project and Rachel Grahame was a research associate for the project.

The project was funded in 2005-2006 by the Sesquicentenary of Responsible Government Committee, an initiative of the New South Wales Government Premier’s Department.

Being Seen and Heard: Migrant Women Organising in Australia, A Documentary History aggregates and makes accessible to a broad audience, information about culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) women’s records in Australian repositories and private hands. It links research findings (current in 2006) to the Australian Women’s Register. Researchers can search for information about a select number of CALD women, their organisations, key events and historical information about the various multicultural communities that they represent.

Dr Nicola Henningham was principal researcher for the project.

Funding for this project was provided by the National Archives of Australia.