The Australian Women's Register

Betty Fisher (nee Dawson) was born 8th September 1925 in Yorkshire, England arriving in South Australia in 1927 on the “SS Benalla”. A feminist and advocate for Aboriginal rights and conservation, Betty was International Women’s Day president for eight years and the first female president of the Conservation Council of SA.

Betty Fisher received a Flinders University medal for services to women, was a 1988 Bicentenary medallist and served on the SA State Schools Organisations State Council. She was a member of the National Fitness Council of Australia. She was also a key witness at the Hindmarsh Island Royal Commission, where she produced notes and tape recordings from the 1960s which confirmed the site was of significant cultural importance to Aboriginal women.

Brigitte Williams was a once only candidate who represented the Australian Democrats in the 1999 elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Oxley. She believes in community action and is active in Landcare and the local Catchment Management Committee. Brigitte has worked in the hospitality industry in managing positions in a hotel and a caravan park (1980-82). She then managed a market garden and was Secretary for the Bellinger River Action Group (1984-94) while completing her tertiary qualifications (B.A., Dip. Ed.). She has taught English and History at tertiary and secondary level, and by correspondence.

Christine Townend is a passionate woman whose life and talents have been devoted to the cause of animal care and liberation. As an Australian Democrats member she contested the following elections:

• New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Willoughby 1978, 1984;
• House of Representatives, Grayndler, 1977;
• Senate, NSW, 1983.
• In 1988 Christine stood on behalf of the Environment Group in the New South Wales Legislative Council elections.

Virginia Walker has had a life long passion for social justice and has worked through many organizations to achieve it. As an Australia Party candidate she contested the elections for the House of Representatives seat of Phillip in 1972 and 1974 and for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Waverley in 1973. She joined the Australian Labor Party in 1976 and stood unsuccessfully for the Woollahra Municipal Council in 1980 and 1983. In May 2000 she was awarded the McKell Inaugural Award for services to the ALP.

Joy Wallace is a committed environmental and social activist in the Lismore area. She has been involved in local campaigns concerned with housing, health, youth, unemployment and women’s issues. Joy represented the Australian Greens in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Lismore in 1991 and in the 1993 NSW Senate elections.

Jenny Ryde was a long term activist for human rights, social justice, peace and the environment. She was involved in organising such events as the International Women’s Day March and the Reclaim the Night, Palm Sunday and Hiroshima Day marches. She lives in the inner suburbs of Sydney.

She was a candidate for the Australian Greens in the following elections:
New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Drummoyne, 1995
New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Port Jackson, 1999
House of Representatives, Grayndler, 1996
House of Representatives, Sydney, 1998.
In her 1999 campaign she advocated drug law reform, and she was in favour of needle exchanges and safe injecting rooms for addicts.

A political activist, Kylie Moon contested the New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Parramatta in 1999 as a Democratic Socialist Party member. In 2004 she was a Socialist Alliance Party candidate in the New South Wales Senate. Kylie Moon was active in student campaigns against education cuts, university fees, and has helped organise school walkouts against racism. She has also been involved in the organization of International Women’s Day marches. She is the Western Sydney Resistance organiser in 2005.

An activist, particularly in regard to women’s issues, Judith Mundey represented the Communist Party of Australia in the 1967 and 1968 elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Phillip and in the 1980 House of Representatives election for Sydney. She became the first woman President of the Communist Party of Australia 1979-82, having been Secretary of the Sydney District Committee of the party 1973-79. She was also one of a group of women who established the Women’s Liberation Movement in Australia in 1969.

Judy Mundey was born in Sydney and educated at Eastlakes and Mascot Public Schools, and at St George Girls’ High School. She later completed an Arts degree and a Law degree at Macquarie University. In 1965 she married Jack Mundey, of BLF and Green Bans fame, and they had one son.

A well known figure in Sydney political and socially active organizations and a staunch defender of civil liberties. Mary McNish stood for the Australia Party in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Willoughby in 1971 and 1973.

Carole Medcalf, a social and environmental activist, has a particular interest and expertise in women’s issues. She represented the Australian Greens in the 1991 elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Bulli. Carole Medcalf was active in many community organizations before she became a Greens political candidate in 1991. She was Chairperson of the Wollongong Youth Refuge and was on the Illawarra Area Assistance Scheme Consultative Committee. She was involved with the Wollongong Women’s Refuge, the Illawarra Campaign against Racism, Women for Survival, and the Jobs for Women support group. She was a community worker at the Wollongong Women’s Centre and taught at the Wollongong T.A.F.E.
She was also active in the establishment of the Carinya Half-Way House for recovering addicts. Carole has one son.

Jean Lenane is a well known, lifetime activist, who contested the 1999 New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Port Jackson as an Independent candidate. In 2003 she ran for election to the New South Wales Legislative Council as a Save Our Suburbs candidate. Jean Lenane had been fighting overdevelopment of the inner west of Sydney since 1985, and was well known as the President of the Friends of Callan Park, when she ran her two campaigns. She had convened the first Mort Bay Action Group to fight for the retention of open space, and campaigned for Jubilee Park.

She was sacked from the NSW Department of health in 1990 for publicly speaking out against cuts to mental health services. Subsequently, she was co-founder and later National President of Whistleblowers Australia (2005).

Jean Manuel was a dedicated local activist in southern Sydney, with a wide range of voluntary and community interests. She was a Councillor on the Sutherland Shire council from 1965-80, including stints as the Deputy Shire President from 1968-71 and 1977-78 and Shire President from 1978-79. Jean was less successful in state politics, having been an unsuccessful Independent candidate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Woronora in 1973 and for Sutherland in 1988.

Deborah Shnookal was a student activist who ran for election once in New South Wales, before building a career in writing and editing. She represented the Socialist Workers Party in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly election for Phillip in 1976.

Mairi Petersen is widely known and respected in the labor movement, particularly in Illawarra. She stood as an ALP candidate in the following elections:
New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Bligh in 1976.
House of Representatives for Wentworth in 1975.
City of Shellharbour Council in 1995.

Virginia Milson is an environmental activist and Greens Party member who ran once for election to the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales: for the seat of Bligh in 1995.

In 1927 Susan Francis stood as a Labor candidate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Bondi. She then stood as a Lang Labor candidate in the Waverley Municipal Council elections of 1932.

Catherine Winifred (Kate) Dwyer was one of the most prominent women in New South Wales in the early twentieth century. An avid Labor activist, Dwyer stood for election for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Balmain in 1925.

Bridget Gilling was a lifelong activist and fighter for social justice. She ran as an Independent in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Bligh in 1971, but the following year she joined the Australia Party. She then stood as their candidate for election into the House of Representatives for Warringah (1972) and for the New South Wales Senate in 1974.

A passionate activist for women, Elizabeth (Bessie) Frewin was one of the earliest women candidates for all levels of government. She was an ALP candidate in the House of Representatives for Warringah in 1934 and 1940 and for the North Sydney Council in 1938, 1941 and 1948. Bessie was also a Lang Labor candidate in the 1947 elections to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Bondi.

Royalene Edwards is a committed Christian campaigner who represented the Call to Australia Party in the 1991 New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Riverstone.

Millicent Christian was a once-only candidate who was a lifetime activist for equality, peace and freedom. She ran for the Raleigh seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1947 as an Independent Labor candidate.

Barbara Coorey was a local activist who ran for election to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Lakemba in 1999 as an Independent. Prior to her candidature, Barbara Coorey had been active in the area. In her campaign literature, she claimed to have brought about the relocation of a methadone clinic and the closure of a mobile needle exchange program. She had also initiated the campaign for the re-development of Canterbury Hospital.

Olive Boundy is an activist in local government and politics. She is a member of the ALP and was a candidate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (Clarence seat) in 1991. She later was elected to the Ulmarra Shire Council from 1987 and later served on the Pristine Waters Council until 2004.

Michelle Calvert was Alderman in the Ashfield Municipal Council from 1991-95 and active in environmental issues. She later ran for the No Aircraft Noise Party in the Ashfield elections of 1995 and in the House of Representatives for Lowe in 1996.

Marina Carman is the senior project officer (international and policy) at the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine. ASHM provides training and technical advice to support healthcare workers implementing HIV treatment and care in the Asia Pacific region.

A prominent unionist and social justice campaigner, Aileen Winifred Beaver ran as a Communist Party of Australia candidate for Auburn in 1978, for Elizabeth in 1981 and for the seat of Sydney in the House of Representatives in 1977, 1983 and 1984.

A peace, environment and health activist, Margaret Perrott was a Democratic Socialist candidate for Illawarra in 1999 and a Socialist Alliance candidate in the House of Representatives for Cunningham in 1996 and 1998, and for Throsby in 1993, 2001 and 2004.