The Australian Women's Register

Dr Mildred Mocatta, a diagnostician, conducted a practice in Adelaide.

June Cochrane began nursing training at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1950 and became a nurse after a chronic disability prevented her from continuing as a clinical nurse. For nineteen years she was the Principal Nurse Educator at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide. She was an active member of the Royal Australian Nursing Federation and council member of the Royal College of Nursing Australia, becoming its Executive Director in 1981.

Jean Cook spent her childhood in Quorn, South Australia. For a time she lived in Perth, Western Australia before returning to South Australia and living in Adelaide. She conducted some of her music studies under Maude Mary Puddy, a teacher of piano. Cook also taught music and was a teacher at Girton Girls’ School (Kensington Park, S. A.). A member of the Lyceum club’s embroidery circle, she also was involved with the English Embroiderers’ Guild. She helped embroider the Coat of Arms for the Law Court in Adelaide.

Following her marriage in 1923 Helen Winnall moved to a sheep station on the Murray River, South Australia called Maylands. Here she joined the Country Women’s Association.

Elsie Haselgrove, who grew up in Glenelg, a suburb of Adelaide in South Australia, was educated at Hadleigh College and St Peter’s Girl’s School, before attending Adelaide University. There she studied geology under Douglas Mawson, english with Professor Strang, anatomy with Professor Wood Jones and gained her diploma in 1926. She also played with the inter-varsity hockey team and joined the Adelaide Lyceum Club. Following her marriage, she moved to Renmark, South Australia where her husband worked for Angove Winery and later Mildara Wines. Haselgrove became involved in community work in the Renmark area, becoming president of the Guides’ Association. She later moved to Adelaide for her children’s schooling. Here she was not only involved with the South Australian Hockey Association, but became Divisional Commissioner in the Guides.

The daughter of Archibald and Seca (née Lewin) Somerville, Dorothy Somerville was educated at Brownhill Creek School in Mitcham, the Methodists Ladies College (now Annesley College) and the Adelaide Law School. She was the third woman admitted to practice law in South Australia in 1922. Mary Kitson, the first woman admitted to the Bar, joined with Somerville in 1925 to form Australia’s first women’s legal partnership: Kitson & Somerville. Kitson later went to Sydney to work in publishing, and in 1950 she moved to New York to take charge of the United Nations affairs on the Status of Women. Somerville, who continued with the legal practice, became an honorary solicitor to a number of women’s organisations.

Gwendolyn Wilmot Griffiths was educated at Methodists’ Ladies College (now Annesley College) and Girton Girls’ School in Adelaide. She travelled to England where she enrolled in a photography course at the London Polytechnic, worked at the British Broadcasting Commission (BBC) and married James Wilmot Griffiths. A member of the Lyceum Club, Wilmot-Griffiths was involved with the Flower ladies and the Embroidery circle.

Irene Foster was a leader of many circles in the Adelaide Lyceum Club including the Literature Circle. She wrote book reviews for thirty years and was a preliminary judge for the Adelaide Advertiser Literary Competition.

Patience Howard moved around a lot during her childhood. As a small child, she lived in Central South Australia at Bungaree. She was educated at Miss Dow’s boarding school at Glenelg, 1912 at “The Hermitage” in Victoria, and from 1914 at Frensham’s Girls’ school in New South Wales. Later she attended Bedford College in London to study history. During the 1920s she went to an International Students’ conference in Prague before returning to Adelaide in 1924. Howard became a teacher at Woodlands and then Girton Girls’ School in Adelaide. Here she met Mabel Hardy and together they established the Stawell School at Mt Lofty. In 1928 she married Roy Howard. Following his death she and her children moved to Bungaree and then Kensington Park. A member of the Lyceum Club and the Labor Party she also spent time working with meals on wheels.

Dr Marjorie Casley-Smith was educated at the Methodist Ladies’ College (now Annesley College in Adelaide). Upon finishing she spent two years at home learning music and the domestic arts before studying medicine. Following graduation, in 1927, she went to the Royal Adelaide Hospital as House Surgeon under Dr Sleeman. She completed obstetrics at Adelaide’s Queen Victoria Hospital. In 1930 she married Roy Frisby Smith, a lawyer. After her husband’s death, in 1938, she returned to work at the School Medical Health Service. Casley-Smith became Vice President of the National Council of Women of South Australia. She became convenor of Health for SA and Australian Convenor of Health. Dr Casley-Smith started the Marriage Guidance Council, was active in the Asthma Association, and the Mental Health Association. She was involved with music and was an early member of the Lyceum Club.

Anne Stanton was born in Adelaide and educated at the St Peter’s Girls’ School. On leaving school she attended the Conservatorium of Music and then joined the School of Social Studies. Her first job was with the Probation Branch of the Sheriff’s Gaols and Prisons Department. Stanton later became a senior social worker for the Crippled Children’s Association. As Vice-President of the Muscular Dystrophy Association she completed many country visits and with Adelaide Legacy she helped set up holiday camps for children. Stanton was involved with the National Trust, Friends of the Gallery, opera, theatre and the Lyceum Club. On 6 June 1978 Stanton was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australian for her work with crippled children.

Roxy Byrne was born in South Australia in 1912 and attended school in Adelaide. From 1922 to 1929 she attended the Methodist Ladies College (now Annesley College) where she developed her love of the theatre, as well as her skill in hockey. An excellent student (she was dux of the school in her final year) she went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts at Adelaide University in 1933, majoring in Botany and French. After graduation she joined the Adelaide Repertory Theatre, becoming a leading actress who played a variety of outstanding roles for a period of 40 years. She was active in a number of women’s organisations, including the Lyceum Club of Adelaide. She married Dr. Dudley Byrne in 1940 and had three children.

Esther Bright worked in the Education Department for 40 years as an infants teacher and finally as Inspector of Schools. She was a long standing member of the Adelaide Lyceum Club.

Kemeri Murray attended Adelaide University, graduating in 1953 in Law and 1954 in Arts. She studied piano under Raymond O’Connell while doing articles at Vaughan, Porter and English, a well known South Australian Law firm. After being admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of South Australia she transferred to Brian Magarey and was offered a partnership, making her the first married woman to be offered a partnership in South Australia. In 1973 she was offered a position on the Bench with the District Court of South Australia, thus becoming the second woman judge in South Australia. A member of the Flinders University Council, in 1978 she was appointed to the Advisory Council for Inter-Government Relations.

Unionist and activist Madge Cope was born in Yorkshire and migrated to Australia in 1915, aged 11. With her parents and two brothers she settled on a farm in Carnamah. She later married her neighbour, Harold Cope, and the pair had four children. Cope himself was born to an English father and an Australian mother.

During wartime, the Copes sold pies at Victoria Park. They grew tomatoes at Geraldton, then Guildford, where they also sold flowers. In 1966, while driving on a gravel road, Madge lost control on a bend and hit a truck. Harold was thrown from the vehicle and died on the road after telling the truck driver to look after his wife, who was trapped in the car.

Madge became involved with the Communist Party in Guildford, and was made a life member of the Guildford Association. She joined the Peace Movement and the Union of Australian Women. She also wrote short stories, two of which were published in the magazine Our Women. Madge died in 2001, aged 97 years.

Roma Gilchrist was first a member of the Modern Women’s Club before joining the Union of Australian Women, Western Australian Branch. She was vice-president in 1954 and president from 1957 until 1971.

Katharine Susannah Prichard, author, pacifist, Communist, indefatigable political activist, chose to live on the outskirts of Perth, Western Australia, for fifty years, from 1919 until her death in 1969. Her life is one of courage, determination, hard work, great joy and satisfaction, and tragedy. During her lifetime she developed an international reputation as a novelist, she was recognised as one of Australia’s foremost writers, and she established an almost legendary reputation locally as a political activist whose initiatives made a profound impact upon the lives of many West Australians. In the midst of such physical isolation and unsophisticated conservatism, how was her brilliant light able to shine so readily?

Annette Cameron was born in Middle Swan WA in 1920. Her interest in politics was sparked by the Spanish Civil War, prompting her to join the Modern Women’s Club, the Anti-Fascist League, and, in 1941, the Communist Party. She was an active campaigner for peace, human rights, and Aboriginal causes.

Mary Lee became secretary of the Women’s Suffrage League of South Australia in 1888. She served with the Female Refuge ladies’ committee, the Distressed Women’s and Children’s Committee and the Adelaide Sick Poor Fund, and was secretary of the Working Women’s Trades Union.

Veronica Brodie (née Wilson) was born at the Point McLeay Mission. She moved to the Port Adelaide area in 1971, an area to which her grandmother’s had links. For a time Brodie worked with the local Aboriginal Community including an Aboriginal Friendship Club for parents and children at the Port Adelaide Central Methodist Mission. She has been involved with the development of the regional Aboriginal Co-ordinating Committee; Kura Yerlo, the Aboriginal Centre in Largs Bay and the Nunga Miminis Women’s Shelter.

Born at Point Pass in 1901, Jessie March was educated at Adelaide High School and Teachers Training College. She joined the New Britain Methodist Mission in 1925, becoming principal of Vunairima Girls School in 1939. In 1940 she was a governess at Brachina Station in the Flinders Ranges. She was also a Croker Island Methodist Mission teacher in 1941 before being evacuated in 1942. After the war she taught in state government schools before returning to New Britain in 1967. She moved to Papua New Guinea’s eastern highlands in 1971 to translate bibles. Her life and work have been commemorated by the Jessie March Library at George Brown High School, New Britain.

Dr Winifred Wall spent her childhood in Broken Hill and Georgetown in the mid north of South Australia. After attending bush schools she went to Gladstone and Adelaide High Schools. Wall won a scholarship to study medicine at Adelaide University (1918-1922). She then worked at the Royal Adelaide Hospital where her duties included treating returned servicemen from World War I. She married Dr Fred Wall, they had four children, and she established a private practice. During World War II she returned to the Royal Adelaide Hospital where she specialised in anesthesia. Foundation president of the Family Planning Association (South Australia), Wall was awarded Life membership of the Royal District Nursing Society, the Australian Medical Association and the British Medical Association. On 26 January 1979 Dr Wall was appointed a member of the Order of Australia for service to the community, particularly in the field of women’s affairs.

The daughter of Edward and Amy (née Thiselton) Dolling, Alison Dolling was born in St Peters and grew up in Tranmere, South Australia. She was educated at Ellerslie College, Tranmere, and Methodist Ladies College, Wayville, before studying at the universities of Adelaide, Washington, Seattle, Berkeley and King’s College, London. Returning to Australia she taught in both South Australia and New South Wales, including ex-servicemen after World War II. Dolling joined the Chronicle newspaper as the editor of the Women’s Pages and was unemployed after the Chronicle closed down. Her publications include Chronicle cameos and a district history of Marion. She completed research on John Harvey and the Spoehr family, as well as being involved with family history and German ancestry. She also worked on the book South Australian Women Artists by Shirley Cameron Wilson. Dolling’s special interests included Australian history, especially early architecture, literature and art.

Lorna Esme Adams, née Eames, was born in Torrensville, South Australia. She trained at the Adelaide Teachers’ College and met her future husband after taking up her second teaching post at Black Hill in 1942. In 1945 they began dairy farming at Black Hill, moving to Paracombe three years later. After their infant son died of cystic fibrosis and their older boy was also diagnosed, they decided to settle at Ponde for the drier climate. Their second son died in 1955. Lorna has had three enduring interests; the Girl Guides movement and the Country Women’s Association, both of which she has represented at State level, and the Holstein-Fresian dairy cattle stud that she and her husband developed. Lorna and her husband Jack’s surviving daughter has had nine children.

Joan Williams was a prominent member of the Western Australian branch of the Communist Party of Australia. She was politically active from the 1920s, but began her career in journalism as a young woman already imbued with a strong political consciousness. The networks fostered through her membership in an elite group of Western Australian left-wing radicals were critical to the foundation of numerous Western Australian women’s and peace organisations. Under the pen name Justina Williams she wrote short stories, historical works, poems, biography and her autobiography Anger and Love. She was awarded the Order of Australia Medal accepting it on behalf of her “unrecognized sisters who serve the community”.

Born in Wartburg Germany in 1941 Karin Hoffmann developed her “pragmatic, rather than ideological,” views on feminism and the women’s movement through friendships and associates while living in Paris. In 1974 she moved to Western Australia and in 1975 joined the Women’s Centre Action Group and Women’s Electoral Lobby intending to “do what was useful” to enhance the status of women in society. In 1977 she created a feminist and, although nobody used that word at the time, lesbian library. Hoffmann participated in a range of activities associated with the women’s movement including the “Out of the Guilded Cage” radio broadcasts and two feminist tours of significant Western Australian sites.

Isabella Johnston (née Miller) was born at Barrhead, Scotland in 1891. She joined her aunt Amelia MacDonald in Perth, Western Australia, in 1910 and became active in the Perth Women’s Service Guilds of which her aunt [Amelia MacDonald] was a founder member.