The Australian Women's Register

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Maureen Lyster served as the Member for Chelsea province in the Legislative Council of the Victorian parliament from 1985-92. She held a range of portfolios as Minister for Local Government from 1989-91, Minister for the Aged, 1989-90, Minister Assisting the Minister for Education 1990-91 and Minister for health 1991-92.

Margaret Ah Kee is a long-standing advocate for the rights of indigenous children and families. She worked for Yuddika, the Aboriginal and Islander child care organisation in Cairns, Queensland, and was an active member of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Executive.

Ah Kee served as an Indigenous Advisory Council member for the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families, and for the Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission’s Inquiry into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Rosemary Varty served as the member for Nunawading Province in the Legislative Council of the Victorian Parliament from 1985-1992 and for Silvan from 1992-99. She held the position of Parliamentary Secretary to Cabinet from 1992-99.

Vicki Cooney is an indigenous child care worker. She has continued to work with Yuddika, the Aboriginal and Islander child care organisation in Cairns, Queensland, following her appointment as its first Chairperson.

Kathy Fisher worked with the Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Agency in Brisbane for six years before establishing an unofficial Link-Up Service. She left the indigenous child welfare field to pursue a career in the performing arts with Aboriginal theatre groups.

Sandy Miller is an Aboriginal child welfare worker. She worked for the Department of Community Welfare in Adelaide in the early 1980s, endeavouring to change legislation and policies that were detrimental to Aboriginal children. She also tried to encourage Aboriginal people to become foster parents.

Shireen Malamoo is an Aboriginal community worker who advocates a holistic approach to indigenous issues. In the 1970s she worked for the Department of Social Security in Townsville, Queensland. Her involvement with the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care included membership of the Finance Committee. She was a Commissioner of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) from 1991 to 1993.

Michele Clarke has worked with juvenile offenders in the top end of Australia. She has been a Coordinator of the Central Australian Aboriginal Child Care Agency in Alice Springs and held the position of National Secretary of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC).

Caroline Munns was involved with the establishment of the Mt Isa Aboriginal Child Care Agency in Queensland. She later became a Queensland representative for the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC).

Doreen Coller’s involvement in Aboriginal child welfare issues stemmed from caring for children in her own extended family network. Her employment in a Homemaker position with the Child Welfare Department led to her interest in the Western Australian Aboriginal Child Care Agency. She attended meetings of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) in its early days and was a member of the initial Steering Committee.

Jackie Oakley was employed as the first Coordinator of the West Australian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (ACCA), and as a member of its Steering Committee. She was present at the initial meeting of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) in the early 1980s and participated in drawing up its objectives.

In 1993 she participated in the creation of a video magazine, The Indigenous Australians, produced by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. She is listed in its credits as Head of the Office of Indigenous Women.

In 1972 Pat Eatock became the first Aboriginal to stand for Federal Parliament in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). She participated in the Aboriginal Embassy and Women’s Liberation in 1972. In 1973 she became the first non-matriculated mature aged student at the Australian National University(ANU), graduating as a Bachelor of Arts in 1977. In 1975 she attended the 1975 Women in Politics Conference and the International Women’s Year World Conference in Mexico City. She has worked as a public servant, university lecturer, and established and managed the Perleeka Aboriginal Television, producing films for community television and training Aboriginal film makers from 1992-96. Pat Eatock passed away on 17 March, 2015 after a long period of ill health.

Marion Lê has advocated on behalf of refugees since the arrival of the first Vietnamese boat people in the mid-1970s. She has received a number of awards for her tireless work over three decades, including the 2003 Human Rights Medal.

A member of the Australian Labor Party from 1972, Kay Setches served as the member for Ringwood in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1982-92. She held the portfolios of Conservation, Forests and Land from 1988-90, Community Services from 1990-92 and was Minister Responsible for Child Care 1991-92.On the abolition of the seat of Ringwood she unsuccessfully contested the seat of Bayswater at the state election, which was held on 3 October 1992.

A member of the Australian Labor Party from 1965, Jean McLean made her first attempt to gain election to the Victorian parliament in 1973 when she stood as a candidate in the Legislative Council Province of Monash at the state election, which was held on 19 May. She served in the Victorian Parliament as the Australian Labor Party member for Boronia Province in the Legislative Council from 1985-92 and then as the member for Melbourne West Province from 1992 until her retirement in 1999. Before her entry into parliament she was active in her opposition to conscription and the Australian involvement in the Vietnam War as convenor of the Save Our Sons Movement from 1965-73 and as Vice-chairperson of the Vietnam Moratorium Movement.

Roberta (Bobbi) Sykes was born and brought up in Townsville, Queensland. She left school at 14 and trained as a nurse. In 1971 she moved to Sydney, and in 1972 helped establish the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra. She worked as Education and Publicity Officer for the newly founded Aboriginal Medical Service in Redfern, and began a ten-year career as a freelance journalist. She has written poetry and film reviews, and contributed to contemporary discussions on a wide range of indigenous issues.

From 1975 to 1980 Bobbi Sykes was an adviser on Aboriginal health and education to the New South Wales Health Commission, following which she moved to the United States and completed her doctorate on Aboriginal education at Harvard University. Upon her return to Sydney, she continued writing and lecturing. She has held appointments at Charles Sturt and Macquarie universities and has worked as a consultant.

Thancoupie was born at Napranum in Queensland, on the land traditionally occupied by her ancestors. Her father was killed in war. Thancoupie attended the local school before being sent to Brisbane to train as a preschool teacher. Upon her return to Napranum she established a preschool but was unhappy with the situation and resigned.

Thancoupie began writing down and illustrating (with paintings on bark) stories her grandmother had taught her, and had a number of exhibitions of her work. Her application to study at a Sydney art school was rejected because she lacked formal qualifications, however she came across a pottery school which accepted her as a student. Thancoupie then went to America and Mexico and worked with indigenous potters. This helped her develop her own style, and she has since been creating pots and tile murals at her studio in Cairns where she moved in 1976, after the Comalco mining company refused to allow her a house at Napranum because she had left the community. Thancoupie still visits her hometown on a regular basis.

Veronica Tippett was born in Tennant Creek, Northern Territory. Aged four she moved to Darwin with her family, where she later attended St Mary’s convent school and married. She worked as a maid at the government house until 1968, when she moved to Canberra. There she worked as a laboratory assistant in the nuclear physics department of the Australian National University, and spent several years with the Australian Electoral Commission.

Shortly after the formation of the Aboriginal Development Commission in 1980, Tippett became its trainee and later the head of its secretariat. In 1985 she was transferred to the Public Service Board, where she helped develop the Commonwealth Public Service’s equal employment opportunity policy relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In 1987 she became a Cultural Relations Officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, promoting Australia’s indigenous cultures in overseas forums and at international conferences in Canada, the United States and Switzerland.

At the time of her death, Veronica was undertaking a training course in anticipation of embarking on a diplomatic career, and was studying cultural heritage management at the University of Canberra.

Patricia Torres, of Yawuru, Nyikina, Bardi, Punuba and Walmatjarri descent, was born in Broome, Western Australia. She completed a secretarial training course, a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Diploma of Education.

Torres became a health worker with the national Aboriginal trachoma program in Western Australia. In 1978 she became a Legal Aid Field Officer with the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, where she designed and conducted a statewide socioeconomic survey of Aboriginal families. She was a Curriculum Development Officer with the state Education Department in Hobart during 1981. Upon her return to Western Australia, she was appointed Secretary to the Kimberley Land Council at Derby. From 1982 to 1989 she worked for the federal Department of Education and Youth Affairs, serving in Broome, Darwin and Canberra.

Since then, Torres has concentrated on writing, art and community work. She has recorded Kimberley oral history, published a couple of bilingual children’s books which she also illustrated, created posters for national events and recordings of stories. She has worked with many Kimberley community organisations, including the Yawuru Aboriginal Corporation, Winarn Aboriginal Arts and Crafts, Magabala Books and the Broome Aboriginal Media Association.

Penny Tripcony was born in Brisbane in 1942 and moved to Melbourne in the mid-1960s. She completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Melbourne in 1975, and a Diploma of Education the following year.

As the administrator of the Aboriginal Cooperative Ltd in Melbourne, she was instrumental in establishing the Aboriginal Housing Board of Victoria and several other Aboriginal organisations. In the early 1980s she was a Research Officer with the Board before becoming superintendent of Victorian Aboriginal Education Services. She was involved with many community-based Aboriginal organisations in Victoria, and tutored in the Aboriginal Community Organisation course at the Swinburne Institute of Technology.

In 1989, Tripcony returned to Brisbane to become Principal Policy Officer (Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander Education) with the state Department of Education. She was also a member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Project.

A member of the Liberal Party from 1946, Dorothy Goble served as the member for Mitcham in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1967 until 1976.

A member of the Australian Labor Party from 1969, Judith Dixon served as the member for Boronia in the Legislative Council of the Victorian Parliament from 1982-88.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Jeannette Patrick served as the member for Brighton in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1976-85. She held the position of secretary of the Parliamentary Liberal Party from 1979-82.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, from 1968, Prue Sibree served as the member for Kew in the Legislative Assembly in the Victorian Parliament from 1981-88.

Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann was born in the Daly River area, Northern Territory. Her primary language is Ngan’gikurunggurr, although she also speaks four other local languages.

Ungunmerr-Baumann attended school at Adelaide River, Pine Creek and Mataranka, where she learnt English. At the age of 14, she returned to the Daly River to complete her primary education at the mission where she was baptised and made her first communion. She then completed a teaching assistant course at Kormilda College and worked as a teachers aide at the Daly River mission school. She was sponsored by the federal government to work with art teachers in primary schools throughout Victoria, and became a fully qualified teacher with the Commonwealth Teaching Service in 1974. A year later, she was offered a position as art consultant with the Northern Territory Department of Education. She helped to establish the Aboriginal women’s centre in Darwin, and taught at St John’s College until 1981, when she returned to the Daly River.

A talented artist and active promoter of Aboriginal culture, Ungunmerr-Baumann has illustrated a number of books, including the revised edition of Alan Marshall’s People of the Dreamtime. In 1986 she began teaching back at the Daly River mission school while pursuing higher education, and eventually became school principal.

Della Walker, of Gumbainggir descent, was born in 1932 on Ulgandahi Island, an Aboriginal reserve in the Clarence River delta near Maclean, New South Wales. She attended school on the island before her family moved to nearby Yamba, where she was employed in domestic duties at a local guesthouse. When she was 17, the family moved to the Tabulam reserve, 45 kilometres west of Casino. She married there, and worked both as a domestic aid and an assistant to her husband in his seasonal farming jobs.

Walker became an unofficial midwife at the reserve, and subsequently became involved in a number of community activities: organisation of church services and the Djunagun dance troupe; promotion of her mother tongue, Aboriginal education, the teaching of Aboriginal Studies at regional TAFE colleges; and counselling of prisoners at the Grafton gaol. She was also a member of the Aboriginal advisory council of the College of Advanced Education in Lismore, president of the Housing Association and the local Land Council at Tabulam, a director of the Yamboora Aboriginal Corporation at Yamba, and chair of the Nungera Aboriginal Cooperative Society at Maclean.

Walker is a craft worker, screen printer and maker of echidna-spine necklaces.

Jenny Thomas is an Aboriginal child care and health worker. She held the position of Director, Special Services Section, with the Office of Child Care at the time the Aboriginal Child Care Agencies (ACCAs) were in the process of formation. She later became Assistant Secretary of the Health Outcomes Branch of the Department of Health and Family Services in Canberra.