The Australian Women's Register

Joan Winch grew up in Fremantle, Western Australia. In 1977 she gained a Bachelor of Applied Science in Nursing at the Western Australian Institute of Technology (now Curtin University). She went on to study midwifery and child care, becoming a triple certificated sister.

Since 1975 she has been continually involved in the Perth Aboriginal Medical Service. In 1982 she started up a mobile unit, driving around the Swan Valley fringe dwellers’ camps, servicing medical needs and assisting Nyungars to hospitals. In 1983 she founded the Aboriginal Health Workers Program, Marr Mooditj college, in Perth, integrating traditional Aboriginal approach to health and healing with western medicine.

Joan Winch was awarded her PhD in Aboriginal Studies from the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in May 2011. On the recommendation of each of her examiners, she also received a commendation from the Chancellor. Her PhD was executively approved on the 11th of May, four weeks before her 76th birthday. Her doctoral thesis presented a history of Marr Mooditj using an auto-ethnographic approach.

Dr Winch was named WA Citizen of the Year in 1986, State and National Aboriginal of the Year in 1987, and in the same year received the World Health Organisation Sasakawa Award for Primary Health Care Work on behalf of Marr Mooditj. She served as Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies between 1999 and 2001. In 2008 she received Curtin University’s John Curtin Medal for her services to the community.

Ida West was born on Cape Barren Island, Tasmania, in 1919. She attended school at Lughrata, 7 kilometres north of Wybalenna. She married in 1939, and the family moved around the island, living in tents, as her husband had various outdoor jobs with the municipal council. Later, Ida lived in Burnie and Hobart, working as a cleaner while raising the children alone. She became actively involved in community life and acquired an extensive knowledge of Tasmanian Aboriginal culture. She was a board member of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, and served as its acting president. Her autobiography, Pride against Prejudice: Reminiscences of a Tasmanian Aborigine, was first published in 1984.

Kathy Ware was born in 1949 at Springsure in Queensland. She grew up in Gladstone and Cairns, later working in various offices, as a kindergarten aide and as a teacher’s assistant in a TAFE adult literacy program.

She joined the federal Department of Social Security in Cairns, and later became an assistant to the National Aboriginal Conference (NAC) representative for the Cairns region. After the NAC was disbanded, she worked with the Commonwealth Employment Service for two years.

In 1987 she took up an appointment as the administrator of Deeral Aboriginal and Islander Corporation at Babinda, 50 kilometres southeast of Cairns, and has since worked on the expansion of the corporation’s facilities and enterprises.

Ida Toby, also known as Queen, was born in 1899 at either Walgra or Carandotta station in Queensland. She was of Warluwarra and Wangka-Yutjurru (of Wangkamana group) descent. Her ‘skin’ was Bilarrindji and her Dreaming was Emu; she had a black birthmark on her elbow in the shape of a legless emu. She grew up along the Georgina – on Walgra, Carandotta, Roxborough and Glenormiston stations. She was married first to Deamrah, and then to his younger brother Belia. She had two children and raised three step-children. The family travelled about Carandotta, as the brothers worked together for years poisoning dogs on the station, until they both died in c1962.
Between 1967 and 1975 Ida Toby provided valuable linguistic information on the Warluwarra and Wangka-Yutjurru languages. She also had an acting ability which helped her make up and act out imaginary conversations in those languages.
She died in 1976.

Dosina Nona married Peo (‘Bul-Bul’) Nona of Badu in 1960. A song composed for their wedding has become part of the Islands musical heritage. She nursed her husband until his death from renal disease in 1987.

Dosina is a community worker. She lives on Thursday Island in Torres Strait, where she is president of the Mothers Union, an Anglican church organisation representing Torres Strait women. In 1990 she represented the diocese of Carpentaria at a conference of South Pacific Mothers’ Unions in Papua New Guinea. As a Mothers Union organiser, Nona has been responsible for arranging the catering for many large-scale church festivities, including the consecration of Kiwami Dai as bishop in 1986.

Angelina Noble was born in c1890 near Winton in central Queensland. After being abducted by an itinerant horse dealer, she eventually came under the notice of the police in Cairns, and was sent to Yarrabah mission. An expert horsewoman, she accompanied her Aboriginal missionary husband James Noble, in 1904, on a gruelling overland expedition from Yarrabah to choose the site for a new mission on the Mitchell River, where 1,554 square kilometres of land had been gazetted as an Aboriginal reserve. From there they went to Roper River for three years, to help establish a new church missionary society.

Further pioneering work began in 1913 when Reverend E. Gribble requested their assistance in establishing a new mission at Forrest River (Oombulgurri) in Western Australia. They stayed there until 1932, before returning to Queensland to assist with work on Palm Island. Angelina was widowed in 1941 and, after a short period at Palm Island, died at St Luke’s Hospital in Yarrabah in 1964.

Shirley McPherson was born in 1948 in Perth, Western Australia. A champion schoolgirl athlete, she also excelled academically and won a teaching bursary on completing her leaving certificate at Dominican ladies college, Dongara. She completed a three-year accountancy course at the Western Australia Institute of Technology in 1967 and, in 1974, opened her own tax consultancy business in Perth. When the family moved to Geraldton, she worked as a tax agent there.

She was appointed a commissioner of the Aboriginal Development Commission in 1983 and became full-time chairperson in 1986. Despite the commission’s growing budgets and staff levels, McPherson’s nine fellow commissioners were dismissed by Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Gerry Hand, in 1988, and she only retained her position because it was an appointment made by the Governor-General. The new commissioners twice passed motions of censure against her.

Disappointed, McPherson resigned in 1989 and returned to Western Australia. She resumed accountancy and also worked as a consultant on Aboriginal affairs to the state government.

Monica Clare was the daughter of an Aboriginal shearer and an English women who died in childbirth when Monica was two years old. Taken into care at the age of seven, she and her brother grew up in a variety of foster homes in Sydney. After learning the finer arts of domestic service, Monica went out to work as a waitress and a factory hand.

In the 1950s, Monica became interested in Labor Politics. Her second husband, the trade unionist Leslie Clare, encouraged this interest and also encouraged her to be active in Aboriginal politics. She became the Secretary of the Aborigines Committee of the South Coast at Wollongong during the 1960s and, subsequently, of an Aboriginal committee called the South Coast Illawarra Tribe, from 1968 to 1973.

Monica Clare worked tirelessly for the political and social equality of Aboriginal people, and their independence. She died suddenly on National Aborigines Day, 13 July 1973.

Catherine (Cathy) Freeman was born in Mackay in Queensland in 1973. As a very good runner, she won a scholarship to boarding school where she was able to have professional coaching. In 1994 she became the first Aboriginal sprinter to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, going on to win a silver medal in the 1996 Olympic Games and then gold at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

She is very proud of her Aboriginal heritage and has carried the Australian and Aboriginal flags around the track after winning a race, which at times has resulted in public controversy.

She was made Young Australian of the Year in 1990 and Australian of the Year in 1998. She is the first person to receive both awards.

The Society of Women Writers (Australia), was formed in 1980 with the five existing state Societies (in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania) becoming branches of this new national organisation. The Society’s main aim was to draw together women writers (including poets, journalists, playwrights, fiction and non-fiction writers) to support each other in their writing endeavours. It is also aimed to maintain the status of the writing profession, promote a knowledge of literature, and strengthen ties between Australian and visiting writers.

Australia’s first Society of Women Writers had been founded in New South Wales in 1925. During the 1960’s and 1970’s branches were established in all Australian states. The new national body was intended to coordinate activities across the country. It organised numerous seminars, conferences and writing competitions. In 2000 the Society was disbanded, and its branches reformed as independent, incorporated societies (the New South Wales branch having already done this in 1987).

Ramahyuck Mission was established in 1862 by the Reverend F.A. Hagenauer on a site near Maffra, Victoria. It was one of three Aboriginal Missions established by Moravian Missioners in Victoria. The local farming community opposed the mission in this location so it was moved to the Avon River, near Lake Wellington.

On 1 April 1869, the Education Department classified Ramahyuck school as half-time Rural School No. 12 and appointed Reverend Kramer as the teacher. Students enrolled at the school did extremely well which encouraged attendance. 1872, there were 19 children at the school. In 1873, the school had gained 100% of marks. In 1877, Ramahyuck Mission Station was placed at the head of the list for ‘presenting the most successful results’.

Then, in a strange move, on 13 May 1901, the Department of Education closed the Ramahyuck State School, and the remaining children were told to attend the nearby Perry Bridge school. Aboriginal people protested about their children having to move schools and the Central Board for the Protection of Aborigines appointed a teacher to conduct lessons at Ramahyuck school. The school continued under the Board until 1908 when the Mission closed and the remaining residents were sent to Lake Tyers.

Ramahyuck Mission was the home to many Aboriginal women, some of whom later became prominent Aboriginal spokespersons.

The Society of Women Writers New South Wales Inc., established in 1925 and incorporated in 1987, is the longest-standing literary society in Australia. Dame Mary Jean Gilmore, writer, teacher and pioneer of many causes, is credited with initiating the Society (she was a member of its first executive committee).

The Society’s main aim was to draw together women writers (including poets, journalists, playwrights, fiction and non-fiction writers) to support each other in their writing endeavours. It is also aimed to maintain the status of the writing profession, promote a knowledge of literature, and strengthen ties between Australian and visiting writers.

Coranderrk Station was established in 1860 when the government set aside 4,850 acres of land for use as a reserve for Aboriginal people. The site was selected by the local Aboriginal groups, the Wurundjeri, Taungerong and Bunorong people, who built the reserve within a few months, constructing their own huts, a school and dormitories for the Aboriginal children from all over the colony. They sustained themselves by growing their own vegetables and cash crops, including arrowroot and hops. Through the hard work of the Aboriginal people, Coranderrk Station was renowned for its farming produce and became the model for all future stations.

During the 1870s the Board for the Protection of Aborigines placed Aboriginal people from all over Victoria at Coranderrk Station. In 1924 it was closed as a staffed station. Nine Aboriginal people remained, with the Police Constable at Healesville as their local guardian. The rest were sent to Lake Tyers Reserve.

The area was gradually given away over the years until its status as a reserve was revoked. In 1948 the Coranderrk Land Bill released the station for private purchase. In 1998 land at Coranderrk was purchased by the Indigenous Land Corporation and returned to Aboriginal people.

Coranderrk was the home to many Aboriginal women, some of whom became prominent Aboriginal spokespersons.

The Society of Women Writers Victoria Inc. was formed in 1970 with the aim of drawing together women engaged in writing. By 1971 the society claimed 35 members and in 1973 it began producing its own newsletter. By 1974 membership increased to over 80. Initially affiliated with the existing Society of Women Writers in New South Wales, in 1980 a federal body, The Society of Women Writers (Australia), was formed with the state societies becoming branches. In 2000 the federal body was disbanded and the state societies became independent incorporated bodies.

As of 2004 the Society’s website described its aims and activities thus:
‘The main aim of SWWV is to draw together women engaged in the writing profession and to strengthen ties between women writers in Australia and overseas. SWWV seeks to do this by the regular conduct of: workshops, poetry and prose readings, seminars, conferences, book launches and literary competitions.’ It also runs postal workshops.

The inaugural meeting of the Australian Women Pilots’ Association (AWPA), was held at the Royal Aero Club of New South Wales at Bankstown on 16 September 1950. Thirty-five women became charter members. Nancy Bird Walton, the catalyst for the formation of the Association was elected founding president, with Maie Casey wife of the Governor-General at the time, R. G. Casey, its patron. The aims of the Association include encouraging women to gain flying licenses of all types, maintaining pilot networks in state and local areas where women in aviation can meet and exchange information, promoting training, employment and careers in aviation and assisting in the future of aviation through public interest, safety and education. Full membership is open to any female pilot who holds or has held a pilot’s licence.

The Society of Women Writers Tasmania Inc. began in the late 1980s as a Magazine Branch of the Society of Women Writers (Australia), although a small group had been operating prior to this, possibly since the 1960s. It became an independent incorporated body when the national society was disbanded in 2000.

As of 2004, the Society’s website described itself as ‘an organisation oriented towards the art of writing in all its forms’ which aimed ‘not only help and support [women] in our writing endeavours but to reach as professional a standard as possible.’ They produce five Postal Magazines – Appleseed, Coffee Break, Overflow, Ripples, and Chrysalis.

In the early 1970s Elizabeth Furner founded the Brighton Writers’ Workshop from which the Society of Women Writers (Australia), South Australian Branch was formed in 1976. It promotes interest and skills in writing for women by regular meetings and workshops. It became an independent incorporated body, the Society of Women Writers South Australia Inc., when the national society was disbanded in 2000. The Society’s main aim is to draw together women writers to support each other in their writing endeavours, and various seminars, workshops and other activities are organised towards this end.

The National Italian-Australian Women’s Association, established in 1985 by the founding president, Franca Arena, aims to recognise and promote the contribution of Italo-Australian women to Australian society. It has organised two international conferences in Sydney in 1985 and 1988, and published Forza e Coraggio/Give me strength (1989), a selection of Italian migrant women’s experiences.

Franca Arena was born in Genoa, Italy, and migrated to Australia in 1959. She was the founding member of the Migrant Women’s Association, president of the National Italian-Australian Women’s Association, founder of the New South Wales Ethnic Community Council, won a Churchill Fellowship, and was Commissioner of the Education Commission of New South Wales. In 1981, she was the first woman from a non-English speaking background to be elected to the New South Wales Parliament, where she served for seventeen years. Arena resigned from the Australian Labor Party in November 1997, remaining in parliament as an Independent until her resignation from Parliament in March, 1999.

Dora Hunter was raised by two missionaries, Miss Hyde and Miss Butler, firstly at Quorn and then at Eden Hills, South Australia. She started working as a servant in a private home, and later got a job in a kindergarten. Following that, she worked as a Child Care Worker at the Central Methodist Mission in Adelaide for nine years. She did two years’ training in the Aboriginal Task Force at the Institute of Technology in Adelaide, and worked in a Government position as an Aboriginal Community Worker. She has been involved with the Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship and the Young People’s Branch of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. She enjoys playing music, and has often played in old people’s homes and children’s homes as well as at church meetings.

Roslyn Watson is an Aboriginal Australian ballet dancer and choreographer of international renown. Born in Brisbane of Biri descent, she has danced in a number of Australian companies since beginning her career in the early 1970s. She has danced internationally, and with international companies, including the prestigious Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Maureen Watson was born in Rockhampton in 1930. Of Biri descent, spent her early life in rural Queensland, moving to Brisbane with her five sons in 1970. She became heavily involved in the struggle for indigenous right and justice throughout the 1970s and 80s, as her participation in protests at the Brisbane Commonwealth Games testified to. She developed a well deserved reputation as a storyteller, her major medium for the promotion of Aboriginal culture.

Maude Tongerie was born in 1927 at Anna Creek, about 80 miles west of Oodnadatta in South Australia. She lived with her people (Arabunna) until the age of nine, when she was taken to the Finke River Mission for an eye treatment. She then went to live with an aunt in Oodnadatta so that she could learn English, and from there she went to Colebrook Home, a non-Government Aboriginal mission, in Quorn. At the age of 15 she started to work as a domestic with a family near Adelaide. She married George Tongerie, a young Aboriginal man who served in the Air Force during the war. In the early 1970s Maude became involved with the Department for Community Welfare, and has worked as a Social Worker with Aboriginal families, particularly in the Juvenile Courts.

Patricia O’Shane was born in Northern Queensland in 1941. A noted activist for Indigenous rights, her achievements in the public sphere have been remarkable. She was the first Aboriginal Australian barrister (1976) and the first woman to be appointed to the New South Wales Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Board (1979). When she was appointed permanent head of the New South Wales Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs in 1981, she became not only the first Aboriginal person but also the first woman to become a permanent head of ministry in Australia.

The National Council of Jewish Women, South Australia Section was founded in 1929 due to the efforts of a group of South Australian women who had attended the first national conference of the Council of Jewish Women in Sydney in May of that year. They persuaded Fanny Reading, founder of the Council, to visit Adelaide in September to assist with this aim. Reading met with Mrs Isabella Solomons, wife of the Adelaide Hebrew Congregation President and herself president of the South Australian Women’s Zionist Society and who had formed the Adelaide Ladies Jewish National Fund in 1928. Solomons became the first president of the newly formed Section, remaining in this position until 1946.

From its earliest days, the Council in South Australia was concerned with both Zionist and community work. It raised funds for various Jewish causes and charities (both Jewish and some non-Jewish), as well as holding social events. After WWII, they sought to assist Jewish migrants arriving in South Australia and from the 1950s initiated various services for the aged such as meals on wheels.

A relatively small organisation, membership of the group has never exceeded 60.

The Council continues today as a non-profit, voluntary, organisation for Jewish women, acting for their advancement and for social justice generally.

Val Bryant was the first Aboriginal person to work in the Department of the Prime Minister. She is an Aboriginal health worker with both practical and academic understandings of the health issues confronting indigenous communities. She has published extensively on the problems of substance abuse in Aboriginal communities and has established and run rehabilitation centres in Sydney and Western Australia.

The National Council of Jewish Women, Western Australia Section was founded in 1929, largely as the result of a visit of by Fanny Reading to Perth expressly for the purpose of amalgamating the existing Western Australia League of Jewish Women with the National Council. While this aim was not achieved, Fanny Beckler became the founding president of the Western Australia Section of the Council (the League continued for several years before disbanding). A Council Juniors was also formed. In its early days the Western Australia Section devoted itself to assisting Jewish migrants and then to war work. In the years after WWII, the Council organised more social events, undertook more fund raising and offered services for the elderly. The Council continues today as a non-profit, voluntary, organisation for Jewish women, acting for their advancement and for social justice generally.