The Australian Women's Register

Ola Cohn was the first Australian sculptor to carve large commissions free-hand in stone. She created the statue for the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden in Adelaide, South Australia, and carved the famous Fairies’ Tree in Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens. Examples of Ola Cohn’s work in bronze, stone and wood are in state and provincial galleries nationwide. On 1 January 1965, Cohn was appointed a Member of the British Empire for her work in the service of art, especially sculpture. Her studio home in Gipps St, East Melbourne, is now known as the Ola Cohn Memorial Centre.

Stefania Siedlecky was one of the first two women medical officers to work at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, New South Wales (NSW). A general practitioner with a particular interest in women’s health, she was influential in the development of the family planning movement in NSW, joining Family Planning NSW in 1971. In 1974 she helped set up the Leichhardt (NSW) Women’s Health Centre and the Preterm Foundation, two initiatives which brought safe legal abortion to NSW. From these beginnings, she developed a national, then international, reputation. In 1986 she joined the United Nations Family Planning Association (UNFPA) Special Advisory Committee on Women, Population and Development and in 1988 conducted a review of the UNFPA program in Zambia.

Ruth Crow and her husband Maurie, long term members of the Communist Party, were active in various progressive movements, in later years becoming especially involved with the North Melbourne Association.

(Source: Historical Note Melbourne University Archives)

Emily Cruickshank was married to F. Cruickshank until 1902 when he died. She was the sole breadwinner for her family of three children.

(Source: Historical Note Melbourne University Archives)

Grace Cuming was the wife of W.J. (Bill) Cuming, of the Cuming, Smith & Co. family.

(Source: Historical Note Melbourne University Archives)

Dorothy Derham was the daughter of H. and Grace Derham (née Taylor and one of four sisters including Mrs Aeneas Gunn), graduated at the University of Melbourne (B.A. 1919, Dip.Ed. 1920, M.A. 1921) and taught English and French to the examination forms at Ruyton Girls’ School. She was first cousin to Alfred and Enid Derham, and a close friend of the latter.

Enid Derham was a poet and an academic who photographed her travels to Egypt, the Mediterranean, Europe, and England during 1927.

Frances Derham was born in Melbourne in 1894 and married Alfred Derham. As a trained artist and qualified art teacher, she taught and lectured for over sixty years and had a profound influence on early childhood art in Australia. After teaching at Preshil in Kew, Frances Derham tutored at the Kindergarten Training College. She was closely involved with Christine Heineg in the establishment of the Lady Gowrie Child Centres in 1939. A former President of the Art Teachers’ Association of Victoria, Vice-President and founding member of the Australian Society for Education through the Arts, Derham died in 1987.

Barbara Ward was born on February 12, 1954 in Gympie, Queensland, educated at Aspley State High School and studied Economics at the University of Queensland.
Barbara was advisor to the Hon Paul Keating, MP between 1979 and 1985. ( Keating was Treasurer of Australia between 1983 and 1991).
Barbara held various positions with TNT Finance between 1985 and 1993 and then was Chief Executive of Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services 1993-97.
Barbara has been Chairman of North Power since 2000 and a director of the Commonwealth Bank since 1994.

(Source: Herd, Margaret (editor) Who’s Who in Australia, 2002, 38th edition, Crown Content, Melbourne.)

[NB: the above biography was researched and written by Philida Sturgiss-Hoy]

Margaret Jackson was born on March 17, 1953 in Warragul, Victoria, educated at Warragul High School and studied Economics at Monash and Business Administration at Melbourne University.

Margaret was chairman of Qantas from 2000 to 2007. She has been a director of Qantas since 1992 and her other directorships include ANZ since 1994.
Margaret is married to Roger Donazzan and they have 2 children.

(Source: Herd, Margaret (editor) Who’s Who in Australia, 2002 38th edition, Crown Content, Melbourne.)

[NB: the above biography was researched and written by Philida Sturgiss-Hoy]

Simone Young is the Conductor and Music Director of Opera Australia. She was educated at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music.

Simone has been conductor Paris Opera, Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin and Vienna Staatsoper, Royal Opera House (London) and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
She was Young Australian of the Year in 1987.

Simone is married to Greg Condon and has 2 daughters.

(Source: Herd, Margaret (editor) Who’s Who in Australia, 2002 38th edition, Crown Content, Melbourne.)

[NB: the above biography was researched and written by Philida Sturgiss-Hoy]

Lorna Sisely, born in 1916 in Wangaratta, was educated at Wangaratta High School, Methodist Ladies College (Melb.) and Janet Clarke Hall University of Melbourne. She was a junior then senior Resident Medical Officer (RMO) at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne from 1942 until 1944. Later Sisely was founder and consultant surgeon at the Monash Medical Centre Breast Clinic. Among her other activities she was a member of the Anti-Cancer Council 1964 – 1981. On 14 June 1980 Lorna Sisely was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for her service to medicine.

[NB: the above biography was researched and written by Philida Sturgiss-Hoy for Women’s History Month 2003]

An illustrator of many books on Australian plants, Betty Maloney and her sister, Jean Walker, studied art at Melbourne Technical College (now RMIT).

After teaching art at the National Fitness Council, Melbourne Church of England Grammar School and St Catherine’s School in Melbourne, she travelled to Europe.
With her sister she wrote Designing Australian Bush Garens and Australian Bush Gardens in 1966 and 1967.

The 86 watercolour illustrations used for the publication Proteaceae of the Sydney Region with Alec Blombery are in the Archives of the New South Wales State Library.

Also she illustrated books on mah-jong and thimbles – she maintained a collection of Victorian thimbles, was a co-founder, with her husband, of the Sydney Wagner Society and was involved with volunteer conservation groups, including the Society for Growing Australian Plants.

In the early 1990s her own garden at French’s Forest was approved by the National Trust as a Trust garden and she was presented with a terracotta plaque.

Julie Hammer was the first woman to command an operational unit in the RAAF, the Electronic Warfare Squadron, and was awarded a Conspicuous Service Cross for that command. She was the recipient of the 1996 Association of Old Crows (Australian Chapter) Award for Distinguished Service to Electronic Warfare. She was awarded the 2001 Sir Charles Kingsford Smith Memorial Medal by the Royal Aeronautical Society to recognise her contribution to Australian aerospace and delivered the 2001 Kingsford Smith Memorial Lecture. She is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She was the first woman in the RAAF to become a member of the General List on promotion to Group Captain 1996, and the first serving woman in the history of the Australian Defence Force to be promoted to One Star level, on promotion to Air Commodore in 1999. She served for three years from 1996 to 1998 as one of the Prime Minister’s representatives on the Governor General’s Australian Bravery Awards Council.

Born in Pressburg, Austria-Hungary where her father was the manager of a branch of J P Coats thread mills. The family returned to Paisley, in Scotland, with the outbreak of World War I.
She enrolled in the in the Scottish National Academy of Music in Glasgow, then studied singing under Francis Harford before joining the Carl Rosa Opera Company in 1935 and played at the London Lyceum Theatre and touring South Africa.
In 1937 she joined the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company as a principal soprano, touring the English provinces and later America. In 1939 she was invited to join the Australian Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company as a principal for a year long tour of Australia and New Zealand.
She met and married Frank (later Sir Frank) Tait, the youngest of the five Tait brothers.
Her first book A Family of Brothers provides a history of the J C Williamson’s theatre enterprise and the contribution of the Tait brothers to Australian theatre. This was followed by Dames, Principal Boys…and all that: A history of Pantomime in Australia in 2001.

(Source: Farewell to a grand dame of light opera by Elisabeth Kumm and Grand lady of the stage by Philip Jones)

Eleanor Bourke, née Anderson, formerly Koumalatsos
Married to Colin Bourke Two children: Sia and Kelly
Descendant of the Wergaia and Wamba Wamba people of western Victoria.
Eleanor and her family moved to Murraydale, near Swan Hill, Victoria in 1945. She attended primary and high school in rural Victoria.
Education; Dip Arts Journalism (RMIT), BA Writing (CCAE), MEdStud (Adelaide) currently PhD Candidate, University of Adelaide.
Eleanor’s paid work includes policy concerning Aboriginal people in both the Victorian and Commonwealth governments and academia.
Positions held include: Associate Professor in Indigenous Affairs and the Director of the Aboriginal Research Institute, Faculty of the Aboriginal and Islander Studies, University of South Australia.
Member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Family Law Council and the National Aboriginal Consultative Committee. Fellow of the Australian College of Education.
Her membership of community-based organisations include the Victorian Aboriginal Advancement League, the Victorian Aboriginal Education Consultative Group and Camp Jungai Cooperative Ltd.

(Sources: Aboriginal Women by Degrees Mary Ann Bin-Sallik, Ed. University of Queensland Press, Queensland, 2000.)

[NB: the above biography was researched and written by Mary Sexton]

Maude O’Connell worked as a teacher and completed nursing training before becoming involved in social work. She was elected a Governor of the Carlton Refuge in 1909, and was an active member of the Tobacco Workers’ Union before founding “The Company of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament” (more commonly known as ‘The Grey Sisters’).

The current Head, Tropical Plant Sciences and Deputy Head, School of Tropical Biology at the James Cook University, Jackes also has been a member of the Academic teaching staff of the University of New England and the University of Queensland. She is the author or co-author of refereed journal papers, refereed conference papers, miscellaneous papers, articles, posters etc and environmental consultancy reports. Her books include: Poisonous Plants in Northern Australian Gardens, Plants of Magnetic Island, A Guide to the Plants of the Burra Range and Plants of the Tropical Rainforest.

Director-General of the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Community Services (appointed by Faye Lo Po’ (qv) in 1998). Niland is the former President of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board, and founding co-ordinator of the NSW Women’s Co-ordination Unit.
(Source: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/lm/stories/s104362.htm accessed 01/02/02)

Pauline Toner stood as a candidate for the Australian Labor Party in the Legislative Council Province of Templestowe at the Victorian state election, which was held on 20 March 1976, but was unsuccessful. She was elected Member of the Legislative Assembly at a by-election for Greensborough in 1977 and served until 1989. While in Parliament she was Minister for Community and Welfare Services (1982-1985) and a former Shadow Minister for Community and Welfare Services and Women’s Affairs.

Following her education at the Brigidine Convent Horsham, Toner obtained the subsequent qualifications TPTC, BA (Melb) and BEd (La Trobe). She held positions at the State College of Victoria (1974-1975), and SCV Hawthorn (1975-1977). Toner began the first woman Shire President of the Diamond Valley Council (1977-1978), where she was a Councillor from 1973 to 1979.

Married to Brian Toner on 2 January 1962 and the mother of five children (1s 4d) her recreations included: canoeing, bushwalking and chess. Also she was a director of the Victorian State Opera and a member of Amnesty International and the National Trust

Miss Marjorie Connor was born in Colac, Victoria in 1906 and died in Balwyn on 7 May 1991 aged 84. She was educated by a governess an later attended Lauriston before training as a nurse at the Alfred Hospital 1925-1928. After graduation she worked in the private consulting rooms of a dermatologist who used radium. She sustained some radium burns to the hand. From 1945-1972 she was the Executive Secretary of the Royal Victorian College of Nursing. Both it and its successor the RANF Vic. Branch awarded her Honorary Life Memberships. After her retirement she became the Hon. Secretary/Treasurer of the Florence Nightingale Committee Vic. Br. until shortly before her death.

(Source: Historical Note University Melbourne Archives)

Isabel Clifton Cookson was born in Melbourne in December 1893 and educated at Hambledon Ladies’ College and later at the Methodist Ladies’ College before entering the University of Melbourne where she graduated B.Sc. in 1916. She tutored at Newman and was appointed as Lecturer in Botany “including evening”) for 1930 and remained associated with the Department until her death on 1 July 1973, when she was still a Research Associate. She visited Europe for the first time in 1925, and in 1929 studied at the University of Manchester under Professor Lang, a specialist in fossil plants. In 1948 she received a Leverhulme Research Grant and in 1952 attended the 40th session of the Indian Science Congress.

Coppel (née Service) was an Arts student at the University of Melbourne and the Womens’ Vice-President of the SRC. She graduated L.L.B in 1924 and in the following year married Elias Coppel (lecturer in law). Marjorie Coppel (author of modern history texts for secondary schools) was an active member of “The Catalysts”, an association of intellectual, professional and artistic women who met regularly for dinners at the Lyceum Club.

(Source: Historical Note University Melbourne Archives)

Joan Coxsedge was the first Labor woman to be elected to the Victorian Legislative Council as the Member for Melbourne West Province in July 1979. She served until 1992. While in office she wrote and produced the newsletter, Hard Facts For Hard Times, from her Footscray office, in which she offered a left view of current local, national and international events.

(Source: Historical Note Melbourne University Archives)

Barclay is the Professor of Family Health and Director of the Centre for Family Health and Midwifery at the University of Technology Sydney.

Prior to commencing an academic career Barclay, who is a registered nurse and midwife, worked in a range of midwifery and women’s health and community development roles. She also has degrees in social sciences and education plus doctoral research into sexuality and pregnancy.
In 1997 The Hon. Dr Michael Wooldridge, the Federal Minister for Health, appointed Barclay to the National Health and Medical Research Council. She was re-appointed for a second three-year term in 2000. Also she is a founding member of the Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care.

(Source: http://www.familyhealth.uts.edu.au/about/lbarclay.html accessed 18/02/02 and http://www.aut.ac.nz/conferences/healthpolicy/speakers.shtml accessed 18/02/02)

In 1998 Mirka Mora was awarded the title of Honoured Artist, by the Lord Mayor and councillors of the City of Melbourne, ‘in recognition of lifelong achievement in the arts which has made an outstanding contribution to the life of this city’. Born in Paris, France, Mora with her husband Georges and son Philippe arrived in Australia in 1951. Over time their cafes and restaurants, The Mirka Café, the Balzac and the Tolarno were renowned for the bohemian style of the time. In 1999, a retrospective of her work was shown at Heide Museum of Modern Art and her autobiography Wicked but Virtuous: My Life was published in October 2000.

A fourth-generation Chinese Australian, Shun Wah is known for hosting ABC & SBS programs Studio 22, The Big Picture, Image, Eat Carpet, The Noise and Media Dimensions.
In 1996, she was nominated for an AFI award in ‘Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role’ for acting debut in Floating Life.
She is the co-author with Greg Aitkin of the publication Banquet: 10 Courses to Harmony.

(Sources: http://www.amida.com.au/profiles/1001.diffe.html accessed 18/02/02; http://www.anu.edu/pad/community/literary/pastlitevents/Text/shun-wah.html accessed 18/02/02 and http://www.thei.aust.com/isite/cellfloatlife.html accessed 18/02/02)