The Australian Women's Register

Ros Kelly was elected with a large majority as the first woman member of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) House of Assembly and later became the first Labor woman federal minister in the House of Representatives and the first to give birth while holding office.

Established in 1922, The Queensland Country Women’s Association was declared by letters patent to be a Body Corporate on the 13th July, 1926.

It is a non-sectarian, non-party-political, non-profit lobby group and service association working in the interests of women and children in rural areas. Although ostensibly non-party-political, in practice the group has tended to bolster conservative politics and has supported traditional family roles for women. Historically, it was, however, also a progressive force in many ways, particularly in its encouragement of country women to take an active part in public affairs, and also in its lobby for and provision of services to rural areas.

Given its size and scope, it was arguably the most influential women’s organisation in Queensland in the twentieth century.

Ann Dalgarno was the only female member of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Advisory Council, serving from 1959 to 1967 as a Liberal Member and from 1970 to 1974 as an Independent. She also ran the Nursing Service Agency.

She was a major advocate for Canberra’s women, youth, the physically handicapped, and the disadvantaged. She was an active member or leader of around twenty-two community organisations.

The South Australian Country Women’s Association is a non-sectarian, non-party-political, non-profit lobby group and service association working in the interests of women and children in rural and urban areas. Although ostensibly non-party-political, in practice the group has tended to bolster conservative politics.

The State association was formed in 1929. The first branch of the Association in South Australia was actually formed in 1926 at Burra by Mary Warnes. By 1988, nearly every small settlement in South Australia had a CWA branch and the Association comprised 270 branches with 7,500 members (at its peak in 1956 the Association boasted 277 branches and 14,000 members).

The Association has engaged in an enormously diverse range of service and lobbying activities since its inception – from the provision of rest rooms and holiday houses for members, and handicraft and homecraft instruction, to the provision of health services in rural areas. Much of the Association’s energy has been directed towards providing relief in times of recessions, droughts, floods, war and disasters. Its size and scope made it one of South Australia’s most significant women’s organisations.

Archival note:
It is the policy of the headquarters archives to call in all paper-based material relating to all branches when no longer required. For many years the South Australian Association was also responsible for branches in the Northern Territory.

Lilias Stuart Humphreys, artist and genealogist, was born at Orange, New South Wales, in 1909, the fourth daughter and eldest child of Percival Stuart Garling (1873-1951) and Margaret Isabella Jane McSpadden. She married, in 1936, Jack Iorweth Humphreys (1905-1989) at her parents’ home ‘Wanganui’, Longueville, New South Wales; they had a daughter, Jennifer Karen (1937-1983). In 1927 the family home had been the venue for the celebration of the 112th anniversary of the arrival in Australia of Lilias’s great-great grandfather, the solicitor and magistrate Frederick Garling Senior (1775-1848). Her great grandfather was the customs officer and marine artist, Frederick Garling Junior (1806-1873), whose son was Arthur Crawford Garling (1833-1910).

In the 1960s, Lilias Humphreys began her genealogical researches into the descendants of Frederick Garling Senior and their extensive connections with other families. She carried on the earlier researches of her uncle, William Mylam Nicholas Garling. She was assisted by her daughter, Jennifer, who conducted her own research on Susannah Matilda Ward, nee Baldwin, appointed by Governor Macquarie as matron and superintendent of the Female Orphan Institution. Lilias Humphreys died in 1985.

The Country Women’s Association of Tasmania is a non-sectarian, non-party-political, non-profit lobby group and voluntary organisation working in the interests of women and children in both urban and rural areas. It was founded in 1936 in Launceston, with Mrs C. W. Peart as President, and grew quickly across the state.

The Association was formed partly in response to the formation of similar groups in other states. Its major activities have revolved around the provision of services to its members, fundraising, the improvement of amenities in rural areas (initially with an emphasis on child health services) and social activities.

Rachel Roxburgh was born in Sydney, New South Wales in 1915. She attended East Sydney Technical College and Adelaide Perry School. Afterwards she spent ten years in England and Europe, where she continued her studies at London Central and Hammersmith Art Schools. After her return to Australia she taught arts and crafts.

Roxburgh wrote a number of books on architecture and early Australian families. Her published works include The Early Australian scene: illustrated by example of early buildings in New South Wales (1969), Thomas Potter Macqueen of Segenhoe, New South Wales (1972), Early colonial houses of New South Wales (1974), Colonial farm buildings of New South Wales (1978), Berrima Court House (1981), Throsby Park: an account of the Throsby Family in Australia 1802-1840 (1989) and Some early colonial buildings (filmstrip, 1962). She also published a number of articles on old buildings, for example those published in the Journal of Royal Australian Historical Society (New South Wales).

Roxburgh died on 13 April 1991 in Castle Hill, New South Wales and is survived by her brother, Mr J. Roxburgh.

Social reformer, Rose Scott was born at Glendon, near Singleton, NSW, on 8 October, 1847. Rose Scott was one of the key figures in the turn-of-the century movement committed to the universal suffrage and a general improvement in the condition of women. She lived at home and did not marry, she devoted her life to the women’s movement.

In 1889 she helped form the Women’s Literary Society in Sydney and it was out of this society that the Womanhood Suffrage League developed in May 1891. She wrote and debated and lectured and argued until in 1902 the Women’s Suffrage Act became law in New South Wales. She lobbied for the establishment of Children’s Courts for juvenile offenders, for the ‘age of consent’ to be raised from fourteen to sixteen for girls (Crimes (Girls’ Protection) Acts 1910), and for a more comprehensive and equitable system of family maintenance to be established.

She opposed Federation and, in later years, conscription. She was president of a local branch of the London Peace Society, formed in 1907, and international secretary of the National Council of Women of New South Wales, formed in 1896.

One of the most important figures of her time she died in Sydney on 20 April 1925.

Ivy Shore won the Portia Geach Memorial Art Award (Australia’s richest and most prestigious art award for women painters only) with her first entry – a portrait of Della Elliott- in 1979. She went on to win “Most Highly Commended” prizes in the ‘Portia’ three times thereafter, making her the top winner in the history of the award.

The Catholic Women’s League of Western Australia was established on 23 August 1937 with the aim of centralising the activities of various Catholic women’s societies and to ‘give public expression to Catholic thought on vital questions arising from time to time’. It is affiliated with the Catholic Women’s League Australia Inc.

The Catholic Women’s League State of Queensland was established in 1975. It developed out of the Catholic Daughters of Australia, Brisbane, which was established in 1927. The League aims to unite Catholic women in a common bond of friendship for the promotion of religious, intellectual and social work. Membership is open to all Catholic women who are considered eligible by the branch executive. The organisation operates within the state of Queensland at all levels; state, diocesan/regional and branch. It is affiliated with the Catholic Women’s League Australia Inc. and the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations.

Women and the Australian Church was established in 1984 as a means of changing the understanding of the role of women in the Australian church and in society. It was initiated by the women Religious within the Catholic church and has been supported ideologically and to some extent financially by the Religious Orders of both men and women. It has developed into a network of local and regional groups in the various states of Australia. Men are included in the membership. Although Catholic by origin, it encourages membership from other religious denominations.

Where are the Women in Australian Science? is an online exhibition that highlights the women recognised in Bright Sparcs and provides access to them as a select subset. The exhibition was an end product of a project funded by the Commonwealth Office for the Status of Women through the National Foundation for Australian Women in 2002-2003, in partnership with the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre (Austehc).

Women have always played a significant role in the history of Australian science, technology and medicine but this tends to be forgotten. Women seem to disappear from the historical record. A primary goal of this project was to double the number of women in Bright Sparcs.

Women are 51% of the nation’s population. Using their talents to the full at all levels of scientific and technological education, training and employment is an economic necessity, and an investment in Australia’s future national development. The [Women in Science , Engineering and Technology] Advisory Group believes that continued under-representation and under-participation of women in SET [Science, Education and Technology]-based education, training and employment is not only a cause for social concern on equity grounds, it is also likely to inhibit Australia’s capacity to develop internationally competitive research and industries. There needs to be greater recognition of the value of different perspectives, priorities and operating styles that women can bring to SET.

Discussion paper from the Commonwealth Office of the Chief Scientist, ‘Women in Science, Engineering and Technology’, prepared by the Women in Science, Engineering and Technology Advisory Group, 1995.

Australian Women in War is an online exhibition listing Australian women, and women’s organisations, who offered their assistance in the Boer War, World Wars and subsequent conflicts. It provides links to biographical, bibliographical and archival information relating to a small selection of these individuals and organisations in the Australian Women’s Archives Project register. The project was a joint initiative of the New South Wales Local Committee of the Australian Women’s Archives Project (AWAP) and the Australian Government Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

From the information obtained the following conclusions were drawn: All associations, whether military or civilian, were proud of their volunteer status; ex-members made few distinctions between their service and association, in actual fact they were seen as one; some of the significant people suggested for biographies served in more than one conflict.

The Ordination of Catholic Women was founded by Zoe Hancock and Marie Louise Uhr in December 1993 to advocate the inclusion of women as ordained priests in the Catholic church. A national organisation, it held its first conference in Canberra in 1994 and its first international conference in 1999. It maintains a national office in Canberra, with regional convenors in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, South Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria and contacts in South Australia, North Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Kid First Australia is the trading name of The Children’s Protection Society (CPS), which was founded in 1896 as the Victorian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

An initiative of the Governor’s wife, Lady Sybil de Vere Brassey, its aims were to protect children from cruelty and neglect, to advance the claims of neglected, abandoned and orphan children to the general public, to co-operate with existing societies for this purpose and to enforce the existing laws for the protection of neglected children and juvenile offenders.

It was one of the few secular non government agencies in the child welfare field and it operated on the philosophy of persuading or, in the last resort, compelling parents to fulfil their responsibilities. It became the Children’s Protection Society in 1971. Changes to welfare policy and legislative reform in 1985 meant a change in the Society’s role but not in the objective to reduce child abuse and neglect.

In 2018 the Children’s Protection Society changed its name to Kids First Australia. Kids First Australia provides support services to children, young people, and families, such as counselling, treatment and theraputic healing for cases of absue and neglect, youth homelessness prevention, and mentoring and education services.

Women in the making of Canberra is an online exhibition based on an exhibition of the same name commissioned by the ACT Women’s Consultative Council in 2001. The exhibition celebrates the significant contributions that women have made to the development of Canberra, with links to biographical, bibliographical and archival information about women, organisations and places listed in the Australian Women’s Archives Project register.

The Country Women’s Association of New South Wales, the first such group in Australia, was founded in 1922 at a Bushwomen’s Conference held in conjunction with the Royal Agricultural Show in Sydney. It is a non-sectarian, non-party-political, non-profit lobby group and service association working in the interests of women and children in rural areas. Although ostensibly non-party, in practice the group has tended to bolster conservative politics. Historically, it was, however, also a progressive force in many ways. As early as 1936, for example, the NSW branch passed a resolution in favour of equal pay for women. Although the organisation has in many ways defended traditional gender roles, it has advocated a greater public role for country women. Although its influence has declined, given its large membership and longevity, it was arguably the most influential women’s organisation in New South Wales in the twentieth century.

Lady Margaret Stanley became the first President of the Australian Red Cross, Victoria, in 1914.

Born Margaret Evelyn Evans Gordon, she married Arthur Lyulph Stanley, 5th Baron of Alderley, in 1905. Appointed K.C.M.G. in 1914, Sir Arthur served as Governor of Victoria from 1914-20.

Lillias Skene was a prominent member of numerous women’s groups and social welfare organisations in Melbourne from the early 1900s into the 1940s. She initially focussed on philanthropic work, but from the 1920s she devoted most of her energies to the Red Cross and the National Council of Women of Victoria. She was present at the inaugural meeting of the British (Australian) Red Cross on 25 August 1914 and was a member of the Victorian council from about 1920 until 1941. She became assistant-secretary of the National Council of Women in 1914, honorary secretary in 1916, vice-president in 1921 and president in 1924. In this year she also became foundation president of the federal council of the various State-based National Councils of Women.

Lady Millie Peacock was the first woman member elected to the Victorian Parliament and the third woman elected to Parliament in Australia. On 1 January 1901 she married Victorian Parliamentarian Alexander Peacock (knighted 1902). Lady Peacock was the first President of the Creswick branch of the Australian Red Cross Society. She was a member of the Provisional Committee of the Victorian Division of the Australian branch of the British Red Cross Society (1914-1915). She then became a member of the Victorian Divisional Committee until 1934 and was a member of the Victorian General Committee until 1938. Following the death of her husband in 1933 Lady Peacock stood for and won her late husband’s Legislative Assembly seat of Allandale. During her time in Parliament she made only one speech. She retired from Parliament in 1935.

The Australian Board of Missions formed in 1850 with the aim of converting the indigenous peoples of the islands around Australia to the Anglican faith. In 1910 it was decided to employ women in a fund-raising capacity by forming the Women’s Auxiliary to the Australian Board of Missions. Beginning in New South Wales, Auxiliaries were attached to a particular diocese and by the 1980s were established in nineteen of the twenty four Australian dioceses. Initially, the funds raised went toward missionary training. More recently, they have been dedicated to specific projects such as the establishment of a training centre for lay, Indigenous evangelists

The Itinerants Literary Society began as a result of a dispute with the Hamilton Literary Society in 1894 when a group of members broke away to form a separate society. They are ‘itinerants’ in that they meet at each member’s home in turn. The Society’s rules set out the number of members, hours of meeting and terms of membership. At each meeting, members present papers which range widely. The minutes show how themes and topics are chosen and reveal a close adherence to the rules. Early subjects discussed included famous writers and political topics (including women’s suffrage), ‘women who have made history’ (including Jane Franklin, Sarah Bernhardt and Sonia Kovaleski).

The Hamilton Literary Society is the oldest continuing literary society in Australia. It was founded by Lady Teresa Hamilton, wife of the Governor of Tasmania, Australia, in 1889. Originally known as the Nil Desperandum Society, the group met twice a month at Government House in Hobart, Tasmania, to hear papers read by members. From 1892, members of the Society were also members of the Australasian Home Reading Association – which was formed under the auspices of the Literature Section of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, for the purpose of developing a taste for recreative and instructive reading among all classes, and directing home study to definite ends.

The first meeting of the Girl Guides Association of Australia Incorporated was held in Melbourne in 1926. The formation of this national body came over a decade after the first guides group was formed in Tasmania, the Girl Peace Scouts. Other states quickly followed and by the time a national body was established, all states in Australia had guides groups.

The Association celebrated their seventy-fifth birthday in 1985 and at that time had approximately 100,000 members.

The Catholic Women’s League Tasmania was established in 1941 in Launceston to bring together Catholic women, to help them meet socially, to engage in charitable work and to assist them to play their part in public life. Gwen Mullins, the catalyst for its formation, expressed concern about the isolation of Catholics from the general community in Launceston and particularly the non participation of Catholic women in any civic sphere at all. It has been involved in a range of issues including the family, immigration, media programs and educational opportunities for girls. By the 1980s it had developed a greater international awareness with the creation of the office of International Secretary. It is affiliated with the Catholic Women’s League Australia Inc.