The Australian Women's Register

Appointed lady superintendent of the New South Wales Army Nursing Service Reserve (NSWANSR), Nellie Gould left Australia on 17 January 1900 with thirteen nursing sisters to serve in the Boer War as part of the British Army. The nursing contingent returned to Australia in 1902.

On 27th September 1914 Nellie Gould enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and served in Egypt, caring for Gallipoli casualties, followed by service in France and then England. She returned to Australia in January 1919 and was discharged on 3 March. She was unfit to take up nursing duties again and from 1920 she received a war service pension.

In 1916 Nellie Gould was awarded the Royal Red Cross Medal (1st class) for her war work.

The Army Nursing Service Reserve was established in 1899 and attached to the New South Wales Army Medical Corps. This was the first official female army nurses’ organisation in the Australian colonies. Nurse Nellie Gould was appointed lady superintendent of the Reserve. On the 17 January 1900 Nurse Gould left with thirteen nursing sisters to serve in the Boer War as part of the British Army. The nursing contingent returned to Australia in 1902. The Reserve was replaced by the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), that was formed post Federation.

Clare Stevenson was appointed Director of the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force on 9 June 1941. Thus she became head of the first Women’s Service formed in Australia for ground-staff duties with an armed force. After the war Stevenson returned to her executive position with Berlei Ltd. Also she became involved with community work. For forty years she was affiliated with the Services Canteens Trust Fund. Clare Stevenson, with a group of friends, helped initiate the Scholarship Trust Fund for Civilian Widows’ Children. She also helped establish the Kings Cross Community Aid Centre as well as the Carer’s Association of New South Wales. On 11 June 1960 Clare Stevenson was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for social welfare services on behalf of ex-servicewomen. On Australia Day 1988 she received the Member of the Order of Australia award for service to the community and to the welfare of veterans.

The Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) was formed in March 1941 after considerable lobbying by women keen to serve and by the Chief of the Air Staff who wanted to release male personnel serving in Australia for service overseas. The WAAAF was the first and largest of the World War II Australian Women’s Services. It was disbanded in December 1947.

Kate Deakin (1850-1937) was Alfred Deakin’s sister and close companion. She was tutor to his two eldest children and taught music at various times during her life.

Following the birth of her children, Beryl Beaurepaire became involved with charity work and the women’s organisations of the Liberal Party. She summarises her liberal feminist views as follows: ‘If you’re a feminist you believe in equal opportunities and rights for women, but you also believe that women accept equal responsibilities.’ (As cited by Emma Grahame in Australian Feminism: A Companion, OUP, 1998)

Dame Beryl passed away at her home in Mt Eliza, Victoria, on 24 October 2018.

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch was widely regarded as the ‘queen of Australia’s philanthropic community’. She was Patron of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Victoria and supported 110 charitable organisations annually.

The Arboretum was established in 1985/86 and named in honour of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch in recognition of her contribution to the project.

Pat Giles commenced her working life as a nurse. After completing a Bachelor of Arts as a mature age student, she was an Organiser with the Hospital Employees Union of Western Australia from 1974 until 1981. In that year Giles was elected as an Australian Labor Party (ALP) Senator for Western Australia, and held the position for twelve years. During this time she was directly involved in the United Nations Decade for Women meetings, leading the government delegation to Nairobi in 1985.

Giles was a founding member and inaugural convenor of the Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) WA in 1973 and was the first woman on the executive of the West Australian Trades and Labour Council. She was a member, later Chairperson, of the first Australian Council of Trade Unions Women’s Committee. In 2004 Giles completed her third and final term as President of the International Alliance of Women. In 2010, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia.

On 11 June 2001, Haines became a Member of the Order of Australia ‘for service to the Australian Parliament and to politics, particularly as Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Democrats, and to the community.’

Haines was appointed to the Senate to fill a casual vacancy in South Australia in 1977. In 1986 she became the first woman to lead an Australian political party when she was elected leader of the Australian Democrats.

(Source: http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours_list/resultDetail.cfm?awardsID=709341 accessed 17/04/2002 and Emma Grahame in Australian Feminism: A Companion.)

Susan Hawthorne is a writer, publisher and circus performer.

With Renate Klein she established Spinifex Press, specialising in feminist publications, in the early 1990s.

Her biography on CyberFeminism states that ‘she has degrees in Philosophy and Ancient Greek Language and has taught in the fields of Philosophy, Education, Literature and Women’s Studies.’

Described as a radical feminist, Klein was awarded a Master of Science degree in Biology from The University of Zurich; a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from the University of California, Berkeley; and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from London University.

A senior lecturer in Women’s Studies, she is currently Associate Professor at Deakin University’s School of Social and International Studies in Burwood, Melbourne.

With Susan Hawthorne she established Spinifex Press, specialising in feminist publications, in the early 1990s.

Rosemary Calder served as First Assistant Secretary (Head) of the Office of the Status of Women from 2000-2003.

As a member of the Monash University alumni, she was honoured by the University in 2002 with a Doctor of Laws (honoris causa). She was appointed Adjunct Professor in the School of Political and Social Inquiry in the Faculty of Arts from 2003.

Head of Office of the Status of Women 1986-1988

First Assistant Secretary, Office of the Status of Women 1988-1993.

First Assistant Secretary, Office of the Status of Women 1993-1994.

First Assistant Secretary, Office of the Status of Women 1994-1997.

Pru Goward served as Executive Director of the Office of the Status of Women from 1997. In July 2001 she became the Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, appointed for a term of five years. In 2004 she was also appointed Commissioner Responsible for Age Discrimination.

In 2004 she was nominated by The Australian as one of the forty most influential Australians and by the Australian Financial Review as one of the country’s top cultural and industrial relations influencers. Her speeches have been reproduced in published collections and in 2001 she was awarded a Centenary Medal for her services to journalism and women’s rights.

In 2007 she stood successfully as a candidate for the Liberal Party of Australia in the seat of Goulburn in the Legislative Assembly at the New South Wales state election, which was held on 24 March. She was re-elected in 2011 and again in 2015 and is a minister in the Liberal state government.

National Convenor of WEL from 1984 until early 1985.

Elizabeth Beveridge was a Foundation member and President of the Country Women’s Association (CWA) in Tasmania.

Chloe Hooper attended Lauriston Girls’ School before commencing a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne. She studied creative writing at New York’s Columbia University under a Fulbright Scholarship.

Hooper’s first novel A Child’s Book of True Crime was launched at the 2002 Adelaide Writers’ Week.

In 1895 Augusta Zadow was appointed the first female Factory Inspector in South Australia.

Shirley Randell is an award-winning global mentor, educator, trainer, author, company director, public speaker, change activist, ambassador, patron, and campaigner for human rights. She is a long-time activist for gender equality and women’s empowerment in education, employment, public service and civil society in Australia, the Pacific, Asia and Africa.

Sprinter Marjorie Jackson-Nelson was commonly known as ‘The Lithgow Flash’, after the New South Wales town in which she was brought up. Jackson-Nelson became the Governor of South Australia on 3 November 2001. She won two Olympic gold medals (Helsinki 1952) and seven Commonwealth Games gold medals for athletics. Jackson-Nelson also founded the Peter Nelson Leukaemia Research Fellowship, for which she has fund-raised since 1977.

Anne Feehan is a member of the Invergowrie Foundation and has been Headmistress of Camberwell Anglican Girls Grammar School (Canterbury, Victoria) since January 2001.

She is the former Deputy Principal (Curriculum) of Strathcona Baptist Girls Grammar School.

(Source: http://www.ahisa.com.au/tl/members/NFTS4.htm accessed 03/04/2002)

A council member of the Invergowrie Foundation, Sutton is a former Headmistress of Camberwell Anglican Girls Grammar School.

A council member of the Invergowrie Foundation, Cowling is Headmistress of Genazzano FCJ College, Kew, Victoria.