The Australian Women's Register

The Australian Federation of University Women (AFUW) was initiated in 1920, and formally established at the inaugural conference held in Sydney in September 1922. In December 2009 the AFUW changed its name to the Australian Federation of Graduate Women Inc (AFGW) to better represent the broadening of the organisation’s membership parameters.

AFGW is an umbrella organisation for the state-based Federations of Graduate Women and provides a means for national organisation of these bodies working for the advancement and well-being of women and girls through education. As one of the members of the International Federation of University Women (an organisation which holds consultative status with the United Nations and its specialised agencies), AFGW has a voice through IFUW on international matters regarding protection of human rights and the status of women and girls.

Amongst other things, the activities of the AFGW have involved the setting up of committees for special projects; the lobbying of Government departments; the presentation of submissions to Government; and the holding of conferences, originally biennially, later triennially. The AFGW also administers a number of fellowships, which are awarded to further the studies of successful applicants. Over the years, the AFGW has been involved in a number of important issues relating to the education and employment of women. Activities have included campaigns to obtain equal pay and equal employment opportunities for women and to eliminate discrimination against women in both education and the workforce.

The Victorian Women Graduates’ Association, Geelong Branch resolved to disband on 15 September 1981. A belated “coffee party” was announced for 6 May 1982 of the “Geelong Graduates’ Group, ex A.F.U.W. – Geelong” to reminisce, plan for the future and discuss commitment to the Deakin Foundation.

The Mildura Branch of the Victorian Women Graduates’ Association was formed in July 1949 and existed until 7 March 1979.

Vida Goldstein ran for the Australian Senate in 1903. Though she was not elected, she was the first woman to be nominated for the Australian Parliament.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Sharman Stone was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament representing the electorate of Murray, Victoria in 1996. She was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage on 21 October 1998 and served in that capacity until October 2004, when she became Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration. She also served as Vice-President of the Executive Council. She was Minister for Workforce Participation from January 2006 until December 2007. She was re-elected in 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013.

The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union of Victoria was founded in 1887 when the 12 existing local branches in Melbourne suburbs and regional Victoria joined together to form a Colonial Union. It is primarily dedicated to promoting total abstinence from alcohol and other harmful drugs and all members sign a pledge to this effect. Under its broader agenda of ‘home protection’ and the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, and in its belief that the dangers of alcohol could not be tackled in isolation, the WCTU has pursued a very wide-ranging reform agenda mostly relating to the welfare of women and children. Importantly, influenced by its sister organisation in the United States, the Union became a major supporter of the campaign for women’s suffrage in Australia as it was believed that power at the ballot box was the only way to achieve their goals. While at its most influential in the years up to WWI, the movement continues today.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Judith Troeth was elected as a Senator for Victoria in the Parliament of Australia in 1993. She was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy from October 1997 until October 1998, when she moved to become Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. She held that position until October 2004. She retired at the 2010 federal election, but remained in the Senate until her term expired on 30 June 2011.

Spence ran as a South Australian delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention in 1897, the first woman political candidate in Australia. She was also active in the Women’s Suffrage League and the South Australian National Council of Women.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Trish Worth was elected to the House of Representative of the Australian Parliament as the Member for Adelaide, South Australia in 1993. She was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing on 26 November 2001 in the Howard Government. She was defeated at the 2004 election.

The Western Australian Association of University Women came into being in 1923, with Dr. Roberta Jull as first president. According to its 1965 constitution the objectives of the Association were: a) to act as an organisation which affords opportunity for the expression of opinion and for concerted action by university women in matters of common interest; b) to co-operate through the Australian Federation of University Women with the International Federation of University Women which exists for the promotion of scholarship, understanding and friendship among the university women of the world without discrimination as to race, colour, religion or political opinion.

Senator the Honourable Kay Patterson was elected to the Senate for Victoria in 1987. On 7 October 2003 she was appointed Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women. Her other ministerial appointments have included being Minister for Health and Ageing, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. Prior to entering Parliament she was Principal Lecturer and Chair with the School of Behavioural Sciences at the Lincoln Institute of Health Sciences.

Joan Bielski was a long time activist for equality for women in employment, education and public life. A founding member of the Council for Civil Liberties, she was also a foundation member of Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) in 1972 and continued her active involvement throughout her life.

In 1988 she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her services to women and girls education. In 2004 she was awarded the Order of Australia for her services to women in politics and public life.

Joan Bielski was a long time supporter of the National Foundation for Australian Women.

The federal government replaced the National Women’s Advisory Council with the National Women’s Consultative Council in 1984. The NWCC produced its last report in December 1992 and in late 1993 it was replaced by the Australian Council for Women.

AWOC is a conference for representatives of Australian women’s organisations. It replaced the traditional ‘Pre-Round Tables’ which were generally held on the days preceding the National Women’s Round Table (NWRT). It brings the input of organisations not participating in the NWRT to that forum.

The inaugural AWOC was organised by the National Women’s Justice Coalition, the Nursing Mothers’ Association of Australia, Women’s Electoral Lobby Australia and the YWCA, with program input from representatives of national women’s organisations on Pamela’s List.

Sources: http://www.nwjc.org.au/pamelaslist.htm and http://www.capow.org.au/AWOC/story.htm

The Office for Women (previously the Office of the Status of Women) works to mainstream women’s issues in Australian society and internationally. Its work with governments, the women’s sector, and the broader community is focused on three priority areas:

• Reducing violence against women
• Women’s equal place in society
• Economic Independence.

CAPOW! is a networking coalition for women’s non-government organisations (NGOs) in Australia Since its foundation in 1992 at a WEL national conference CAPOW! has played a major role in developing cooperative ventures and mechanisms across the women’s movement. It held twice-yearly face-to-face meetings for this purpose.

CAPOW! helped coordinate NGO forums to facilitate submissions to the federal government and the United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing, (September 1995). It has since worked to follow up the commitments made by the Government and NGOs at Beijing, and continues to encourage women’s’ NGOs to make submissions to the government.

By 1996 the CAPOW network linked more than sixty national women’s organisations and served to improve information flow and coordination of advocacy in international as well as domestic spheres.

Mrs Matenson has worked extensively on her family history and done genealogical research, publishing several booklets, the first in 1988, and won a certificate from the Tasmanian Government. Her second “A Melbourne Family 1848-1948” won the first prize of the Alexander Henderson Award 1989. Her most recent book was self published.

Helen Coonan is a former Australian politician, who was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate representing New South Wales from July 1996 to August 2011. On 26 November 2001, she was appointed Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer in the Howard Government. She was re-elected in 2001 and 2007. From 2004-07, she served as Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.

Since leaving politics in 2011, Coonan has transitioned into the corporate world, and vouches for the seminal importance of the law, including legal training, legal practise and legal experience as a common thread underpinning her capacity to perform across a diverse professional and public landscape for a very long time.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read a reflective essay written by Helen Coonan for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

Chris Gallus was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs on 26 November 2001.

She was elected to the House of Representatives (Liberal Party) in 1990 for the seat of Hawker, which was later abolished, and for the seat of Hindmarsh in 1993 and subsequent elections.

Elected to the Senate for South Australia in 1984 (Liberal Party), Amanda Vanstone was appointed Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women on 30 January 2001.

Amana Vanstone was honoured with an AO in the Australia Day Honours list in 2020 for distinguished service to the Parliament of Australia, to the people of South Australia, and to the community.

Pamelas-list was a private email list for representatives of Australian national women’s peak organisations and regional women’s organisations not represented nationally. The list was a primary vehicle for high level, day to day information exchange and coordination by women’s organisations in Australia.

The list was first convened by the National Women’s Justice Coalition in July 1998 with financial assistance from the Pamela Denoon Trust. The list is named to honour the life and work of Pamela Denoon.

Pamela’s vision for the advancement of women in Australia included the hope that Australian women’s organisations would, over time, work more closely together and be more supportive of each others issues and priorities.

With over 65 organisations participating, the store of messages posted to the list will be a unique resource for research in future years. The National Library of Australia has recently agreed to store the archive of pamelas-list on an embargoed basis.

Mervyn Davis commenced A Catalogue of Botanical Collectors and Delineators in 1955. She was elected first individual member and delegate for Australia to the International Federation of Landscape Architects in 1959, a position she held for ten years. Davis was the first woman elected a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Parks and Recreation in 1964, and in 1969 she was elected as the first Fellow of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects.

On 14 June 1980, Mervyn Davis was appointed a Member of the British Empire for her work in the public service.

Formed under the leadership of Sara Dowse, the Office of Women’s Affairs (OWA) was the bureaucratic support unit of the women’s adviser to the Prime Minister, a position created in 1973 under the Whitlam Labour government. OWA became the state apparatus through which many Australian feminists worked to achieve measures of women’s advancement in equal employment opportunity, legislation and law reform, health funding, refuges, childcare, arts and sport, media representations and school curricula.
The OWA played an important role in securing government funding for women’s services. The Office was originally located in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. However, in 1977, under the Fraser Liberal government, bureaucrats announced the Office was to move to the Department of Home Affairs, representing a significant loss of status given Home Affairs was ranked 26th out of 27 ministries in seniority. Dowse resigned over this move, having always argued for the importance of having the Office located in the chief policy-making agency of the government (Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet). The Office (by then called the Office of the Status of Women) was restored to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in 1983 when Labour returned to office; prominent feminist academic Anne Summers was then appointed its head.

Sources: Sawer, M. 1996 and Caine, B. 1998

Vivienne Abraham was active in the Australian peace movement for several decades. She was Honorary Secretary of the Peace Pledge Union (1946-52), acting editor and editor of the ‘Peacemaker’ and Honorary Secretary and Treasurer of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (1982-89).

The Women’s Constitutional Convention met at Parliament House, Canberra, 29-30 January 1998. Discussions included whether or not Australia should become a republic, women’s place in politics and the status of women in Australia.
Source: RAAM

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom was formed at a congress in Zurich in May 1919. Its genesis stemmed from a joint tour of the USA by British suffragist Emmeline Pethwick-Lawrence and Hungarian feminist Rosika Shwimmer in 1914. In 1915, the Sisterhood for Peace (SIP) was formed in Melbourne, and in 1919 SIP members travelled to attend the conference in Zurich. SIP then reconstituted itself as the Australian section of the WILPF. Its headquarters remained in Victoria when WILPF branches were later established in New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. The Australian section was formally separated from the Victorian branch in 1920.

Aside from campaigning for international disarmament and an end to all war, WILPF has taken action on a wide range of social justice issues.

Margaret Reynolds was a Senator for Queensland from 1983 until 1999. First elected to the Senate in 1983, she was re-elected in 1984, 1987 and 1993. Reynolds worked as primary and remedial teacher then a tutor before entering parliament. She also served on the Townsville City Council from 1979-1983. Reynolds’ responsibilities have included: Federal Government representative on the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation 1992-1995; Minister assisting PM on Status of Women 1988-1990; Chair of the Parliamentary Adviser to the United Nations; and Minister for Local Government 1987-1990. Reynolds has been a member of the Australian Labor Party since 1971, and has held many positions in the ALP.

Reynolds retired from parliamentary politics in 1999. She is now the National President of the United Nations Association of Australia and an Adjunct Professor and Sessional Lecturer in the School of Political science and international studies, University of Queensland.