The Australian Women's Register

The Victorian Women Citizens’ Movement was established in 1922 for the purpose of lobbying for women’s right to stand for the Victorian Parliament.

In August 1945, the League of Women Electors, the Victorian Women Citizens’ Movement and Women for Canberra merged to become the League of Women Voters.

In 1902 “Merton Hall” was purchased by the Church of England, and henceforth the school was known as the Melbourne Church of England Girls Grammar School.

The Sydney Women’s Film Group viewed and discussed current work by women filmmakers.

The first Sydney Lyceum Club was established by writer Agnes Rose Soley (Rose De Boheme) in 1914.

North Sydney Girls High School, located on Lane Cove Road, Crows Nest, was officially opened by the Education Minister on 27 January 1914. The building was the first in the state to be purposefully built for the higher education of public school girls.

The foundation stone for the University Women’s College at the University of Melbourne was laid in 1936 by Lady Margaret Huntingfield. The college opened its doors to students the following year.

In 1975 the University Women’s College changed its name to University College and male residents were first enrolled.

The Victorian Trained Nurses Association was first constituted in 1901.

According to a newspaper article in The Argus on 6 July 1901, the objectives of the Association were:

1. To establish a system of registration for trained nurses.
2. To promote the interests of trained nurses – male and female – in all matters affecting their work.
3. To establish a uniform systems of training and examination for nurses.
4. To afford opportunities for discussing subjects bearing on the work of nursing.
5. In due course to arrange for schemes that will afford to nurses a means of providing an allowance during incapacity for work caused by sickness, accident, age, or other necessitous circumstances.

In 1904 the title of “Royal” was granted to the Victorian Trained Nurses Association by His Majesty the King.

At the Annual Meeting of the Royal Victorian Trained Nurses Association in 1934, a vote was held resulting in the Association’s name being changed to the Royal Victorian College of Nursing.

In 1975 the Royal Victorian College of Nursing amalgamated with the Royal Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch).

In the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette Issue No. GN42, a notice was published which stated the intention for the Royal Australian Nursing Federation to be renamed the Australian Nursing Federation.

Lucy MacMahon graduated from the University of Sydney with her medical degree in 1924. She travelled to England and remained there during the World War II period. On return to Australia, MacMahon worked closely with her two brothers who were surgeons.

The Mary Gilmore Award was created in 1956 by trade unions ‘to encourage literature “significant to the life and aspirations of the Australian people.”

Since its inception, awards have been presented in several categories, including: novels, poetry, a three-act play and a short story.

Currently, as of 2019, the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) administers the award, which is now awarded for poetry only.

The Royal Women’s Hospital, which was originally known as the ‘Melbourne Lying-in Hospital and Infirmary for Diseases of Women and Children’, was founded in August 1856. The aim of the founders was to provide a place where ‘underprivileged women could give birth and receive proper medical and nursing attention’.

The Queen Victoria Hospital merged with the Adelaide Children’s Hospital in 1989 to form the Adelaide Medical Centre for Women and Children. In 1995 the centre was renamed the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

The current Women’s and Children’s Hospital was given its name in 1995, after previously being called the Adelaide Medical Centre for Women and Children.

The centre is located in North Adelaide, South Australia.

In 1939 The Queen’s Home was renamed the Queen Victoria Maternity Hospital. Seven years later, in 1946, it was declared a public hospital under the provisions of the Hospital Benefits Act.

In 1966 the hospital was renamed The Queen Victoria Hospital.

The Queen’s Home was officially opened on 24 May 1902 – Queen Victoria’s 83rd Birthday. The hospital was established as a private maternity hospital and from 1917 unmarried women were admitted for the first time.

In 1939, the hospital was renamed the Queen Victoria Maternity Hospital.

Established in 1883, Sydney Girls High School is the oldest state girls school in New South Wales.

The Queen Victoria Hospital was the name given to the Queen Victoria Maternity Hospital in 1966. The hospital provided maternity and women’s health services, and also operated as an adoption agency. In March 1989 the Queen Victoria Hospital merged with the Adelaide Children’s Hospital to form the Adelaide Medical Centre for Women and Children.