The Australian Women's Register

Kathleen Rose Funder is recognised for her significant contribution to the Australian Institute of Family Studies, which she joined in 1983 as a Principal Research Fellow. During this time, Kathleen led and participated in research pertaining to the issues that determine family wellbeing. She published widely on her findings.

Kathleen was also an influential public speaker, and regularly contributed to journals, government investigations and the mainstream press.

In 2008, the Kate Funder Scholarships were established. The scholarships provide support for two medical students at the University of Melbourne’s Newman College.

Joan Forrest Gardner took up a position at the Department of Bacteriology (now known as the Department of Microbiology and Immunology) at the University of Melbourne in 1953. During her extensive career, she taught and researched in the areas of sterilisation, disinfection and infection control.

Joan established and lectured in advanced training courses for infection-control nurses and the staff of hospital sterilising departments. She also played an important role in the establishment of standards for sterilisers and other related hospital equipment.

She was an Honorary Life Member of what is now the Sterilising Research Advisory Council of Australia. In June 1992 Joan was declared an Officer of the Order of Australia.

Roslin Brennan Kemmis’s working life was committed to education in schools, TAFE/VET and universities, especially for disadvantaged people: Indigenous, prisoners, people with low levels of literacy. A Riverina resident for 40 years, she taught in secondary schools (full-time, 1972-1977), and kindergarten and primary schools (part-time, 1985-1988), and adult literacy (1989-1992). She also worked as a teacher in the Education Centre, Bendigo Prison (1983-1984). From 1978, she worked part time for Charles Sturt University (and its predecessor institutions), and full time as a Lecturer in Vocational Education and Training from 1997, then Senior Lecturer (2004). She was a member of the University Council 2000-2004, and Head of the School of Education (and Associate Professor) from 2008 until her retirement from full time work in 2012.

In 1987, with her then husband, the late Mark Brennan, she explored linguistic inequalities in the criminal justice system. Published as ‘Strange language: child victim witnesses under cross-examination’, this work had significant impact internationally and nationally on the language and treatment in courts of child victims.
As President of the NSW Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations, 1992-1997, she was a fearless warrior, advocate and activist. She successfully advocated for the 40kpm school zones and the establishment of the Office of the Commission for Children and Young People. In 1999, she was appointed Member of the Order of Australia, for service to children and school education.

Between 1999 and 2006, she contributed significantly to research in vocational education and training (VET) including work on online pedagogies in VET, and apprenticeships and traineeships. In 2007, she was awarded the Carrick Medal for pioneering work embedding pathways from the VET to the university sector.

From 2013-2015, with Wiradjuri elders, Ros led the development and delivery of the ground-breaking CSU Graduate Certificate course in Wiradjuri Language, Culture and Heritage.

Laureate Professor Emeritus Cheryl Saunders AO is an eminent law teacher and legal scholar with specialist interests in constitutional law and comparative public law.

Jane Stapleton was appointed Distinguished Professor of Law at the Australian National University, Canberra, in 2016.

Emeritus Professor Gillian Triggs held the positions of President of the Australian Human Rights Commission (2012-2017) and, since 2012, Vice-President, Administrative Tribunal of the Asian Development Bank. Prior to taking up these appointments she served as dean and Challis Professor of International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney (2007 to 2012) and as director of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (2005 to 2007).

Judith Cohen was the first female commissioner of the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, appointed in 1975.

In 2010, after thirty years at the Queensland Bar, Wendy Pack retired. The third woman barrister in Townsville when she began in 1980, she was the only woman at the Bar in North Queensland. She came to the law as a mature age student and as a mother who had already enjoyed a distinguished teaching degree.

Once established at the bar, Pack carved out a niche in the area of Family Law, where she became a specialist. She was an exemplar for women in the law in North Queensland, especially those who were trying to combine family life with a life at the bar.

Dedicated to achieving recognition of netball as an elite sport, Deridre Hyland was central to the sport’s development at a state, national and international level. She played a key role in elevating the sport’s public profile, direction and credibility for over more than 30 years. She was president of the Queensland Netball Association (QNA) 1974-80, the All Australia Netball Association (now Netball Australia) 1978-88, and the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) 1987-91. She managed Australian teams on overseas tours in 1978, ’81, and ’82, and was an official delegate at the 6th and 7th world tournaments in 1983 and ’87. She also served on the board of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) 1981-83 and the Confederation of Australian Sport (CAS) 1987-88. She was chair of the organising committee of the 8th World Netball Championships in Sydney in 1991. She was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her service to netball in 1990.

Hyland was Inducted into The Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1989 as a General Member for her contribution to the sport of netball. In 2008, she was an inaugural inductee into the Australian Netball Hall of Fame as a General Member and inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame in 2010.

Hyland passed away on 29 May 2015. Netball Australia CEO Kate Palmer paid tribute to her leadership and her innovative nature that ultimately led to the transformation of a new era for Netball Australia.

‘Deirdre’s leadership was characterised by her ability to share her vision and create change,’ Palmer said. ‘An intelligent and thoughtful person, Deirdre’s legacy to netball and sport in Australia has been profound.’

Anne Gallagher AO is a lawyer, practitioner, teacher and scholar, specialising in human rights and the administration of criminal justice. She obtained a BA and LLB from Macquarie University; a Masters of International Law from the Australian National University; and a PhD from the University of Utrecht.

After teaching international law for several years at ANU, Anne sat for the national competitive examinations to enter the United Nations and was recruited in 1992 to the UN’s human rights operations. From 1998 to 2002 she was Special Adviser to Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former President of Ireland. During that time Anne was at the forefront of developing the new international legal framework around transnational organized crime, migrant smuggling and human trafficking.

Since resigning from the UN in 2003, she has been working with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its ten Member States to strengthen legislative and criminal justice responses to human trafficking and related exploitation. This Australian-government funded program – the world’s largest and most ambitious criminal justice initiative against trafficking – has been acclaimed for its impact on laws, policies and practices within and outside the ASEAN region and Anne’s contribution has been widely recognized, including by the ASEAN Secretary-General.

Raelene Webb QC holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Physics from the University of Adelaide and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland. She was admitted to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory and the High Court of Australia in 1992. In 2004, she was appointed Queen’s Counsel. Prior to her five year appointment on 1 April 2013 by the Attorney General, as President of the National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT), Raelene was named as one of the leading native title silks in Australia. She has appeared as lead counsel in many native title and Aboriginal land matters and has advised upon and appeared in the High Court in most land-mark cases on the judicial interpretation and development of native title/Aboriginal land law since the decision of Mabo V Queensland (No 2).

Raelene became a fellow of the Australia Academy of Law in August 2013 and delivered the Annual Richard Cooper Memorial Lecture at the TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, at the end of September 2013. She was a recipient of the 2014 Law Council of Australia President’s Medal, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the legal profession in Australia.

On receipt of the award, Raelene encouraged other women thinking of taking risks with their careers to be brave.

‘I marvel how it is that a shy country girl coming to the law in mid-life, finds herself here receiving this prestigious award and in the company of so many distinguished lawyers who have themselves contributed so much to the legal profession, both personally and through their work with the Law Council of Australia.

My advice to all who are contemplating scaling the walls of the legal profession, and particularly to women: be courageous, be bold, and above all, be passionate about the law.’

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

Marlene Hall rose to become a highly regarded specialist in the field of aged care law, and the first person to be appointed as Special Counsel Aged Care Law in the Commonwealth Department of Health. Hall came to the law after a career as an English teacher; studying for a Bachelor of Laws degree at night school in order to graduate, she attributes her background in English language and literature, and her work at weekends in nursing homes over the years, to the later success she experienced in her dealings in complex aged care law matters. She made a significant contribution to public sector law, including through the national ‘Living Longer Living Better’ aged care policy reforms.

Marlene Hall was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.

Leslie Williams was elected Member for Port Macquarie representing the National Party in the Legislative Assembly of the New South Wales Parliament in 2011. From 2015 she served as Minister for Early Childhood Education, for Aboriginal Affairs and Assistant Minister for Education.

Tamara Smith was elected as the Member for Ballina representing the Greens Party in the Legislative Assembly of the New South Wales Parliament in 2015.

The Hon Dr Tricia Marie Kavanagh is a trailblazing Judge, Barrister and Arbitrator, particularly in the areas of sport and industrial relations.

Ada Emily Evans began her professional life as a teacher, but later blazed a trail for women in the legal profession. In 1902, at the University of Sydney, she was the first woman in Australia to earn a Bachelor of Laws, graduating at a time when New South Wales law did not allow her to practise. She was admitted to the NSW Bar in 1921 after changes to the legislation, thus becoming the first woman to be admitted to the bar in New South Wales.

Joanne Ryan, a member of the Australian Labor Party, was elected Member for Lalor in the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament at the September 2013 election. She currently holds the position of Opposition Whip.

Melina Bath was appointed Member for Eastern Victoria representing the Nationals Party in the Legislative Council of the Parliament of Victoria on 16 April 2015. She holds the position of Nationals Whip in the Legislative Council.

Roslyn Gay Atkinson AO is a Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland, having been appointed to that position in 1998. In 2002 she also became the Chairperson of the Queensland Law Reform Commission, and served in that role until her retirement in 2013.

Read more about Mavis Wauchope in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Read more about Margaret Williams Weir in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Margaret Williams passed away in 2015, not long after she was recognised for her contribution to the development of Indigenous education policy by the University of Melbourne through the naming of the Dr Margaret Williams-Weir Lounge in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, and the Dr Margaret Williams-Weir Vice-Chancellor’s Fellowship, of which Noel Pearson is the inaugural recipient.

A life-long educator, Dr Williams-Weir was an Alumna of University Women’s College, where she was offered a scholarship. She was the first Aboriginal graduate of an Australian University.

Read more about Nancy Stewart in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Read more about Halina Teresa Szunejko in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Read more about Amanda Sinclair in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.