The Australian Women's Register

Zelda D’Aprano was an active unionist and an activist in the women’s movement. She chained herself across the doors of the Commonwealth Building and later the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission in Melbourne, Victoria in protest against the inadequacy of the decision on the Equal Pay case in 1969. D’Aprano was one of the initiators of the Women’s Action Committee in 1970, and the Women’s Liberation Movement in Melbourne in 1971. She was a member of the Australian Women’s Party and was a member of the Communist Party of Australia from 1950-1971.

Kay Daniels taught and published widely in the fields of women’s, social and colonial history. Until her two-volume work Women in Australia: An Annotated Guide to Records was published in 1977, it had been generally believed that women could not be included in history as they lived within the family and there were no records of their lives in the public sphere.
She spent part of her life as a Commonwealth public servant in Canberra, contributing in areas of cultural policy and intellectual property rights.

In the late 1950s Oldmeadow, with her husband Courtney, founded Oldmeadow Booksellers. In 1974, they opened Dromkeen, which has become an internationally recognised children’s literature museum.

Nina Mikhailovna Christesen AM (née Maximoff) pioneered the study of Russian in Australia and founded the Department of Russian Language and Literature at the University of Melbourne in 1946. She remained at the head of the department until her retirement in 1977.

In the 1987 Australia Day Honours Christesen was made a Member of the Order of Australia “in recognition of service to education, particularly to the study of Slavic language and culture”.

Dr Ruth Sanger was an internationally known expert in blood grouping, who for many years worked for the Medical Research Council in London.

Ruth Sanger, the daughter of Hubert and Katharine Mary Ross (née Cameron) Sanger, obtained her Science Degree from Sydney of University in 1940. She then worked in the blood-grouping laboratory of the Sydney Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service. After the Second World War Sanger moved to London and worked for Dr Robert Race, her future husband, at the Medical Research Council. In 1950 she co-wrote Blood Groups in Man, with her husband and they released their sixth and final edition in 1975. Dr Sanger also contributed papers to medical and genetic journals. She was admitted as a fellow of Britain’s Royal Society in 1972 and in the same year she was a joint recipient of the Gairdner Foundation Award. In 1983 Dr Sanger retired as director of the British Medical Research Council, a position she had held for ten years. She was a member of the International Society of Blood Transfusion and an affiliate of similar groups in Canada, Germany, Mexico and Norway. The British Blood Transfusion Society has established the Race and Sanger Award.

Lillian Wells was the first moderator of the New South Wales synod of the Uniting Church (1977) . On 31 December 1977 she was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (civil) for services to the church.

Judith Wright expressed her love of Australia and its people in her poetry. She was also a respected writer on poetry. Later in her life Wright was well known as a conservationist and campaigner for Aboriginal rights. Wright, a descendant of a pioneering pastoralist family, began writing poetry at the age of six for her ailing mother. At the age of 14 she became a boarder at the New England Girls School, and it was during her time there that she decided to become a poet.

After completing an Arts course at the University of Sydney, Wright worked in a variety of positions including that of research officer at Queensland University, where she helped Clem Christesen to edit Meanjin.

In 1975, Wright was the first woman appointed to the Council of Australian National University as the Governor-General’s nominee. She was founder and later president of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland, and member of the National Parks Association of New South Wales and the South Coast Conservation Council. Wright was a patron of many organisations including: Campaign Against Nuclear Power (Queensland); Townsville Women’s Shelter; Amnesty International (Victoria.); Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland and the National Forests Action Council (Victoria.).

In 1991, Wright became the second Australian – after Michael Thwaites in 1940 – to receive the Queen’s gold medal for poetry.

Joan Williams concludes her obituary on Judith Wright in The Guardian on July 5, 2000 with:
“Judith Wright is not a romantic, but makes her judgement on changes in the economy and lifestyle, the growth of industry and the swing from country to city. In her own way she has taken a step further for us in the expression of Australian national, spiritual and environment values in her poetry.”

Dr Pauline Armstrong was a long time activist and her later work as a researcher and historian resulted in the publication of her historical and biographical book Frank Hardy and the making of Power without Glory (2000). She was passionately involved in the Save Our Sons movement during the Vietnam War.

Professor Meredith Edwards AM has enjoyed an extensive career as lecturer, researcher and policy analyst in economics. She is best known for developing policies around AUSTUDY, Child Support, HECS and long-term unemployment initiatives. She is currently Emeritus Professor, Australia and New Zealand School of Government ( ANZSOG) Institute for Governance at the University of Canberra.

Edna Walling is best known for her contribution to Australian landscape architecture design. She was also a talented amateur photographer, and used the many photographs of gardens she took to illustrate the books and articles she wrote. Walling also created portrait photography.

Patsy Adam-Smith introduced many readers to Australian history. Of her many publications three in particular stand out: The Anzacs (1978), Australian Women at War (1984) and Prisoners of War (1992).

On Australia Day 1994 Patricia Adam-Smith was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for service to community history, particularly through the preservation of national traditions and folklore and the recording of oral histories. She also received an Order of the British Empire – Officer (Civil) (OBE) in the Queens Birthday Honours list on 14 June 1980 for her services to literature.

Mary Delahunty won the seat of Northcote (Legislative Assembly) for the Australian Labor Party, in a by-election in August 1998. She held the ministerial portfolios of Education, the Centenary of Federation, Planning, Arts and Women’s Affairs. Before entering politics, she was Managing Director of her own media consultancy company, also a former ABC journalist and long time member of the Journalist’s Union. She retired from politics at the state election in November 2006.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Judy Jackson was elected to the House of Assembly in the Tasmanian Parliament representing the electorate of Denison in 1986. During her parliamentary career, she held the ministerial portfolios of Health and Human Services from 1998-2002 and Attorney-General from 2002 until her retirement in 2006.

Fran Bladen was elected a State Member (ALP) for Franklin in Tasmania and held her seat from 1986 to 2002. She held several ministerial portfolios from 1989 to 1992, and returned to the ministry as Secretary to Cabinet in 1998. She resigned from the Legislative Assembly in 2002 to unsuccessfully contest the Legislative Council seat of Huon.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Clare Martin gained the distinction of becoming the first Labor and first female Chief Minister of the Northern Territory in 2001. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory at a by-election for the seat of Fannie Bay in 1995. This seat was formerly held by the Chief Minister Marshall Perron, member of the Country Liberal Party. She was re-elected in 1997, assumed the leadership of the ALP in 1999 and went on to win the 2001 election. In addition to her role as Chief Minister, she held the ministerial portfolios of Treasurer, Arts and Museums, Young Territorians, Women’s Policy, Senior Territorians, Communications, Science and Advanced Technology. She won the 2005 election with an increased majority, but resigned from Parliament in November 2007.

Sydney-born journalist Geraldine Brooks worked as a Middle-East correspondent during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Nita Kibble was the first woman appointed as a librarian with the New South Wales State Library. Her career began by accident in 1899 when the signature on her application form was misread, and thought to be that of a man.

Raised by her aunt, Nita Bernice Kibble, Dobbie worked as a librarian and research officer. She established the ‘Kibble Awards for Women Writers’ in memory of her aunt. The ‘Nita May Dobbie Literary Award’ was established in 1996 in her memory.

Dr Clare Burton was a strong advocate and activist for social change, particularly in the area of equal pay for women. Her academic research fed into policy and practical change in the workplace.

Sandra Nori served as the New South Wales Minister for Small Business and Minister for Tourism. She is the Member (ALP) for Port Jackson.

Pearson was the first women in Britain to be decorated (received the George Cross) for saving a pilot from a burning plane.

Ethel Turner’s first book, Seven Little Australians, was published in 1894. Translated into ten languages, it was made into a stage play in 1915 and a film in 1939. In 1953 it was televised in Britain, and in 1973 and 1975 by the Australian Broadcasting Commission.

Philippa Poole is the grand daughter of Ethel Turner who complied The Diaries of Ethel Turner in 1979.

E. Jean Curlewis was the daughter of Ethel Turner. Before passing away she wrote a number of books including The Sunshine Family: A Book of Nonsense for Girls and Boys, with her mother.

Edith Onians was a full-time volunteer (organiser and honorary secretary) from 1897 until her death in 1955 of the Melbourne Newsboys Society. She was the first woman Special Magistrate appointed to Children’s Court Melbourne in 1927, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Civil) on 2 January 1933 for services to child welfare in Victoria.

Margaret Reid is the first woman to have been elected President of the Senate. She held this position for six years, from 20 August 1996 to 18 August 2002. In 2004 she was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia for her service to the Australian Parliament and the community.

A member of the Australian Democrats, Roslyn Dundas was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) representing the electorate of Ginninderra, in 2001. She was the youngest woman ever to be elected to an Australian Parliament, but was unfortunately defeated at the 2004 election.