The Australian Women's Register

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

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

Read more about Evelyn Helena Parker in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

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

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

Cathy McGowan was elected to the Australian Parliament in the House of Representatives as the Independent Member for Indi at the 2013 Federal election.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read more about Alice Kate Blackall in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

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

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

Sue Salthouse has worked in the area of social justice since 1996, playing an active role in the systemic advocacy for women with disabilities. She lives in Canberra where she runs her own consultancy company that specialises in work in the disability sector and conducts social research, policy analysis and advice in a number of areas beyond disability advocacy, including project development and management, conference facilitation and TAFE teaching. She has worked extensively with Women in Adult and Vocational Education (WAVE) to develop leadership training projects for women, including women in Aboriginal communities. In 2013 she works hard in a voluntary capacity for Women with Disabilities ACT and Rights International (Australia).

In 2015, Sue was Canberra Citizen of the Year, in recognition of her outstanding commitment and contribution as a disability advocate. In late 2019, Sue was further acknowledged for her enormous contribution to the public good when she was awarded the honour of 2020 ACT Senior Australian of the Year.

Sue Salthouse died in a motor vehicle accident in Canberra on 20 July 2020.

Read an interview with Sue Salthouse in the online exhibition Redefining Leadership.

A student of Newnham College, Cambridge, and a suffragist, Pattie Craske completed a natural sciences degree in botany with second-class honours at a time when the university did not grant degrees to women. After teaching in England, she married Australian entomologist, Robin Tillyard, in Sydney. In 1928, by then the mother of four daughters, she moved to the small, isolated community of Canberra where she became a leader in community, sporting and university organisations and was elected to the Canberra Community Hospital Board in 1935. She was the social face of the growing city, renowned for her welcome to newcomers, in later years being regarded as the ‘grande dame’ of Canberra.

Tonga-born Sioana Faupala graduated from Sydney Teacher’s College in 1959. She taught at the Queen Salote College before marrying Halote Faupula in 1966. From 1972-82 she and their three children lived on the Yirrkala Mission in Arnhem Land following her husband’s appointment as its Methodist minister. There she taught in the Yirrkala Primary School. After subsequent appointments to Uniting Church parishes in Dee Why and Kurri Kurri in NSW, Halote retired to Canberra where he died in 2000. Sioana now works in the Pacific Manuscript Bureau at the Australian National University’s College of Asia and the Pacific, participates in Tongan language broadcasts and is an active member of the Multicultural Women’s Advocacy and the City Uniting Church’s social welfare programs. She is a Uniting Church Elder, assistant Chair of its Tongan congregation and President of both the Canberra Tongan and Pacific Islands United Associations.

Isabel Masters was born in Western Australia in 1912. She graduated from university in 1934 with Honours in English and taught at Kobeelya Girls’ Grammar School in Katanning, Western Australia, Ascham Girls’ School in Sydney, New South Wales and Merton Hall (now Melbourne Girls’ Grammar School) in Melbourne, Victoria before becoming principal of Canberra Girls’ Grammar School in 1947. She retired in 1962, having overseen the doubling in size of what was described as a ‘happy’ school.

Una Mitchell was Headmistress of Canberra Girls’ Grammar between 1937 and 1947. She left Canberra to return to her home state to become Headmistress of St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls in Mosman Park in Perth. She retired in 1967 and was appointed Chairman of the Conference of Independent Girls’ Schools of Australia. She was an inspiring Science teacher and highly respected principal, who had high educational and moral standards. She dedicated her life to ensuring the girls in her care were prepared for what she saw as a rapidly changing and modernizing world. She taught them to have ‘a high regard for personal integrity’, to be adaptable as well as to have ‘enquiring minds and the spirit of adventure’.

As a young migrant who arrived in Australia from the Netherlands in 1953, Petronella Wensing became concerned about the welfare of other migrants, particularly women, and how they could be successfully integrated into the community. As a consequence of her growing awareness of the problems that existed for them, she became a delegate of the St. Patrick’s branch of the Catholic Women’s League and on 22 June 1961, a member of the Good Neighbour Council of the ACT. Her work with migrants was recognised in the A.C.T. International Women’s Day Awards 2011.

As a skilled artisan her specialities are lace making and embroidery. She was foundation President and is now a Life Member of the Canberra Lace Makers Association: a past President of the Embroiders’ Guild of the A.C.T. and as well, a member of the Australian Lace Makers Guild. She has continued to volunteer and consult with the Australian National Art Gallery and the Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra on lace and textiles.

Carol Woodrow has pursued a wide-ranging career in theatre in Canberra for many years. In the 1970s through her work with Canberra Youth Theatre, she provided opportunities for young people to learn about drama through improvisation. At the Jigsaw Theatre Company, she worked with professional actors to develop and present work for schools. In the 1980s and 1990s she worked as a freelance director of avant-garde and community theatre with several ensemble companies, developing new scripts and nurturing new playwrights, and also directed plays for professional theatre companies.

Joan Corbett began her career in Canberra as a mathematics teacher then worked as a union official with the ACT Teachers Federation. She was appointed the first Women’s Officer of the Australian Teachers’ Federation in 1986, then joined the Commonwealth Public Service specialising in policy development initially in the Department of Employment, Education and Training on youth support and women’s employment including child care issues. Moving to the Department of Health and Ageing in 2003 she worked in the areas of Indigenous health and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. She left the Australian Public Service in 2011 and is currently an Associate Professor in Public Health at the University of Canberra.