The Australian Women's Register

The inaugural Jean Arnot Luncheon was held at Parliament House, Sydney, on 8 April 1994, and originated from Jean Fleming Arnot’s 90th birthday celebrations a year earlier at the same venue.

Zara Aronson, née Baar, distinguished herself through her journalism, feminism and charitable work in Sydney and Perth, after having spent her early life in Europe. She returned to Sydney in 1879 to complete her education. After her marriage to Frederick Aronson, a merchant, in October 1882, she launched into her charitable work and served on the committees of the Sydney Industrial Blind Institution and the Thirlmere and the Queen Victoria homes for consumptives. As an active feminist from the 1890s, she was an original member of the Women’s Literary Society and a founding member of the National Council of Women in 1896. She contributed to a range of journals and newspapers throughout her life, which included Australian Town and Country Journal, The Sydney Mail, and The Sydney Morning Herald, and wrote a cookery book, the proceeds of which she donated to the Junior Red Cross in New South Wales. She was an original member of the executive committee of the New South Wales Division of the British Red Cross Society in 1914 and organised and ran the depot which distributed more than a million books and magazines during World War I. She maintained her feminist interests when she became foundation secretary of the Women Writers of New South Wales in 1925, assuming the presidency in 1930. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 23 June 1936 for her services to the Red Cross Society.

Lucy Bryce worked at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne 1922-1928, 1934-1946, and at the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories 1939-1944. She was also a clinical pathologist and Director of the Blood Transfusion Service 1929-1954. She was appointed Commander of The Order of the British Empire (Civil) – 1 January 1951, for her work as director of the Victoria Blood Transfusion Service.

Agnes Lions qualified as a nurse in 1931 and worked in all branches of nursing in New South Wales until 1941 when she moved into the area of industrial nursing. She was one of four founders of the New South Wales College of Nursing (NSWCN) in 1949. From 1949 to 1952 she was responsible for the syllabus and supervision of the Industrial Nursing Certificate at the NSWCN, gaining the certificate herself in 1950. In 1946 Lions founded the Industrial Nursing Branch of the New South Wales Nursing Association and held the post of honorary secretary from its inception in 1947 to 1951. She was appointed MBE – Member of The Order of the British Empire (Civil) – New Year’s Honours List, 1960, for services to nursing.

Maud McCarthy was matron-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Forces in France and Flanders during WWI.

Nashar was Head, Department of Geology, Newcastle University College and University of Newcastle 1961-1980, Associate Professor 1964-1965, Professor of Geology 1965-1980 and Emeritus Professor since 1980. She was the first Australian to be awarded a PhD in geology from an Australian University and the first woman dean of science in an Australian university. Her early research addressed the geology of the Stanhope district in the Hunter Valley. This was later extended to embrace the mineralogy, geochemistry and genetic relations of the Carboniferous and Permian andesitic associations of eastern New South Wales, and the conditions of formation of secondary minerals in these andesitic and basic rocks. She was appointed OBE – The Order of the British Empire – Officer (Civil) – 1 January 1972 for her work in education and international relations.

MumShirl was an Aboriginal woman who dedicated her life to welfare services. She visited countless Aboriginal prisoners in jail and raised 60 foster children. She was nominated a Member of the British Empire and Member of the Order of Australia for her work.

Margaret Tucker was co-founder of the Australian Aborigines League and was the first Aboriginal woman appointed to the Aborigines Welfare Board.

Grace Browne was Director of the New South Wales Division of Maternal and Baby Welfare 1937-1964 and was a part-time lecturer in Maternal and Child Health at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, University of Sydney 1946-1964. She was president of the Australian Federation of Medical Women, and also president of the Australian Federation of University Women. Grace Browne was appointed MBE – Member of The Order of the British Empire (Civil) – 13 June 1959, for her work as director of Baby Welfare in the New South Wales Health Department.

Agnes Bennett practised in Wellington, New Zealand from 1905 and was Chief Medical Officer at St Helens Maternity Hospital 1908-36.

Mary Booth graduated in Arts from the University of Sydney before studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh (graduating in 1899). On her return to Australia she lectured in hygiene at girls secondary schools in Sydney, and for the Department of Public Instruction and the Sydney Teachers College 1904-1909. In 1910-1912 she helped establish the first school medical service in Victoria and was later involved in household health and welfare. She was the founder and office bearer of many patriotic associations, such as the Anzac Fellowship of Women (president 1921-1956). She was appointed OBE – Officer of The Order of the British Empire (Civil) – 4 October 1918, for her work with the Friendly Union of Soldier’s Wives.

Booth also founded the Women’s Club in Sydney in 1901, the Centre for Soldiers Wives and Mothers in 1915 and the Memorial College of Household Arts and Science in 1936, and was involved with the University of Sydney Society for Combating Venereal Disease, the League of Nations Union, the New Settlers’ League and the Australian Institute of International Affairs. She had a keen interest in eugenics and was a member of the Anthropometric Committee of the Australian Association for the Advancement of Science from 1908.

Faith Bandler has campaigned for Aboriginal and Islander rights throughout her life, firstly through the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship and later through the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI). She has written novels and children’s literature as well as many non-fiction works relating to Aboriginal rights. Her biography, Faith: Faith Bandler, gentle activist, written by Marilyn Lake, was published in 2002.

Florence Taylor was the first woman architect, structural engineer and civil engineer in Australia. For her contribution to architecture and civil engineering, Taylor was appointed an Officer of the British Empire on 8 June 1939 and later a Commander of the British Empire on 10 June 1961.

Kathleen Best, as nurse and army officer, was an inspiring leader in both a war and peace time environment. As an army officer in the Middle East, she distinguished herself through her courage and efficiency in her treatment and care of the wounded. After her wartime service, she assumed a number of peacetime appointments, which included becoming the founding director, Australian Women’s Army Corps (Women’s Royal Australian Army Corps (WRAAC)) in 1951. Kathleen Best’s war effort was acknowledged by the award of the Royal Red Cross medal ‘for gallantry, conduct and devotion in Greece 14/27 April 1941’ and her subsequent role as Director of the WRAAC was honoured with her appointment as Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1956.

Evonne Cawley, a member of the Wiradjuri people, was the first indigenous Australian to win a Wimbledon Tennis Championship in 1971. She left her hometown in Barellan, New South Wales, to live in Sydney to concentrate on her tennis, under the management of Mr Vic Edwards, a well known Sydney tennis coach. She had a successful professional tennis career, lived in the United States of America for a period, then returned to live in Queensland after the death of her mother in 1991. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1972 for services to tennis and Officer of the Order of Australia in 1982.

Mabel Miller, who served in the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) during World War II, was an active public figure in Hobart for twenty years. She was the first woman to be elected to the Hobart City Council in 1952 and later, in 1955, one of the first two women to be elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly as the Liberal member for Franklin. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for distinguished public service on January 1st, 1967.

Gladys Owen, born into a distinguished Sydney legal family, is best remembered as a painter and print-maker; however, she was a founding member of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Red Cross Society in 1913, and ‘inherited a fluency in public speaking and tenacity in advocacy and lobbying’ (Heritage). The Sydney Morning Herald, reviewing her 1922 art exhibition, noted that Owen’s ‘patriotic activities during the war diminished the importance of her contributions to the art life of the State’ (20 March 1922, p.5). It was for these services she was appointed OBE (Officer of The Order of the British Empire) in 1918. Owen was the founding joint honorary secretary (1914-1927) of the Society’s New South Wales branch and became a vice-president in 1927. According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography entry on her husband, fellow artist John Moore, Owen’s commitment to the Red Cross and advocacy in social work was life long: ‘She was a director of the civil section of the Women’s Australian National Service in 1940, a council-member of the State division of the Red Cross 1940-49 and of national headquarters in 1943-49, and honorary secretary of the State Red Cross Field Service in 1941-43. From 1950 she was president of the Council of Social Service of New South Wales’.

Dame Joan Sutherland was appointed as a Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 30 December 1978 for services to the performing arts. She was also appointed to the Order of Merit in 1991 for Services to opera and singing. In 1983 she was described as, ‘quite simply, the greatest and most beloved singer in the world today’. She is known universally, and accurately, as ‘La Stupenda’.

Dame Eadith Walker was the sole heir of merchant and pastoralist Thomas Walker. Over the course of her life she gave very generously of her time and money to a wide range of charitable causes, including substantial sums to the women’s college at the University of Sydney, and to the Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital.

Mary Cramer, a teacher before her marriage to John (later Sir John) Cramer, in January 1922, brought her formidable organising skills to rearing their four children and to her public activities. On the election of her husband as mayor of North Sydney in 1939, she assumed the duties of lady mayoress. Known for her natural sense of humour, she organised a Voluntary Aid Detachment for North Sydney at the beginning of World War II, and also the first group of the Women’s Australian National Service in Sydney and became its first commandant. Her husband later became a founding member of the Liberal Party of Australia and a Minister for the Army from 1956-1963. She was president of the New South Wales division of the Red Cross Society and of the Mater Misericordae Hospital Advisory Board at North Sydney. Despite recurring illness, she maintained her public activities and was appointed as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 12 June 1971 for distinguished public service, which had covered four decades. According to the report in The Sydney Morning Herald on 26 May 1994 on the death of Sir John Cramer, ‘Sir John with his late wife Dame Mary, had left an indelible mark on the lower North Shore’.

Mary Daly, nee MacMahon, was acknowledged as an interested and hardworking member of a range of Catholic and other charitable organisations. Educated at Loreto convents in both Normanhurst, New South Wales and Ballarat, Victoria, she maintained her Catholic links throughout her life. In January 1923, she married Dr John Joseph Daly, a nephew of the founder of St Vincent’s Hospital, Mother Berchmans Daly. They had two children, John and Marie. Dr Daly was appointed to the staff of St Vincent’s Hospital. Mary Daly served on the St Vincent’s Hospital auxiliary as honorary secretary and was acting president for a period of three years from 1933-1936. She was president of the Catholic Welfare Association from 1941, a member of the National Council of the Australian Red Cross Society, and executive member of the Council of the Victorian Division. She was the author of four children’s books, one of which was published by the Yooralla Hospital School, another of her charitable causes. Her services to social welfare were acknowledged with her appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1937, Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1949, and Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 7 June 1951. The Catholic church awarded her the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in 1951. She was also awarded a long service medal from the Red Cross Society in 1940 and honorary life membership in 1971.

Constance D’Arcy was a distinguished obstetrician and gynaecologist, who was committed to lowering the maternal mortality rate through the control of puerperal septicaemia. An active Catholic, she contributed to both catholic and secular organisations during her life. In addition to her practice in Macquarie Street, Sydney, she was honorary surgeon at the Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney, and lectured in clinical obstetrics from 1925-1939 at Sydney University, where she ultimately became the first women deputy chancellor from 1943-1946. As a member of the National Council of Women, she organised its sex education program. Aware of the importance of high standards of nursing care, she was a founder of the Royal Australian Nursing Federation. As president of the Business and Professional Women’s Club in Sydney in 1944, she made clear her commitment to equal pay and opportunity for women. She was appointed as Dame of the Order of the British Empire on 3 June 1935 for Services to the welfare of children. The pope honoured her with the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in 1940.

For her services to literature, Mary Gilmore was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 1 February 1937. The major themes of her work covered nationalism, the spirit of pioneering, motherhood, women’s rights, history, Aboriginal welfare, treatment of prisoners, health and pensions.

Ella Macknight was an obstetrician and gynaecologist who worked at the Queen Victoria Hospital, Melbourne. She was appointed as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 1 January 1969 for services to medicine. She was also a talented hockey player, winning University Blues and playing in the Victorian team when she was at the University of Melbourne.

Doris Fitton was an actor who, with a number of others, established the Independent Theatre in Sydney in 1930 and kept it going until its closure in 1977. The theatre provided a training ground for young Australian actors and playwrights. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 31 December 1981 for Services to the theatre (as Mrs Mason).

Monica Gallagher has been associated with church and other community groups in her voluntary work. Her positions have included associate member of the New South Wales division of Australian Church Women, member of the advisory committee of the Festival of Light, past chairman of the Appeal Committee, Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), Sydney, and board member of the Save the Children Fund, New South Wales from 1992-1994. She was chairman of the Friends of St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, from 1983-1987 and later from 1998-2000, as well as executive director of the Flower Festival Committee from 1996-1997. The Catholic church acknowledged her work with the award of the Papal Honour, Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in 1981. She gained the Good Citizen Award for Outstanding Community Service in 1979. She was appointed as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 12 June 1976 for services to the community.

Source: Who’s who in Australia 2002, p 719

Leonie Kramer was notable as an academic and public figure, particularly as Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 1982-1983 and professor of Australian literature at Sydney University from 1968, and later chancellor from 1991-2001. She supported conservative educational values in the face of progressive approaches and campaigned against the adoption of a republican form of government in Australia. She was appointed as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 31 December 1982 for services to literature and the public.