The Australian Women's Register

The Australian Council for Women (ACW) was established in late 1993, replacing the National Women’s Consultative Council, to co-ordinate planning in Australia for the Fourth World Conference on Women to be held in Beijing in September 1995 and to consult with women and transmit their concerns and ideas to the government. Council members travelled widely in Australia, meeting women and consulting with community groups.

On International Women’s Day 1994 the ACW launched its Purple Postcard survey, asking women to list one concern, and sent questionnaires to non-government organisations. The major issues emerging from the survey were fear of violence, breast cancer, and the cost and availability of child care.

In February 1995, the ACW released its report listing strategies to tackle these issues of concern, to be included in Australia’s presentation to the UN Fourth World Conference. The ACW Chair, Sandra Yates, was a delegate to the Beijing conference and advisor to the Australian official delegation which was led by Dr Carmen Lawrence, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women and Minister for Health. The Council was disestablished on 31 December 1995.

The Gippsland Women’s Network (GWN) was incorporated in 2006. It had its beginnings in the 1970s-1980s during a time of rural recession, when farming women in the Gippsland area of Victoria began an active role in lobbying the Australian government for financial support, putting together proposals for ways to better market the products of their region. From those early days, the GWN has broadened its role to encompass a variety of activities aimed at raising the profile of women in the rural sector. This has included developing projects and running seminars and workshops aimed at fostering the establishment of community networks, and empowering rural women to take a more active role in creating a sustainable future for their communities.

Professor Marian Simms is internationally prominent for her work in the fields of gender studies and political science, ethics governance and Indigenous research policy. She has held senior academic and administrative roles in Australia and New Zealand and has long-standing interests in research culture and governance in New Zealand, Sweden, South Africa and Australia. She is a former president of the Australasian Political Studies Association (APSA), a former editor of the Association’s journal, and has published prodigiously. Marian has attended the Women’s Caucus of APSA from its inception. From 2011 to 2016 she was Executive Director for Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences at the Australian Research Council.

Professor Carole Pateman is a British-born political scientist and academic who is internationally renowned for her contribution to feminist political theory and democratic theory. Carole taught in Australia from 1972 to 1990, during which time she played a central role in introducing feminist critique to Australian political science. In 1979, she and Marian Sawer co-founded the Women’s Caucus of the Australasian Political Studies Association (APSA) to improve the status of women in the profession of political science and make women visible in the political system.

The Women’s Caucus of the then Australasian Political Studies Association (APSA) was established in 1979. It was set up to improve the standing of women in the political science profession and to promote the study of women and politics. The annual general meeting of the Women’s Caucus is held during the annual conference of APSA. A representative serves on the APSA Executive. The caucus conducts regular reviews of the status of women in the profession and of the extent of the successful implementation of APSA’s policy that the study of women should be integrated into all politics courses.

Rosemary Roebuck was the founder and first President of the Playgroup Association of N.S.W, a significant part of the newly emerging Australian playgroup movement that is still alive and well over 45 years later. She and her colleagues, with their young children, began organising and supporting playgroups from Balmain, New South Wales, in 1970, on a voluntary basis. Rosemary had previously trained as a pre-school teacher under Joan Fry, and worked in pre-schools and childcare. She spent some time working in early childhood in London before returning to Sydney with her husband, John, and first child. When her children were older she continued her career in early childhood.

Mildred Macfarlan Barnard was a statistician, mathematician and biometrician. She worked as an Assistant Biometrician in the Division of Forest Products at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) from 1936-41. Mildred lectured at the University of Melbourne and the Women’s College, and later at the University of Queensland. She was also the first woman to chair the Brisbane Branch of the International Biometrics Society, Australasian Region, in 1972.

Helen Elizabeth Byrne graduated with an MBBS (Honours) in 1947, after which she worked at various hospitals in both Victoria and London. In 1961 she qualified as a member of the Royal Australian College of Physicians and until 1966, was appointed an honorary physician to out-patients at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital. In addition to working as a clinical assistant and an assistant physician, Helen held a university appointment as a clinical tutor at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Pamela Louise Colville held a number of positions throughout her career at the University of Melbourne. At various times, Pamela was employed as a technical assistant, in various senior administration roles, and also in the Zoology department. She was awarded a Bronze Medal to mark 25 years’ of service to the university, despite briefly retiring twice.

Chloe Esposito claimed Australia’s first medal in modern pentathlon when she won gold at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Molly Bamberger is known for her Pictorialist photography and her leathercraft work.

In her Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro, Maddison Keeney won a bronze medal in the 3m synchronised springboard event, alongside Anabelle Smith.

Mrs W. B. MacDougall was a keen amateur photographer. She was active in the Girl Guide movement and lived on Aboriginal missions with her missionary husband.

Anabelle Smith won a bronze medal at the Rio 2016 Games in the 3m synchronised springboard event, alongside Maddison Keeney.

Molly Lyons was an amateur photographer. Working in the Pictorialist style, she is best known for her travel photography.

Caroline Andrews came to public notice in 1900, when she took her husband to court in Albany, Western Australia, and won a judicial separation with maintenance for their children. The case was heard under an 1896 act which provided that judicial separation was summarily available to a woman whose husband had been convicted of assault against her. A close reading of the court records suggests that she provoked her husband’s assault in order to win the judicial separation. Her aim was to prevent him from returning to England with the profits of their joint business ventures, without making provision for his children.

Recent biographical projects have tended to focus on leading women whose activities had some impact on politics or society. Caroline Edwards’ work was always within the frame of family, whether in family businesses or in care for her 13 children. The wealth of online resources now available for family history research makes it possible to tell the stories of women like Caroline Edwards whose victories and defeats were mostly private.

Mona McLeod was a professional photographer working in Bairnsdale, Victoria, where she ran her own studio. Many of her photographs of local events, including the Black Friday bushfire (1939) were published in local newspapers.

Mrs William Smith was an award-winning photographer who was well known for her photograph of The Snake Charmer, 1909.

Sigrid McCausland, a former Senior Lecturer in Archival Science at Charles Sturt University, Australia, was a leader in the international community of archival educators who made a particularly significant contribution to archival education. Her contribution to the field was acknowledged in 2016 when she was honoured with Fellowship of the Australian Society of Archivists.

Sigrid straddled, with distinction, both practitioner and academic roles during her career. Her practitioner roles were unusually varied and included work in government archives, private manuscript collecting archives in large research libraries, as well as many years as University Archivist at both the University of Technology, Sydney and the Australian National University.

In 2016, Sigrid was Secretary of the International Congress of Archives (ICA) Section for Archival Education and Training and also a regular member of the Archives and Human Rights Group.

Sigrid passed away in Brisbane, Australia, on 30 November 2016.

Olga Dougall is known for her portraiture, commercial and magazine work.

Pegg Clarke was a Pictorialist photographer who ran her own successful photography business until the 1950s. Clarke is known for being the only woman to be included in the First Exhibition of the Australian Salon of Photography in 1924.

Helen Ferber’s lifelong engagement with public affairs and social welfare, both in Australia and Europe, reflected her commitment to the common good. She began her working life in World War II, monitoring and translating enemy radio broadcasts for the Australian Short Wave Listening Post. After the war, her language skills, love of other cultures and strong sense of social justice led her to work with United Nations refugee agencies in Europe.

In 1948, Helen married David Ferber, US Vice Consul in Melbourne, and took up the work of a ‘diplomatic wife’. In the mid 1950s the family returned to Australia and Helen spent much of her time caring for their disabled son. During this period she undertook volunteer work with women’s organisations in Melbourne, and rose rapidly to positions of authority.

In 1965 she took a part-time position with the Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne. Initially employed to interview non-English-speaking households, she soon progressed to writing and editing reports, becoming the editor of the institute’s publications and a respected writer on social policy. Throughout her life she developed and cherished many deep friendships and was both an inspiration and support to other women as they developed their skills and careers.

The Australia women’s national rugby sevens team represents Australia at a national level. They were champions of the inaugural Women’s Sevens World Cup in 2009 and in 2016 they won the inaugural gold medal at the Rio Olympics.