The Australian Women's Register

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.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Sonia Kilkenny was elected Member for Carrum in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Victoria at the election which was held in November 2014.

Suzanna Sheed was elected Member for Shepparton as an Independent in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Victoria at the November 2014 election.

Harriet Shing was elected the Australian Labor Party Member for Eastern Victoria in the Legislative Council of the Parliament of Victoria at the November 2014 election.

Gabrielle Williams was elected the Australian Labor Party Member for Dandenong in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Victoria at the November 2014 election.

Vivien Payne was born and educated in London, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of London in 1948. She completed her articles with her father and was admitted as a solicitor in 1951. She practised in London until 1963, when she and her husband migrated to Perth, Australia. She became one of only a handful of women practising law in Perth at the time, and only the second to enter private practice. In 1982 she became founding President of the Women Lawyers of Western Australia Inc.

Perth based women barristers forging their careers in the 1970s and 80s, such as Val French and Antoinette Kennedy, have noted her support for them, especially through the provision of briefs.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read a reflective essay written about Vivien Payne for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

The Honourable Diana Bryant is an Australian jurist. She was appointed Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia on 5 July 2004. Before this, she was the inaugural Chief Federal Magistrate of the Federal Magistrates Court of Australia (now the Federal Circuit Court of Australia) from 2000-2004.

Her Honour’s appointment to the bench followed many years practising in family law in both Perth and Victoria. In Perth, she was a partner with the firm Phillips Fox; in Melbourne she was a founding member of Chancery Chambers. Known to be ‘a brilliant lawyer’, with an ‘innate sense of justice and fairness,’ her time as a barrister was marked by her preparedness to pursue both on behalf of her clients even at her own cost.

Her Honour has long been committed to advocating on behalf of women in the legal profession, having been a founding member of the Women Lawyers Association of Western Australia. She is currently Patron of Australian Women Lawyers and a committee member of The Australian Association of Women Judges.

Born into a family of legal professionals (her mother was a lawyer, as was her grandfather), Her Honour has witnessed considerable change across the course of her professional life, with regards to the status of women in the legal profession. In a 2016 address at the Australian Women Lawyers conference, she noted, ‘[a]although there are further mountains to climb for women lawyers, the progress is encouraging, ‘suggesting that one of the most ‘encouraging signs’ was greater acceptance of the need for ‘different work policies and practices which do not impede the path to success.’

Diana Bryant was interviewed by Nikki Henningham for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of AustraliaCATALOGUE RECORD.

Antoinette Kennedy was the first woman judge to be appointed in Western Australia when appointed to the Bench of the District Court in 1985.

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.

Sibyl Enid Vera Munro Morrison became the first female barrister in New South Wales in June 1924. She was often briefed by fellow pioneering female lawyers, Christian Jollie Smith and Marie Byles, to whom she referred as her ‘sisters-in-law’.

Katharine McGregor ‘looked a picturesque figure in the traditional wig and gown’, when she became the first woman in Queensland to be admitted as a barrister, although she never actually practiced as one. She was admitted as a solicitor and a barrister by the Supreme Court of Queensland in October 1926.

Although she was not a lawyer, Beryl Donkin was a prominent administrator and facilitator. She was born in 1920 in Brisbane but grew up in Melbourne. After working in the Queensland public service, she was appointed on 24 April 1941 to the position of the Queensland Law Society’s assistant secretary. This position was particularly demanding as the Society was experiencing financial difficulty and many key members had left to attend military service during World War Two.

She was the Queensland Law Society’s first full-time employee and continued to serve the Society for 13 years before assuming the statutory position of Secretary in 1954, a position she held until 1981 when she retired. Her commitment and service to Queensland lawyers – including by being the first female secretary of any Law Society in the Commonwealth – was honoured in 1975 when she received an OBE at Buckingham Palace.

As secretary, Beryl’s responsibilities included coordination of complaints; the organisation of practising certificates; administration of sub-committees; and financial duties. Beryl Donkin was awarded Order of the British Empire in 1975 for ‘her devoted and untiring service to the Queensland Law Society’. Beryl Donkin was a key mentor and source of support to trailblazer Joan Bennett. Beryl died in 1991, and several legal prizes have been named in her honour.

Motivated by a burning sense of injustice, Elizabeth Eggleston was a trailblazer in advocating justice for Aboriginal people. An academic lawyer and activist – she was the first doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Law at Monash University – Eggleston’s research revealed systematic discrimination of Indigenous peoples in the administration of justice. She was a founder of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service in 1972.

Isla Victoria Murphy was born on 17 July 1913 at St Kilda. After graduating as dux from the Presentation convent school, she attended the University of Melbourne. In 1933, Isla completed her Bachelor of Arts (Hons). She completed her Bachelor of Laws in 1934 and her Masters the following year. Isla was admitted to the Bar on 1 May 1936. She practised with her uncle’s firm and was described as ‘the best man in the office’. During this time, she also served on the Victorian committee of the St Joan’s Social and Political Alliance, an international organization committed to an active role in society for lay Catholic women.

Isla joined the Australian Women’s Army Service on 21 November 1941, where she attended the first A.W.A.S. officers’ course and became captain. In 1943 she was promoted to major and appointed deputy assistant adjutant-general (women’s services) at Land Headquarters. In September 1944 she became assistant adjutant-general (women’s services) and was made temporary lieutenant colonel. Murphy assisted with the rehabilitation of servicewomen before transferring to the Reserve of Officers on 7 September 1946.

With the intention of resuming her legal career, she attended a refresher course at the University of Melbourne, where she met solicitor Horace Arthur Wimpole, who had also served in the Australian Imperial Force, and been a prisoner of war. They were married on 16 September 1947, and Isla did not recommence her practice. In 1957-60 Isla was vice-president of the Lyceum Club. She died on 4 January 1967.

Mary Genevieve Gaudron, born 5 January 1943, was the first female justice of the High Court of Australia, and the only one in the Court’s first 100 years. She was born into outback NSW Moree’s working class railway community adjacent to a camp of dispossessed Aboriginal Australians. Both communities held the status of battlers, somewhat apart from the rich white business community on the other side of the Mehi River. Fittingly, she became one of the High Court justices who decided Eddie Mabo’s landmark case on Aboriginal land rights.

Throughout her career Gaudron, a colourful and lively personality, remained down-to-earth, proud of her working class origins, and humble about her achievements.

On her retirement from the High Court in 2003, Gaudron accepted a part-time appointment on the International Labour Organisation’s Administrative Tribunal in Geneva. She served a term as its President before retiring in 2012 to her Sydney home.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read an essay written by Pamela Burton for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

Nerida Josephine Cohen (later Goodman) was the second woman (and first Jewish woman) to practise at the New South Wales (NSW) Bar. Amongst her early mentors were Professor Gladys Marks and feminist leaders Jessie Street and Ruby Rich. She was admitted to the NSW bar in 1935.

She built her business steadily throughout the 1930s and 40s, particularly in the area of divorce and industrial law, because she had an abiding interest in advancing the rights of women in the domestic and industrial spheres.

During WWII, Nerida left the Bar to play a part in the war effort by working firstly with the Women’s Employment Board and then with the NSW Department of Labour and Industry as a legal officer. She was chairman of the Council for Women in War Work, which collected records of the achievements of women during the war.

In 1952, she was invited to be the inaugural president of the Women Lawyers Association of New South Wales.

In May 1940, when Veronica Pike was admitted as a solicitor, there were very few woman solicitors in New South Wales. A pioneering woman lawyer, Pike was active in the International Federation of Women Lawyers and the Women Lawyers’ Association of New South Wales, of which she was a founding member.

Marylyn Mayo was an inspirational teacher to many female law students, and encouraged them in their legal careers. She established a full law degree at James Cook University and was influential on many of the University’s boards and committees. Marylyn graduated with Bachelor degrees in Law and Arts as one of a small group of female law graduates at the University of Auckland in the 1960. After being admitted as a barrister and solicitor by the Supreme Court of New Zealand, she worked in private practice before joining the Ministry of Works as Auckland District Solicitor.

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

Tammy Williams is a trailblazing Indigenous and human rights advocate. She is a practising barrister, founding director of Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships, and a leading advisor on Indigenous issues.

Admitted as a barrister in 2002, her legal career includes Commonwealth prosecutor and appointments to quasi-judicial bodies. She has been a member of the National Human Rights Consultative Committee and in 2003 was named the Queensland Women Lawyers Association Emergent Lawyer of the Year.

Helen Symon QC is a leading advocate with wide experience in taxation law as well as commercial and administrative law. She appears regularly in the High Court of Australia, the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of Victoria. One of the most experienced taxation silks in Australia, Symon has been, professionally, ‘outstandingly successful – for a woman. That,’ she says, ‘sums up both my professional achievements and my professional frustrations.’

Elizabeth Proust is one of Melbourne, Victoria’s leading business figures, having held leadership roles in the private and public sectors in Australia for over 30 years. She is Chairman of Nestle Australia Ltd, Chairman of Bank of Melbourne, a director of Perpetual Ltd, Spotless Ltd, Insurance Manufacturers Australia Pty Ltd, Sinclair Knight Merz Holdings Pty Ltd, and of Sports Australia Hall of Fame. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of JP Morgan, and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Prior to taking on roles as a non-executive director, Elizabeth spent eight years with the ANZ Group, including four years as Managing Director of Esanda. At ANZ itself, she held the positions of Managing Director, Metrobanking and Group General Manager, Human Resources, Corporate Affairs and Management Services. She was global head of HR at ANZ at a time when the bank was represented in some 43 countries.

Before joining ANZ, Proust was Secretary of the Victorian Department of the Premier and Cabinet and Chief Executive of the City of Melbourne. She had previously been appointed Secretary of the Victorian Attorney General’s Department. Proust’s first role after graduation was in public affairs at BP Australia.

Educated by the Good Samaritan sisters in Balmain and Wollongong, Proust worked for the Young Catholic Students’ movement after leaving school. She has a BA (Hons) from La Trobe University and a Law degree from the University of Melbourne.

Proust was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2010 for distinguished service to public administration and to business, through leadership roles in government and private enterprise, as a mentor to women, and to the community through contributions to arts, charitable and educational bodies. Previous board roles include Chairman of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Chairman of the Centre for Dialogue at La Trobe University and a director of Nonprofit Australia.

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

Eleni Petinos was elected as the Member for Miranda representing the Liberal Party of Australia in the Legislative Assembly of the New South Wales Parliament in 2015.

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.

Kate Washington was elected as the Member for Port Stephens representing the Australian Labor Party in the Legislative Assembly of the New South Wales Parliament in 2015.

Sally Brown was at the forefront of women advancing in the Victorian judiciary, as one of the first female magistrates appointed in Victoria in 1985. She was appointed Chief Magistrate in 1990, and then a Judge of the Family Court of Australia in 1993. She has served on a number of boards, including as Chair of the Australian Institute of Criminology.

Susanne Elizabeth Schreiner (Sue) was born in Sydney in 1939 of parents who left Vienna before the outbreak of World War II. She spent her early life in Canberra and was in the year of the first graduates (in Law) of the Australian National University (ANU) in 1962. She also completed a Diploma in Criminology from the University of Sydney.

Schreiner signed the High Court roll as a barrister and solicitor in 1962, the same year she was admitted to practise at the NSW Bar. She was the first female barrister to appear in the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the fourteenth woman admitted to the NSW Bar. She had difficulty gaining articles in NSW and this led to her finally gaining employment as a solicitor in Canberra with Mr J. D. Donohoe. She stayed with him until 1964 when she went to Sydney. She practised at the Bar there until 1975 when she was appointed a NSW Magistrate. She was the second woman appointed as a NSW Magistrate and the first person to be so appointed from outside the Public Service. Her appointment caused great outcry as it heralded a big shift in the way in which NSW Magistrates were appointed.

Schreiner is the co-author (with K.B. Morgan) of ‘Probate practice and precedents’. She did some law reporting as well as research for Butterworth’s into the feasibility of an Australian version of Halsbury’s Laws of England, the existence of which is now a fact.

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