The Australian Women's Register

Margherita Stefani ran the Amalfi Boarding House and wine saloon in Kalgoorlie with her husband.

Mary Smith nee Steedman was the first white woman to live in Bardoc, approximately 30 km from Kalgoorlie. She ran the Bardoc Hotel from 1896 until 1924.

Savina Patroni migrated to Australia from Italy in 1951. She lived in the Somerville garden district of Kalgoorlie and raised a family while also working on the family market garden.

Lina Furia owned and ran the Cornwall Hotel in Boulder with her husband Charlie Furia and her son Jack Osmetti from 1926 -1970.

Ethel Tory was a teacher of French and Latin and an advocate for drama and language studies, particularly French. She taught French and Latin in Western Australian schools and at the University of Western Australia before undertaking further study in French literature in Paris. She was appointed a lecturer in French at the Australian National University in 1961 and promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1965. In 1970, she published an edition of Giraudoux’s play Intermezzo for use in schools and universities. She retired in 1977 but continued to teach French and to support drama studies at the Australian National University through donations and a bequest on her death in 2003.

Amanda brown was born in Middle Swan in 1956, and brought up in a European Jewish and Irish Heritage. She studied Photomedia Design at the Central Institute of Technology in Perth, Western Australia.

Robyn Tredwell was winner of the ABC Australian Rural Women of the Year Award in 1995.

Dorothy Male was a nominee for the ABC Rural Woman of the year Award in 1994. She and her husband run Newdale Farm at Redmond near Albany, Western Australia.

Dorothy Brenton and her husband arrived in Western Australia as young children. They ran a farm outside Denmark in Western Australia.

Gail Guthrie is a Western Australian wool farmer. When the wool price collapsed in the 1980s-90s she and her husband decided to add value to the wool they produced by trying to develop a wool that did not itch from their own Merino fleeces.

Mother Mary Gertrude of the Order of St John of God, trained as a nurse at the Order’s hospital in Perth, Western Australia. After nursing in Western Australia and Victoria, from 1929 she worked at the Beagle Bay mission in the north of Western Australia where four of her sisters, all members of the same religious order, preceded her. She cared for Aboriginal patients suffering from Hansen’s bacillus (leprosy). In 1947 she was appointed provincial superior of the North-West and served in that capacity until 1953. She held the position again from 1956 until 1962. In 1948 she was appointed MBE for her work.

Jocelynne Scutt has worked consistently in her capacity as lawyer, activist and writer to improve the lives of women generally and by changing the laws on rape and domestic violence. She founded the feminist publisher, Artemis and was a member of the Women’s Electoral Lobby in both Canberra and Sydney.

A graduate in law from the University of Western Australia in 1969, Scutt undertook postgraduate studies in law at the University of Sydney, Southern Methodist University and the University of Michigan in the United States, and Cambridge University in England. She has worked with the Australian Institute of Criminology and as director of research with the Legal and Constitutional Committee of the parliament of Victoria. From 1981-82 she worked at the Sydney Bar and then was Deputy Chairperson of the Law Reform Commission, Victoria. In 1986 she returned to private practice in Melbourne. She served as the first Anti-Discrimination Commissioner of Tasmania from 1999-2004. In 2007 she accepted a judicial post on the Fiji High Court.

Scutt is a member of the UN Committee Against Trafficking, a International Alliance of Women (IAW) representative on International Criminal Court Coalition (ICC Coalition) and a board member of the Women’s History Network in the United Kingdom. She was called to the English Bar in 2014.

Jocelynne Scutt 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 Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.

Ada Bromham spent her long life as a campaigner for the rights of women, children and Aboriginal people. She stood for parliament on two occasions; once in 1921 for the Western Australian Assembly and again in 1941 for the seat of Unley in the South Australian Parliament. She was a member and office bearer of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union from 1925 until her death in 1965. She was a member also of the Women’s Service Guilds, which was affiliated with the Australian Federation of Women Voters.

Tessa Parkinson began sailing at the age of eight with her younger brother in mirror dinghies at the Fremantle Sailing Club in Western Australia. Her love of the sport eventually saw her gain entry to the Australian Institute of Sport(AIS) in 2005.

In 2004 she began what would become a successful partnership and started racing with fellow AIS athlete Elise Rechichi. Their first big victory was in the 420 event at the 2004 Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship. Shortly afterwards they switched to the 470 class — a move which eventually led to their splendid gold medal win at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Elise Rechichi combined with Tessa Parkinson to win a sailing gold medal at the Beijing Summer Olympic Games.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Christine Scott was elected to the Parliament of Queensland as the Member for Charters Towers in 2001. She served for one term only suffering defeat at the 2004 election.

A member of the Liberal party of Australia, Mary Fisher was chosen by the Parliament of South Australia on 6 June 2007 to represent the state in the Senate of the Parliament of Australia on the resignation of Senator Amanda Vanstone. She was elected in 2010 for a six year term.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia since 1988, Michaelia Cash was elected to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia as a Senator for Western Australia at the federal election held on 24 November 2007.

Cash was re-elected in 2013 and appointed a Minister in the new Liberal National Party government led by Tony Abbott. She holds the positions of Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women and Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.

A solicitor by profession, prior to her election to the Senate Cash worked at the law firm Freehills between 1999 and 2008. Her father, George Cash, served as a Liberal MP and MLC in the Western Australian state government for many years.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Judith Adams was elected to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia representing Western Australia, in 2004. She was re-elected in 2010. She currently holds the position of Deputy Opposition Whip.

Jo Vallentine was elected to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia as a Senator for Western Australia representing the Nuclear Disarmament Party in 1985. On her resignation form the Nuclear Disarmament Party, she remained in the Parliament as an Independent, until she joined the Western Australian Greens in July 1990. She resigned from Parliament in 1992.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Melissa Parke was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament as the Member for Fremantle, Western Australia, in 2007. She unsuccessfully contested the state seat of Mitchell at the 1996 election. Before entering the federal parliament she served as a lawyer with the United Nations from 1999 until 2007. She was re-elected in 2010.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Ruth Coleman was elected as a Senator for Western Australia in the Senate of the Parliament of Australia, in 1974. She was one of only five women in the federal parliament at that time. On her retirement in 1987, there was some improvement in the numbers of women in the parliament; seventeen in the Senate and eight in the House of Representatives. A member of the Left wing of the Labor Party and a feminist, Ruth Coleman actively campaigned against uranium mining and fought to improve the position of women in Australian society.

Nola Marino was a regional winner of the ABC Rural Woman of the Year Award in 1996, for the South West district in Western Australia.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Nola was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament as the Member for Forrest, Western Australia in 2007. She was re-elected in 2010.