The Australian Women's Register

The first woman alderman, mayor and among the first women JPs and MPs in New South Wales, Lilian Fowler was a blunt and tenacious politician, who worked on behalf of women and the underprivileged.

Labor candidate for Newtown in 1941 (unsuccessful), 1944 (elected) and 1947 (elected). Lang Labor candidate for Newtown-Annandale in 1950. Alderman Newtown Municipal Council 1928, first woman alderman in NSW, re-elected 1935-37, 1938-40, 1941-44, 1948. Mayor 1938-39.

An indefatigable worker and a contributor to every community in which she lived, Dorothy Frank stood as an Independent candidate for Temora in 1968 and was elected Alderman of Temora Municipal Council.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Jan Wade served as the member for Kew in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the State of Victoria from 1988-99. As a Minister in the Liberal Government from 1992-99, she held the portfolios of Attorney General, Fair Trading and Women’s Affairs.

Educated at Sydney Girls’ High School, Firbank Church of England Girls’ Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, Jan Wade worked as a solicitor in private practice (1964-67), in the Parliamentary Counsel’s office from 1970-79 and as president of the Equal Opportunity Board (1985-88) before entering parliament in 1988.

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

A member of the Liberal party of Australia, Marie Tehan served in both Houses of the Victorian Parliament. She was the Member for Central Highlands in the Legislative Council from 1987-92 and for Seymour in the Legislative Assembly from 1992 until 1999, when she retired. As a minister in the Kennett Liberal Government she held the portfolios of Minister for Health from 1992-96 and Minister for Conservation and Land Management from 1996-99.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Licia Kokocinski served as the member for Melbourne West Province in the Legislative Council of the Victorian Parliament from 1988-96. She was the first woman from a non-English speaking background to be elected to the Victorian parliament.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Lorraine Elliott served as the member for Mooroolbark in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1992-2002. She held the position of Victorian Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier for the Arts from 1996-99. She stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Liberal Party of Australia in the seat of Kilsyth at the 2002 state election, which was held on 30 November 2002.The seat of Mooroolbark was abolished in an electoral redistribution in 2001.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Ann Henderson was an unsuccessful candidate in the Legislative Assembly seat of Geelong at the Victorian state election which was held in 1988. She won the seat at the 1992 election and served as the member for Geelong in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1992 until 1999, when she was defeated. She achieved ministerial status as Minister for Housing and Minister Responsible for Aboriginal Affairs from 1996-99.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Carole Marple served as the Member for Altona in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1992-96. She held the shadow portfolio of Agriculture and Rural Affairs from 1993-96. At the 1996 election, which was held on 30 March, she stood in the Legislative Council Province of Geelong, but was unsuccessful.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Denise McGill served as the Member for Oakleigh in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1992-99. Her previous public work included a period as an Oakleigh City Councillor from 1987-94 and as Mayor from 1990-91. She was a candidate in the Legislative Council Province of Waverley at the state election, which was held on 30 November 2002.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Inga Peulich served as the Member for Bentleigh in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1992-2002. Before her election to the Victorian Parliament she was a Councillor for the City of Moorabbin from 1990-93. She re-established her parliamentary career when she was elected as Member for the new Legislative Council Region of South Eastern Metropolitan at the Victorian state election, which was held on 25 November 2006. She was re-elected in November 2010, when the Liberal Party won government and again in 2014, when the Labor Party regained power.
She served as Parliamentary secretary for Education from December 2010 to March 2014 and Cabinet secretary from March to December 2014 in the Liberal government. As a member of the Opposition she is now Shadow Minister for Cultural Affairs and Scrutiny of Government.

One of Australia’s early radio clubs, the 2WG Women’s Club was an important fundraising group as well as an essential communication tool for women in the Wagga Wagga region with its twice daily broadcasts and weekly meetings especially for women.

Mary Graham completed her university studies on the Gold Coast and moved to Brisbane in order to gain more experience in the Aboriginal community. She began working with the Brisbane Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Agency (AICCA) as a Liaison Officer and later as Administrator. She was involved with the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) in its establishment and early years.

Mary Graham was listed as a member of the CPI Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation in 1992. She has also been a lecturer at the University of Queensland.

Mollie Dyer, of Yorta Yorta descent, was instrumental in establishing the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) in 1977, and became its first Program Director. She fostered 20 children from Aboriginal communities in Victoria, as well as having six of her own. She advocated for the adoption legislation in Victoria to prevent Aboriginal families unnecessarily surrendering their children and was involved with the establishment of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) in the early 1980s.

Dyer received an Advance Australia medal and an Order of Australia award for ‘her outstanding contribution to the advancement and enrichment of Australia, its people and its way of life’.

Mollie Dyer died in 1998 after a long illness.

Barbara Cummings, a member of the Stolen Generations, was brought up in the Retta Dixon Home. She graduated in social work and community development before working with the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and the Northern Territory Government. She was involved with a number of organisations in a voluntary capacity and played a crucial role in the establishment of Karu, the Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Agency in Darwin.

In 1991 Cummings received the Aboriginal of the Year award. She is the author of Take This Child which exposes the history of the removal of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory.

Barbara Cummings passed away in September 2019, aged 71. Many have paid tribute to the trailblazing Territorian, who became a powerful voice in Aboriginal affairs in Australia.

Christine Fejo-King worked in community welfare in Darwin before becoming involved with Karu, Darwin’s newly-developed Aboriginal child care agency. She held the position of Coordinator of Karu for a time, and was a member of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) Executive.

Julie Tommy, of Innawongia descent, grew up on the Onslow Native Welfare Reserve where her family was relocated from their traditional land in the Tom Price/Paraburdoo area of Western Australia. Her primary school years were spent in a native welfare hostel near the Onslow Reserve, and she had little interaction with her family.

Tommy commenced a social work degree at Curtin University before working with the Western Australian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (ACCA) from 1980 to 1986. She became Coordinator of the Agency and attended national conferences on child care.

Jenny Munro became involved with Aboriginal organisations in 1978, when she began working at the Aboriginal Children’s Service as a trainee bookkeeper and then as Administrator in 1979. She was actively involved in endeavours to convince the New South Wales welfare department to change its policies and practices. She was a member of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) in its early days, and one of its first chairpersons.

Separated from her family at birth, Heather Shearer was adopted into a non-Aboriginal family. She grew up in Adelaide, completely cut off from her culture and from Aboriginal people. Since 1978, Shearer has been actively involved with Aboriginal child welfare groups and family link-up services.

At the age of 15, Betty Pearce became Secretary of the first Aboriginal organisation established in Darwin. By 1962 she was active in the land rights movement, and later became the first Aboriginal person in the Australian Labor Party, serving on the National Aboriginal Policy Committee that first conceived the Department of Aboriginal Affairs.

In 1982 Pearce worked with the Central Aboriginal Congress in Alice Springs and helped establish a child care agency in Central Australia in 1985. She also participated in the establishment of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC).

Betty Pearce currently works for Territory Health in Alcohol and other Drug Services.

Jenny Pryor is a Bindal clan member of the Birri Gubba nation and Kaanju people. She has been a Commissioner with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission for North Queensland, holding the portfolio of infrastructure, housing, land and natural resources. For eight years she held the position of Administrator of the Northern Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Agency in Townsville, and has been associated with the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) since its inception in the early 1980s.

Pryor retains strong ties with the Palm Island community where her mother was born.

Marjorie Thorpe, a descendant of the Gunnai and Maar people of Southern Australia, was born and raised in Yallourn, Victoria. She was a director of the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) and Coordinator of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC). She also held the positions of Victorian Co-Commissioner for the Stolen Generations Inquiry and Council member for the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.

Cheryl Buchanan studied at the University of Hawaii as a scholarship-holder. Upon her return to Australia she became involved in the Brisbane Tribal Council, and attended the University of Queensland.

During 1974 Buchanan worked as the race relations field director for the Australian Union of Students and spent several months visiting communities in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, encouraging their struggle for land rights. In 1975 she moved to Melbourne, Victoria, where she became director of the Black Resources Centre (BRC). The Centre later moved to Brisbane, and Cheryl became one of the principal campaigners for the acquittal of ‘The Brisbane Three’, two Aboriginal men and a Chilean charged with conspiracy over an alleged extortion attempt. The three were acquitted due partly to the support of BRC periodical Black Liberation from 1975 to 1977. Buchanan was one of the main contributors to this publication, writing articles on a range of issues including history, politics, education, land rights, prisons and welfare.

In 1980 she published Kargun, the first of a series of poetry volumes by Lionel Fogarty. This publication led to the development of Murrie Coo-ee, an Aboriginal publishing firm at Coominya which continues to operate under Buchanan’s directorship.

A member of the Australian Labor Party from 1966, Caroline Hogg served as the Member for Melbourne North in the Legislative Council of the Parliament of Victoria from 1982-1999. During that period she held a range of ministerial appointments in Community Services, Education, Ethnic Affairs, Health and finally Ethnic, Municipal and Community Affairs. In Opposition after 1992 she held various Shadow Ministerial positions and was the Australian Labor Party Whip in the Legislative Council before her retirement in 1999.

A member of the Australian Labor Party from 1971, Margaret Ray served as the member for Box Hill in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1982-92. She was defeated at the state election, which was held on 3 October 1992.

Alongside her work in Aboriginal child welfare, Irene Stainton has long been an advocate for Aboriginal cultural heritage, holding a series of advisory positions at state and national levels.

Margaret Ah Kee is a long-standing advocate for the rights of indigenous children and families. She worked for Yuddika, the Aboriginal and Islander child care organisation in Cairns, Queensland, and was an active member of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Executive.

Ah Kee served as an Indigenous Advisory Council member for the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families, and for the Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission’s Inquiry into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice.

Vicki Cooney is an indigenous child care worker. She has continued to work with Yuddika, the Aboriginal and Islander child care organisation in Cairns, Queensland, following her appointment as its first Chairperson.