The Australian Women's Register

Mimbingal Violet (Vai) McGinness Stanton, of Kungarakany and Gurindji descent, attended primary schools in Darwin and Katherine. Following the bombing of Darwin in 1942, she was evacuated to South Australia, where she completed her primary education. At the end of the war, she returned to the Northern Territory, became a wardsmaid at the Katherine hospital and completed a correspondence certificate course in English.

In 1964 Stanton was appointed as an instructor in home management at the Bagot reserve by the Aboriginal welfare branch of the Northern Territory administration. In 1969 she was awarded a scholarship to the South Pacific Commission community education training centre in Fiji, and then became a welfare officer in the Northern Territory administration’s social development branch. She became involved with a women’s group, Djuani, and the Aboriginal Development Foundation, and through these two organisations helped to improve housing, women’s arts and crafts and occupational training for young people.

In 1973 she became a founding member of the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council. She helped establish the Foundation of Rehabilitation with Aboriginal Alcohol Related Difficulties (FORWAARD) in 1976 and later became its coordinator. She was also one of the central figures in the 1983 Maranunggu land claim.

Matilda Thompson was an active member of the Ballarat community. She raised a substantial sum of money for Ballarat’s Avenue of Honour during the First World War and opened her home, Sunways, as a refuge for ex-servicemen.

Louisa Lawson was an independent and resourceful woman who fought for women’s rights during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in Australia. Married at eighteen years of age to Niels (Peter) Larsen, later Lawson, she produced five children, one of whom died in infancy. Another child, Henry became one of Australia’s most famous writers. On her move to Sydney from country New South Wales in 1883 she supported her family by doing washing, sewing and taking in boarders. In 1887 she bought the Republican and with her son Henry edited and wrote most of the newspaper’s copy. In 1888 she established the Dawn, a journal devoted to women’s concerns and continued publication until 1905. In May 1889 Louisa launched the campaign for female suffrage and announced the formation of the Dawn Club where women met to discuss ‘every question of life, work and reform’ and to gain experience in public speaking. Louisa Lawson could claim success when women in New South Wales gained the suffrage in 1902.

Una B. Porter (née Cato) was a renowned psychiatrist, philanthropist and devotee of the Methodist Church in Melbourne, Victoria. She was the first female member of staff at Ballarat Mental Hospital in 1946. In 1963 she was elected World President of the YWCA and travelled extensively. In recognition of her services to the community she was appointed Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in 1961, and Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1968.

Fanny Brownbill was the first woman Labor Member of Parliament in Victoria. She held the Legislative Assembly seat of Geelong for ten years from 1938 until her death in 1948. In Parliament she focused on issues relating to women, children and the family.

Annie (“Grannie”) Moysey, of Gunu descent, was born on the banks of the Warrego near Fords Bridge north of Bourke, New South Wales. She was reared by her grandmother, and learnt not only her grandmother’s language, Gunu, but also Margany and Wangkumara. She spent most of her adult life working hard on stations along the Darling, mainly at Old Toorale. She raised her own children and grandchildren as well as a number of others. Late in her life she settled in Wilcannia. She was trained in esoteric practices as a ‘clever woman’, and she once saved a man’s life and sight after he had been struck by lighting. She was the last person in the area who could ‘corroboree’ in the traditional style and she was asked to demonstrate this on important occasions. She lived to be about 100 years old. Her last days were spent sitting on the verandah of the Wilcannia hospital, smoking her pipe.

Tracey Moffatt is an internationally renowned Aboriginal photographer, documentary maker and director. Moffatt’s photography is reflected in her films and documentaries, which explore Aboriginal culture by confronting commonly held stereotypes.

Tracey Moffatt was born in 1960 in Brisbane, where she graduated from the Queensland College of Arts. Her debut film, Nice Coloured Girls, won the Most Innovative Film award at the 1988 Festival of Australian Film and Video. At the same festival, she won the Best New Australian Video award for her 5-minute Aboriginal and Islander dance video, Watch Out. Moffatt also produced Moodeitj Yorgas, which includes interviews, dances, and storytelling by Western Australian Aboriginal women. Her film Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy (1990) draws from the 1955 Chauvel film Jedda.

Moffatt’s photographic exhibitions include “Some Lads” and “Something More”.

Lucy Beeton spent most of her life on Badger Island, though she was sent to Launceston as a young girl to receive a Christian education. In adult life, the well-loved Beeton provided an education for the children of sealers on Badger Island and entertained visitors there.

Jeanie Bell is a linguist and educator who has lived and worked in Queensland, Victoria and the Northern Territory. Over the course of her career Bell has made an extraordinary contribution to the development of Aboriginal education within the tertiary sector, and to the preservation of Aboriginal linguistic heritage.

Mary Ann Bin-Sallik has played a monumental role in the advancement of Aboriginal studies with a proliferation of posts in the tertiary sector. She has been part of government committees of inquiry into Aboriginal employment; discrimination in employment; and the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

In 2017, Mary Ann Bin-Sallik was made an Officer in the General division of the Order of Australia ‘for distinguished service to tertiary education as an academic, author and administrator, particularly in the area of Indigenous studies and culture, and as a role model and mentor.

Nerida Blair, daughter of Harold Blair, was born in Victoria. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, a Graduate Diploma in Education and a Master of Arts (Honours) in Education.

Blair has held a number of positions lecturing in Aboriginal Studies, and counselling and tutoring in various educational institutions. From 1984 to 1989 she was Head of the Aboriginal Education Support Unit at the Catholic Education Centre in Sydney. In 1989 she moved to Canberra to become a Policy Officer for the Department of Employment, Education and Training. She then joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra for one year, and was actively involved in indigenous people’s issues nationally and internationally.

1990 saw Blair move to Sydney to become a Policy Adviser with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. In 1998, she was appointed Associate Professor to the Umulliko Indigenous Higher Education Research Centre at the University of Newcastle.

Gloria Brennan, of Pindiini (Nyanganyatjara) descent, was born in 1948 in the eastern goldfields of Western Australia. She graduated in linguistics and anthropology from the University of Western Australia in 1978.

Brennan was one of the founders of the Aboriginal Medical Service and Aboriginal Legal Service in Western Australia. She continued her work in Canberra with the Equal Employment Opportunity Bureau of the Public Service Board. She was Aboriginal Australian delegate to the Second World African and Black Festival of Arts and Culture in 1977 and travelled extensively, making contacts with other indigenous people. She was also a classical pianist. Brennan died of cancer in 1985.

Fanny Cochrane Smith was born in 1834 at Wybalenna settlement on Flinders Island in Bass Strait. From the age of seven she spent her childhood in European homes and institutions, mostly in the household of Robert Clark, catechist at Flinders Island, in conditions of neglect and brutality. When Wybalenna people were moved to Oyster Cove she went into service in Hobart, but returned to Oyster Cove the same year.

On her marriage in 1854 to William Smith, sawyer and ex-convict, she received an annuity of £24. In 1857 they moved to Nicholls Rivulet and took up a land grant, and the first of their 11 children was born the following year. They supported the family by growing produce and splitting shingles. After Truganini died, she claimed herself to be ‘the last Tasmanian’. Her annuity was raised to £50, and she was granted 120 ha of land. She became a Methodist and an active fundraiser, donating land for a church.

Cochrane Smith was proud of her Aboriginal identity, and of her knowledge of food gathering and bush medicine. She became famous for her wax cylinder recordings of Aboriginal songs, now housed in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

Maggy Pinkie Mack (Katipelvild), of Ngarrindjeri descent, was born on the lower Murray River in South Australia, probably around 1867. At the age of 16, she was given in marriage to an up-river man, John Mack (Telwara). She took part in ceremonies and learnt new songs and stories. After he died, she went back to her own country, and her second husband.

Pinkie Mack was a song-woman, and she recorded some of her songs on an Edison wax cylinder. She was nostalgic about the past and her people. After the death of Albert Karloan, she was the only remaining fluent Yaraldi speaker.

In later years, Mack lived in a small cottage near the river and not far from Tailem Bend, where she sometimes sold freshly caught fish to a local shop. Children, grandchildren and various relatives called in to see her on the way to other places.

Lorraine Mafi-Williams was an extraordinarily talented woman who ran once for parliament, as an Independent in the 1995 New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Ballina. She spent her lifetime in creative and caring activities.

Marmburra Wananumba Banduk Marika has been an active member of the Aboriginal arts scene since 1980, working with prints and film.

On Australia Day 2019 she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) ‘for distinguished service to the visual arts, particularly to Indigenous printmaking and bark painting, and through cultural advisory roles’.

Co-founder of the National Council of Aboriginal and Island Women in 1970, Hyllus Noel Maris co-wrote the award-winning Women of the Sun, which was later adapted as a screen production by the ABC.

Maroochy Barambah is a distinguished indigenous musician whose career since the 1970s has spanned the genres of jazz, rock, musical theatre and classical opera.

A committed advocate for Aboriginal health and welfare, Naomi Ruth Mayers was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 1984 in recognition of her services to the community – much of her work was centred in the Aboriginal community of Redfern, Sydney.

Jessie Shillingsworth, of Margany descent, was born at Beechal Creek, north of Eulo in southwest Queensland. As a girl, she lived at Guwany-Mungarie camp, near the present Bundoona station. She married Arthur Shillingsworth and raised four sons and two daughters.

Jessie was the last person to have extensive knowledge of the language and culture of her people. She had not spoken her language for forty years prior to 1967, when she was first asked about it. She subsequently contributed many words to the grammar of her language published by Hazel McKellar in 1984. Jessie was also strongly opposed to the alcohol that was causing such damage to her people.

Judy Trew Thandripilinha (‘Poisonous Snake’), of Yarluyandi descent, was born in c.1865, probably on Goyder Lagoon in South Australia. She took the name ‘Trew’ from one of the early station people. Her first husband was Kuranta (‘Sticknest Rat’), also called ‘Lagoon Charlie’, and her second husband was the highly respected old Wangkangurru man, Yarinjili Todd.

Judy lived and worked on old Clifton Hills and The Bluff, remaining in or close to her own country. She had an excellent knowledge of the bush, and taught her grandchildren about sites and stories, including her own main tradition, the Song Cycle of the Swan. Nearly all the sites recorded on the Diamantina in South Australia are based on her traditions. In c.1936 she organised the last expedition, by camel, to collect pituri from the traditional site west of the Mulligan.

Janet Clarke (née Snodgrass) was a society hostess and leading patron of good causes in Melbourne from the 1880s until her death. She was a member of the Charity Organisation Society, the Austral Salon, the Melbourne District Nursing Society, the Talbot Epileptic Colony committee, the Alliance Française, the Dante Society, the Women’s Hospital Committee, the Hospital for Sick Children and the City Newsboys’ Society. She helped to organise the Women’s Work Exhibition in 1907. Clarke’s influence was such that she became the first president of the National Council of Women of Victoria in 1902, and of the Australian Women’s National League in 1904.

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (Victorian Branch) has its origins with the formation of the Sisterhood of International Peace in Melbourne in 1915. When the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) was founded in Zurich in 1919, the Sisterhood reconstituted itself as the Australian section of this new organisation. The Victorian branch formally separated from the Australian Section in 1920, although considerable overlap continued between these two bodies.

Aside from campaigning for international disarmament and an end to all war, WILPF has taken action on a wide range of social justice issues.

The Australian Local Government Women’s Association (ALGWA) was formed in Canberra in 1951. A non-party, not for profit organisation, the formation of the Association was inspired by the belief that more women should be involved in local government both as elected members and senior managers.

As of 2008, its aims were:
To assist in furthering knowledge and understanding of the function of local government
To encourage women to participate in local government
To encourage women to make a career in local government
To watch over and protect the interests and rights of women in local government
To take action in relation to any subject or activity affecting local government and local government legislation
To act in an advisory capacity to intending women candidates for local government election.

The Association has branches in all Australian states and the Northern Territory and membership is open to all interested in encouraging and supporting women’s participation in the Local Government sector.

Vim Wlehelm was named after the Vickers Vimy, a reconditioned WWI fighter bomber that flew from London to Australia and landed on the day she was born. Her father, Roy Klopper, was an early enthusiast of flying and had built his own aeroplane as a young man. Her mother, Jessie Sullivan, was a midwife and matron of the local hospital at Crystal Brook, north of Adelaide, South Australia. They named their daughter Eileen Vimy but she was nearly always Vim. Jessie died when Vim was ten, and Vim left school at the age of twelve to look after her four siblings. She picked up her formal education again at the age of seventeen when she went to Royal Adelaide Hospital to be a nurse. In 1943 she married a young doctor, Don Wilhelm (with whom she had two children), and graduated top of the state in 1944.

Once graduated, Vimy trained as a family planning nurse at the Marie Stopes Centre in London and learned to appreciate the worth of volunteering. Returning to Australia in 1960 and with some encouragement from Ruby Rich of the Racial Hygiene Association, Vimy joined the Family Planning Association of Australia (FPAA), where she eventually served as president and chief executive officer, on a full-time, volunteer basis. “She ran the organisation as efficiently as she appears to have done everything else in her life,” notes a friend. “She turned it from an organisation that had virtually no profile at all, into one that was respected by the medical community and by the community at large.” She was later appointed Patron of the Australian Federation of Family Planning Associations (AFFPA), and in 1976 was awarded the Order of Australia in recognition of her pioneering work in family planning. Between 1976 and 1997, Vimy held the Presidency of the NSW Committee of UNICEF and was elected a Life Member in 1994.

After leaving UNICEF in 1997, Vim, at the age of 78, immediately offered her services to the University of New South Wales alumni association as a volunteer.

The Business and Professional Women’s Club of Wollongong was formed on 17 March 1953. The Club’s objectives include a commitment to the removal of sex discrimination in the employment and remuneration of women. The Club is affiliated with the Australian Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs and through that body to the International Federation of Business and Professional Women.

Gabrielle Pizzi, fanatical Collingwood Football Club supporter and granddaughter of the colourful Melbourne, Australia, identity John Wren, was one of the driving forces behind the acceptance of indigenous art in the wider community. In the early 1980s, Pizzi argued that Aboriginal art should not be trivialised as ‘tribal’ or ‘primitive’ but, instead, should be regarded as an integral part of the modern movement. She made it her life’s mission to have Aboriginal art accepted as powerful contemporary art, bringing the dynamic works of artists including Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri and Emily Kam Kngwarray to world audiences by organising exhibitions in such unlikely places as Bangalore, Kiev and Jerusalem.

Pizzi began exhibiting Aboriginal art in Melbourne in the early 1980s, when there was still resistance to accepting it as a valid form of contemporary art. In 1987, she opened the Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi on Flinders Lane with an exhibition of cutting-edge Western Desert art. Unlike some later, exploitative dealers who capitalised on the boom she helped to create, Pizzi was known for her integrity. She always worked with art advisers from community art centres, ensuring that artists were paid correctly and new artists supported.