The Australian Women's Register

Sheila Wesley Smith was born in Western Australia and the family moved to Belair when she was five. She enjoyed riding and music. Wesley Smith went to the Kindergarten Training College in Palmer Place, North Adelaide and opened a kindergarten at Blackwood. She and her students were involved in the pageant for the South Australian centenary in 1936 and Wesley Smith was the Spirit of SA. She became the Director of the Franklin Street free kindergarten and then taught at the PGC in the junior school. She married Harry Wesley Smith and in 1939 left for England. World War II broke out so they returned to Australia in 1942. Her husband joined the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) and Wesley Smith raised their four sons. Wesley Smith joined the Kindergarten of the Air and worked on programs for five years in the 1960s. She was involved with community work with handicapped children and people in nursing homes.

Lois Mander-Jones grew up in Victoria and attended Presbyterian Girls College in Geelong. In 1940 she joined the Union Bank in Melbourne and then joined the Army. She was on General Blamey’s staff in Queensland. She became the personal assistant to the Director of Intelligence Brigadier John Rogers and also worked for Brigadier Kenneth Wills. On 9 June 1943 she married Evan Mander-Jones. Her husband went to New Guinea and returned to be the head of the Intelligence School. As couples could not work in the same unit she was transferred to Army Education. She became pregnant and was discharged from the army. She lost this baby and another child. Her husband was appointed Director of Education in South Australia. She had three sons and continued to work for the University. They spent a year overseas in 1959. She did a marriage guidance course and counselled for five years. Family commitments were dominant in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1965 she enrolled in a Diploma of Social Work and in 1968 she took a part time job as a research worker with the Institute of Technology. From 1970 to 1978 she worked as a part time supervisor and trainer of counsellors. Her husband died in 1975. In 1978 she started working at Flinders University as a part time social work demonstrator and she retired in 1982. She became involved with the Lyceum Club being Vice President and President and in 1993 Australian President of the Association of Lyceum Clubs. Mander-Jones was awarded honorary life membership in 1993.

Dr Frances Mocatta grew up in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. She studied medicine at the University of Sydney. A former Resident Medical Officer (RMO) at Rachel Forster Hospital, Royal Hospital for Women Paddington and Manly District Hospital, Sydney. In 1947 she married William Theyer Dean and had two daughters. She established a private practice in Meredith, Victoria and then Medindie, South Australia. Mocatta worked as a physician in allergic diseases. In 1963 she became a Medical Officer (MO) to the allergy clinic at the Repatriation Hospital.

Her publications included papers on the treatment of patients who were hypersensitive to bee strings. Her work was written up in the International Archives of Allergy and Applied Immunology in 1986. Dr Frances Mocatta retired in 1991.

Lady Elizabeth Bright, the daughter of Herbert Boyd and Annie (née Holden) Flaxman graduated from Melbourne University in medicine in 1937. She became a resident at the Queen Victoria Hospital for women and children. She moved to the Adelaide Children’s Hospital in 1939, met Charles Bright and was married in 1940. During the War Bright worked as a locum and did the medical examinations for the Women’s Australian National Service (WANS) recruits. She wrote “The Diary of a woman Doctor” for the Advertiser. She became the honorary medical officer for the Kindergarten Union of South Australia and was on the Social Welfare Committee of the Red Cross. Bright travelled extensively with her husband, Sir Charles Bright. She became patron of the South Australian branch of the Women Writer’s Association from 1982 to 1991 and in 1983 published a book written by her late husband called The confidential clerk about Charles Flaxman and George Fife Angas.

Francie Kay completed her nursing training at Balaklava, South Australia. She ran a private hospital before entering the social work field. Kay went to Melbourne to study and returned to work in the TB Service where she travelled around South Australia visiting sanatoria. She worked in the service for 25 years and helped to rehabilitate many patients. She attended various conferences worldwide. She then moved to the Walkerville Nursing home and helped develop an assessment system and a day and craft centre. Following an overseas holiday Kay and returned to work for Burnside to look at their community services. It was discovered there were many problems with elderly people and Pine View was established and community activities were organised to provide companionship.

Honor Cameron Wilson studied physiotherapy in the 1930s. She joined the Australian Army during World War II serving in the Middle East, Perth and with a plastic surgeon in Heidelberg, Victoria. Wilson returned to the Physiotherapy department at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. She completed post graduate work in London and became a lecturer. Her interests included art, and she was involved with the Lyceum Club art circle.

Madge Parker was born on the Yorke Peninsula and lived near Ardrossan. Her father grew wheat, barley and oats. They moved to Adelaide when her father retired and Madge was 16. She went to London in 1939 to completed a course dealing cosmetics and came home via America. She worked in Sydney and was in Melbourne when she joined the Women’s Royal Australian Air Force (WRAAFS) where she completed an officers’ course.

Dorothy Hughes was born in Western Australia and came to Adelaide where she worked as an accountant from 1934. She became the organising secretary for the Kindergarten Union in the late 1940s. The first kindergarten was opened in 1906 in Franklin Street with Miss de Lissa in charge. Several kindergartens opened in the following years and training courses began. In 1939-1940 the Lady Gowrie Child Centres were introduced in each capital city financed by the Commonwealth Government. In 1951 the Education committee was replaced by the Pre-School Council and the College Council. In the early 1980s the Children’s Services Office of the Education Department took over responsibility for pre-school education.

Myra Jarrett lived in Adelaide all her life. Her two sons both have Chairs at Adelaide University. Jarrett joined the Lyceum club in 1966, had two terms as leader of the Travel Circle and was Convenor of Circles for 3 years. In 1977 the Australian Association of Lyceum clubs moved to Adelaide and Jarrett became Secretary. In 1979 the triennial conference was held in Adelaide. Jarrett was on the executive from 1989 to 1994 during which time the Club moved from the IOOF building to 54 Currie St. In 1990 the Australian Association of Lyceum Clubs secretariat returned to Adelaide and a Congress was held at Annesley College in 1991. In 1992 the 25th International Congress took place in Melbourne and Adelaide acted as a pre-Congress host to 50 overseas members. The Club’s 50th birthday was celebrated in 1992.

Elizabeth Richards was born and lived in Highgate. She attended Greenways and MLC schools and became a pre-school teacher. Richards taught at Tiverton School at Unley Park and Gosse Home on Greenhill Road. She then moved to Lockleys kindergarten, Stephney and was the director of Netherby kindergarten in the 1970s. Richards became secretary of the Peace Pledge Union and she attended a Peace Conference in India in 1961 and one in Sheffield in 1972. She was president of the pre-school teachers’ association for six years and was involved in a pay case which increased salaries. In 1975 she mounted a display of resources for 0-8 year olds which was held at the Institute of Teachers in May 1976. It was repeated in 1977. Richards worked with children for forty years and retired in 1979. In retirement she worked for UNICEF, became a member of the Lyceum Club in 1982, was the patron of Children’s Week, did broadcasting for 5UV, and completed a TAFE course which enabled her to teach English to an Iranian migrant.

Stroma Buttrose was a pioneering figure for Australian women in architecture. She was the first female Planning Assistant in South Australia, and the first female Commissioner of the Planning Appeal Board. She was the author of numerous architectural publications, most notably City Planning in Australia in 1975.

The Victorian Section of the St Joan’s International Alliance, was established on the initiative of Margaret Flynn an Australian member of the English section of the St Joan’s International Alliance. An avowedly feminist organisation, it was open to all Catholics who agreed with the stated object of action ‘to secure the political, social and economic equality between men and women and to further the work and usefulness of Catholic women as citizens’. A New South Wales sector was established in 1946, with South Australia and Western Australia following suit in 1950. The first national conference was held in Sydney in 1951.

The Commission for Australian Catholic Women (CACW) was established on the recommendation of the Report on the Participation of Women in the Catholic Church in Australia, which was presented to the Australia Catholic Bishops Conference on 12 April 1999. Its aim is to promote the participation of women in the Catholic Church of Australia. Its commissioners include representatives from Adelaide, Sydney, Ballarat, Melbourne, Whyalla, Perth and Mt Isa. The Commission meets four times annually and works to facilitate the decisions and proposals of the Bishops to build a more inclusive church. The inaugural Chair of the Commission was Geraldine Hawkes.

Kathleen Steele-Scott was born in London and grew up in Yorkshire. The family moved to Birkenhead after World War I and she developed a real interest in the theatre. She went to Hamburg after school and had singing lessons there. On her return she joined the Workhamsford Operatic and Dramatic Society. She met her Australian husband at one of her aunt’s boarding houses and the family travelled to Australia for her wedding, visiting her brother in Malta on the way. She began working at the Adelaide Repertory Company in 1946 and produced Britten’s opera “Albert Herring”. She acted in the ‘Ham Funeral’ in 1961 and produced ‘The Telephone’ and ‘The Turn of the Screw’ with the Intimate Opera Company. In 1972 the company drew up a constitution and the government made a grant to pay an administrator. In 1991 ‘Through the Opera Glass’ was published. The company had grown and become the State Opera of South Australia.

Tommy Lyon went to schools at Canarvon and Perth. She completed her nurse training in Perth and Broome. Following her midwifery course Lyon nursed at Norseman. Lyon moved to Adelaide and worked at the Adelaide Hospital. In 1944 she left to get married. Lyon returned to nursing in 1964 working at St Andrew’s and Wakefield St Hospitals. She retired in 1981 when she was 67.

Irina Ozolins was born in Russia where her parents lived as refugees. Following the death of her father her mother returned to Viesite, Latvia when she was still an infant. Her mother worked as an accountant and they lived with her parents. Later Ozolins went to live with her aunt, in Riga, to go to a private college and then to University where she studied mathematics. The Russians came to the Baltic States and took 2,000,000 people to Siberia including her mother and six relations. Many died including all her male relatives. The Germans came in 1941. She completed her master of science. The Russians returned and she and her friends left by ship for Germany. They were sent to various workplaces. She went to Dresden to work as a scientist in the university. Dresden was bombed and the city was flattened. She and her friend Emily made their way to Emily’s aunt in Austria, travelling by train and escaping to the fields when bombers came. A month later all foreigners were ordered out of Austria so she was sent to a Latvian couple. There she met her husband, a lawyer who was retraining as an electrician. They went to the Latvian displaced persons camp and because of her languages she was employed as an interpreter for UNRRA. Her husband’s landlady had a son in Port Pirie and he organised a landing permit for them to come to South Australia. They moved to Adelaide and she taught mathematics at Norwood and Unley High Schools. She also enjoyed painting and joined the Royal Society of Arts, was made a fellow and had seven solo exhibitions. She was invited to give a talk at the Lyceum Club and then joined the Art Appreciation and Literature Circles. She also joined the German Circle.

Gwenyth Hannon attended St Peter’s Girls’ School. Hannon won an Education Department scholarship to dentistry at University. Following her graduation, in 1932, she became an Education Department dentist. In this position she travelled around the state doing dental work at schools. She married a fellow dental student who had a practice on North Terrace. Hannon worked in the dental practice from the war years. Her husband was killed in 1945 and Hannon was one of the initial members and one of the first vice presidents of the War Widows’ Guild.

Helen Brookes was born in Melbourne and moved several times before settling in Adelaide in 1929. She started her working career at the Waite Institute with Dr Davidson. Later Brookes became a technical assistant and eventually senior lecturer as a systematic entomologist. Following her retirement, in 1982, she presented her insect collection to the Australian National Insect Collection in Canberra. Brookes was a member of the Lyceum and Minerva Clubs. In 1999, Year of the Older Person, Brookes was invited to a symposium in Canberra as an outstanding older woman scientist.

Kathleen Waterhouse was born at Clare, South Australia. In 1914 she commenced training at the Adelaide Children’s Hospital. In 1917 Kathleen joined the Australian Army Nursing Service, and was posted to India until after the end of the war. In 1930 she was appointed Deputy Matron of the ACH, and in 1945 she became the Matron of that hospital, until her retirement in 1952. Miss Waterhouse was active in nursing affairs, and was a Foundation Fellow of the College of Nursing, Australia. She also served on the Council of the SA branch of the Australian Trained Nurses’ Association.

Dora Woods, née Birks, was born in Adelaide and began training at the Adelaide Children’s Hospital in 1909. In 1916 she was called up for nursing duties with the Australian Army Nursing Service. This interview deals with her army nursing experience, mostly in France, and with the period following the end of the war, in London. Dora returned to Australia in 1919.

The Adelaide branch of the Young Women’s Christian Association was founded in 1879 by Mary Colton and operated from the Pirie Street Wesleyan Methodist Church from 1880. In 1884 it became an inter-denominational body affiliated with its English parent. Its initial purpose was to promote the religious conversion and moral protection of young women who were working in the city. To this end, members often visited factories and distributed flowers and ‘improving literature’. When the first permanent headquarters opened in Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide, in 1900, the YWCA’s focus expanded to include physical recreation and social and educational activities. Under the leadership of Rosetta Birks, who became President in 1902, the YWCA launched the re-formed Traveller’s Aid Society and later included an employment department and hostel accommodation. New branches were formed outside Adelaide and members were encouraged to form community-based clubs. In more recent years the YWCA has been active in the public sphere on issues concerning women.

Heather Crosby, née Gumley, was born in Oxford, England. Her father’s calling as an Anglican priest took the family first to India and then to Australia. Her Australian-born mother played a prominent role in the parishes in which they lived, and Crosby and her sisters were encouraged to gain tertiary qualifications. Crosby came to Adelaide to study social work and married in 1944. She helped her husband establish his general practice in Blair Athol, and they had two daughters. She became involved in community work and began her association with the YWCA in 1960. Crosby was President and Executive Director of the Adelaide YWCA, and a member of the National Council and the World Executive.

Mary Colton, née Cutting, arrived in South Australia from London in 1839. She was closely associated with the South Australian Boarding out Society and the Adelaide Children’s Hospital. In 1879 she formed a city club for young women which became the Young Women’s Christian Association in 1884. She served as president until her death in 1898. She also worked with Mary Lee and others to form the South Australian Women’s Suffrage League and became its president in 1892.

Elizabeth Webb Nicholls was born in Adelaide to Mary and Samuel Bakewell in 1850. She joined the Christian Woman’s Temperance Union (WCTU) in 1886, and was elected provisional president in 1888. In 1889 she became Colonial president, a position she held until 1897. From 1894-1903 she was the Union’s Australian President, and post-Federation, she served as State President from 1906 to 1927. She joined the South Australian Women’s Suffrage League and subsequently became a League Councillor. In 1894 Elizabeth Nicholls assumed the role of Colonial Superintendent of the WCTU’s Suffrage Department. She was appointed to the Board of the Adelaide Hospital from 1895-1922 and was a justice of the peace – one of the four first women – from 1915. She died in 1943

Rosetta Jane Birks (née Thomas) was born in March 1856. She joined the Ladies’ Committee of the Social Purity Society which led to her interest in women’s suffrage. She joined the South Australian Women’s Suffrage League, becoming its treasurer. After suffrage was granted she joined the short-lived Woman’s League, working with Catherine Helen Spence, Lucy Morice and others. She was appointed to the board of the Adelaide Hospital in 1896. In 1902 she helped form the National Council of Women as well as becoming president of the Young Women’s Christian Association. She died in 1911.

Serena Thorne was born in Devon in October 1842, daughter of Samuel and Mary Thorne. In 1865 the church sent her to Queensland to help establish Bible Christianity and she arrived in South Australia in 1870, preaching throughout the colony from church halls to street corners. In March 1871 she married Octavius Lake whom she had known in Devon and they worked together to further Bible Christianity in South Australia. Serena Lake attended the foundation meeting of the South Australian Women’s Suffrage League in 1888 and was appointed to the Council. In 1889 the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) appointed her to the dual positions of Colonial organizer and Suffrage superintendent. In 1891 she was made a life vice-president of the WCTU. She died in 1902 aged 60.

Stella Sobels spent her childhood at Largs Bay and Semaphore. She attended the Lothian House School before moving to North Adelaide and attending St Peter’s Girls School and the Conservatorium, where she had singing lessons from Winslow Hall and Clive Carey. Sobels became involved in local theatre and radio. She went to England with the Australian choir in 1933. During World War I Sobels joined the Red Cross. When her father became ill she looked after him until he died in 1940. Sobels then returned to the Red Cross and stayed until 1957. A member of several Musical Societies in Adelaide, Sobels joined the Lyceum Club in 1947 where she organized music programmes.