The Australian Women's Register

A member of the original Australian Women’s Army Service Officer’s School, Joan Bryce was appointed Assistant Commandant. She was discharged on 12 February 1946 with the rank of Lieutenant.

When established in 1981, Joan Bryce became the first patron of the AWAS Association of Queensland.

Dorathea Skov joined the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) after seeing an advertisement for girls interested in becoming army officers in 1941. Prior to enlisting Skov had been secretary of a variety of sporting bodies and suburban church groups as well as being interested in the YWCA. She became a member of the original Officer’s School and was later appointed Assistant Commandant Northern Command. Early in 1942 Captain Skov was one of the officers who interviewed candidates to enlist in the AWAS, visiting sixteen outback centres per week in the busiest period.

Dorathea Skov was the Queensland representative on the Sybil Irving Memorial Fund Committee.

Marj Oke’s first job was as a teacher in a one-room school. Upon her marriage in 1942, as was the policy of the time, she was suspended from teaching. Working at the Australian Jam Company, she encountered very poor working conditions. This experience propelled her to join the Food Preservers’ Union and become active in the Australian Labor Party. She stood as a candidate for the Australian Labor Party in the Legislative Assembly seat of St Kilda under her maiden name, Bennett, at the Victorian state election, which was held in 1943. In 1950, Oke became a founding and lifelong member of the Union of Australian Women. After returning to teaching in Moe, she campaigned for equal pay for women teachers, the abolition of the marriage bar and access to superannuation. Additionally, Oke formed a branch of the Aboriginal Advancement League and became, in 1992, a founding member of the Network for Older Women. On 10 June 1991 she was awarded an OAM (Medal of the Order of Australia) for service to aged people, particularly women. Oke was included in the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in March 2002.

The Sybil Irving Memorial in Western Australia is a pink flowered White Wood tree (Eucalytus leucoxylon macrocarpa rosa), seat and plaque in the War Veterans’ Home, Mt Lawley, unveiled by Mrs Alice Corry, President Ex-AWAS Association of Western Australia, dedicated by The Reverend Neil McGregor 16 March 1977.

The Sybil Irving Memorial in Victoria is a Firewheel tree (Stenocarpus sinuatus) and plaque in Kings’ Domain (near Edith Cavill Memorial) Melbourne, unveiled by Miss May Douglas, OBE, Chairman National Memorial Committee, dedicated by The Reverend Evan Wetherell 16 April 1978

The Sybil Irving Memorial in Tasmania is a Flowering Cherry tree (Prunus serrulata) and seat with plaque on Alexandra Battery Point, overlooking Hobart Harbour, unveiled by Lady Burbury, wife of the Governor of Tasmania, dedicated by The Very Reverend H J L Butterly 19 April 1978.

The Sybil Irving Memorial in New South Wales is a seat with plaque between established Plane trees (Plantanus cuneata) in Wynyard Street (near The Royal Australian Regiment Memorial), Sydney, unveiled by Lady Cutler, wife of the Governor of New South Wales, dedicated by The Very Reverend Lance Shilton 3 October 1978. The seat is now located in the Jessie Street Gardens.

The Sybil Irving Memorial in South Australia is a Lilly Pilly tree (Acmena smithii) and seat with plaque in North Terrace Gardens opposite Stephen Place) Adelaide, unveiled by Mrs Keith Seaman, wife of the Governor of South Australia, dedicated by The Right Reverend Lionel Renfrey 26 November 1978.

The Sybil Irving Memorial in Queensland is a seat near a Leopard tree (Caesalpinia ferrea), adjacent to Anzac Square Brisbane, unveiled by Lady Ramsay, wife of the Governor of Queensland, dedicated by The Reverend Douglas Thomson 16 December 1978.

The Sybil Irving Memorial in the Australian Capital Territory is located in the Commonwealth Park Gardens (near tunnel under Parkes Way) Canberra, seats under a Wisteria covered pergola, and plaque set in boulder, overlooking Lake Burley Griffin, unveiled by Her Excellency Lady Cowen, wife of the Governor-General of Australia, dedicated by Canon John Falkingham 11 March 1979.

Sybil Irving’s friends and colleagues felt that her great contribution to the community, through her concern for the happiness and welfare of others, should not be forgotten.

A National Memorial Committee was formed to appeal for subscriptions. This brought response from all states and overseas.

A chain of memorials around Australia was planned – one in each capital city. The culmination was the unveiling, by Her Excellency Lady Cowen, of the memorial in Commonwealth Gardens, Canberra on 11 March 1979.

On 3 March 2002, a Remembrance Service was conducted in the Rose Garden in the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway opposite Concord Hospital in Sydney, New South Wales, to dedicate 24 memorial plaques for service with the Australian Imperial Force in New Guinea during World War II. The plaques commemorate the service of personnel of the Royal Australian Navy, Medical, Dental and Nursing Services, the Royal Australian Air Force Medical Service, Nursing Sisters of the Australian Army Nursing Service and the many deployed units of the Australian Army Medical Corps.

The Women’s Federal Political Association, the forerunner of the Women’s Political Association, was established in 1903, with Vida Goldstein as president, to educate women in political matters. Men were not excluded from membership. In March 1904 it changed its name to the Women’s Political Association of Victoria with the aim of organising more efficiently women’s votes in the interests of the home and children, of efficient government at all levels, and of improved social and industrial conditions. In an attempt to challenge the party ticket system, the WPA declared itself to be non party political and refused to affiliate with any political party, although its sympathies lay with the Australian Labor Party. Goldstein believed that party politics subsumed the interests of women. The WPA supported Goldstein in her attempts to be elected to the federal parliament and adopted a pacifist stance in World War One. It disbanded in 1919 when Goldstein travelled overseas.

The Women’s Peace Army was established on 15 July 1915 at the offices of the Women’s Political Association, in an attempt to mobilise the women in Australia who opposed all war, regardless of political party membership. It was to be a fighting body to destroy militarism ‘with the same spirit of self-sacrifice that soldiers showed on the battlefield’. ‘We war against war’ was the motto of the Women’s Peace Army. Their flag took the feminist colours of purple, green and white. The most well-known members were Vida Goldstein, president, Cecilia John and Adela Pankhurst. With autonomous branches in Sydney and Brisbane, the Women’s Peace Army projected a radical, militant image with its socialist anti-war ideology and attracted large numbers to its sometimes controversial public meetings. Other tactics included participation in peace demonstrations, support for peace candidates at elections, petitions to members of parliament and practical help to those disadvantaged by war. It participated in the anti-conscription campaigns of 1916 and 1917. With the end of the Great War, the Women’s Peace Army went into recess on 18 December 1919.

The National Council of Women of Tasmania was founded in 1899, in response to an invitation from the Countess of Aberdeen (then president of the International Council of Women) for Tasmania to be represented at the International Council of Women Congress in London that year. Its inaugural meeting, on the 20 May 1899 was organised by Mrs J. S. Dodds, wife of the Tasmanian Administrator. The initial committee also included Emily Dobson(wife of former Premier Henry Dobson), who was active in a large number of women’s groups, and who was later vice-president (1900-1903) and then president (1904-1934) of the Council.

It is a non-party, non-sectarian, umbrella organisation for a large and diverse number of affiliated Tasmanian women’s groups. It functions as a political lobby group, attempting to influence local, state and federal government. It provided a major focus for, predominantly middle-class, women’s activism until at least the 1940s. The Council has supported a wide range of social reform activities, particularly those related to education and to women’s, children’s and family welfare.

Its aims are:
• ‘To provide a strong network and a means for affiliated groups to support each other, and
• To work together on matters of mutual interest or concern, as well as links with the wider community;
• To promote the best interests of women and their families and people in general;
• To confer and provide a two-way flow of information on issues related to the welfare of the family, the state and the Commonwealth;
• To work in every way for the application of equity, social justice (the Golden Rule) and improvements in quality of life in a sustainable environment, for everyone.’

Emily Dobson was a tour de force in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Tasmanian society. As the wife of the State Premier, Henry Dobson, she played a central role in multiple political and charitable organisations. She was vice-president of the Tasmanian section of the National Council of Women in 1899, and attended the first meeting of the International Council of Women in London that year. Dobson became president of the National Council of Women Tasmania in 1904 and held that position until her death. She was the first Australian to be elected vice- president of the International Council of Women at the Rome quinquennial in 1914.

The National Council of Women of South Australia is a non-party, non-sectarian, umbrella organisation for a large and diverse number of affiliated women’s groups.
Founded in 1902, with Lady Way (the Governor’s wife) as president, Its inaugural meeting was addressed by Catherine Helen Spence, who also became its vice-president. The initial group, however, foundered and became inactive around 1909. The Council was revived in 1920 with Lady Hackett as president.

The Council functions as a political lobby group, attempting to influence local, state and federal government. Like all National Councils of Women, it operates though a standing committee system whereby specific issues are brought before the Council and, if there is general agreement that a question should be taken up, a subcommittee is established to investigate the matter.

It provided a major focus for predominantly, middle-class, women’s activism until at least the 1940s. Although not an overtly feminist organisation, the Council has supported a wide range of social reform activities, particularly those related to education and to women’s, children’s and family welfare.

Its aims are:
1. To promote the interest of women and to secure their proper recognition in the community.
2. To educate and uplift the outlook of the community on the status of women, the importance of the family, and the nurture and upbringing of children.
3. To provide a bond of union between women’s organisations, and a means of co-ordinated expressions for the societies affiliated with the Council.
4. To represent the interests of women in general before Parliament, local governing bodies and the Courts.
5. To promote the moral and social welfare of the community.

Although the battle for woman suffrage began later in Australia than it did in Britain or the United States, success was achieved earlier. Concerted campaigns for woman suffrage in Australia date from the early 1880s and were supported by organisations and individuals representing a wide array of political and ideological platforms. In some ways, these campaigns signalled the start of women’s participation in the Australian political process. Although linked to and inspired by the international campaigns and context of the time, the Australian suffrage movement had its own distinctive, regional characteristics. Matters of race and class, of geographical proximity to Asia and the need to build a healthy white nation at the turn of the century, combined with universal concerns about justice and the rights of the individual to create a uniquely Australian movement.

Roberta Jull was the first woman to establish a medical practice in Perth in 1897. She became active in social welfare, public health and politics. In 1918 Jull became the first Medical Officer of Schools in the Western Australian Public Health Department and took a leading part in the infant health movement.

The daughter of Dr Roberta and Martin Jull, Henrietta Drake-Brockman married the then Commissioner for the far north west of Australia, Geoffrey Drake-Brockman on 3 August 1921. While in the north west she wrote articles for the West Australia under the pseudonym ‘Henry Drake’. The author of Men Without Wives, which won the Australian Sesquicentenary prize, Drake-Brockman also wrote for the theatre, and was co-editor, with Walter Murdoch, of Australian Short Stories. On 1 January 1967 Henrietta Drake-Brockman was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to Australian literature.

The National Council for the Single Mother and her Child (NCSMC), established in 1973, evolved from the Victorian based Council for the Single Mother and her Child, which was formed in 1970 to advocate on behalf of single mothers and their children. Embracing the concept of self-help, it campaigned successfully for the introduction of a Supporting Mothers’ Benefit, and supported single mothers who kept their children. The national body campaigned to abolish the legal construct of illegitimacy and to establish family courts to deal with affiliation proceedings and maintenance and custody rights. It continues to fight for the essential rights of all sole parent families.

Incorporated as an association in October 1985 the Australian Women’s Army Service Association (Victoria) Inc. was originally established during the 1950’s. At that time a loose-knit group of ex-service members of the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS), under the leadership of Colonel Sybil Irving MBE, formed a Re-union committee.

The Association still follows the initial aims of the committee which are to arrange reunions and to further the fellowship and interests of ex-service members of the Australian Women’s Army Service, the Women’s Royal Australian Army Corps and the female members of the Australian Military Forces.

Each August the Association conducts a reunion luncheon. Also a group known as the R & R Group arrange a monthly outing – usually to some place of interest followed by lunch that is easily accessed by public transport. Four times a year all financial members receive a newsletter, which disseminates information regarding outings, financial matters etc.

The AWAS Association (Vic.) was a leader in the formation of the Council of Ex-Servicewomen’s Associations (Vic.) Inc., bringing delegates from all the war-time women’s services together with the peace-time services.

Doris Carter became Australia’s first women’s field athlete to compete at an Olympic Games when she placed sixth in the high jump at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. She also represented Australia in international hockey, and was General Manager of the Australian Women’s Team at the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956. A Wing Officer and Director of the Women’s RAAF, she was the first woman to fly both the Canberra Bomber and the Vampire Jet. Her proudest moment was in 1996 she co-led the Melbourne ANZAC Day parade

During her career Ruth Gibson served on the University Public Examinations Board, the Technical Schools Curriculum Board and the Social Studies Committee. As well she was a foundation member and honorary treasurer of the Australian College of Education, a member of the foundation committee of the St Ann’s College and a president of the South Australian Women Graduates’ Committee. Over many years Gibson was a committee member or office-bearer in the National Council of Women of South Australia; the National Council of Women of Australia; the International Council of Women; the Royal Flying Doctor Service (SA Section); the Adelaide YWCA; The Adelaide College of Education; the Status of Women Commission; the Soroptimists’ Clubs; the SA University Women Graduates’ Association; the Australian Association United Nations; the Good Neighbour Council; St Ann’s Women’s University College; the Junior Red Cross; the Australian Broadcasting Commission; the Churchill Scholarships Foundation; and the National Fitness Council.

The daughter of former Prime Minister Alfred Deakin, and wife of public official Herbert Brookes, Ivy Brookes played an active part in Australian political life. She occupied a central role in the National Council of Women; the Housewives’ Association; the International Club of Victoria; the Women’s Hospital; and in various boards and committees at the University of Melbourne. A talented musician, she won the Ormond Scholarship for singing in 1904, and played first violin for Professor Marshall Hall’s Orchestra at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.

Vera Adderley worked at the Dubbo and Crown Street Hospitals before serving with the Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service from 1941 to 1947. She joined the Parramatta Hospital in 1955 and in 1962 she was appointed Assistant Matron at the Prince Henry Hospital. Adderley became Director of Nursing Services at the Prince Henry and Prince of Wales Hospitals in 1966. She was also a council member of the College of Nursing New South Wales, the Australasian Trained Nurses’ Association and the Matrons’ Institute of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. In 1978, Adderley was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire and a building is named in her honour on the Randwick Hospitals Campus.