The Australian Women's Register

CAPOW! is a networking coalition for women’s non-government organisations (NGOs) in Australia Since its foundation in 1992 at a WEL national conference CAPOW! has played a major role in developing cooperative ventures and mechanisms across the women’s movement. It held twice-yearly face-to-face meetings for this purpose.

CAPOW! helped coordinate NGO forums to facilitate submissions to the federal government and the United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing, (September 1995). It has since worked to follow up the commitments made by the Government and NGOs at Beijing, and continues to encourage women’s’ NGOs to make submissions to the government.

By 1996 the CAPOW network linked more than sixty national women’s organisations and served to improve information flow and coordination of advocacy in international as well as domestic spheres.

Mrs Matenson has worked extensively on her family history and done genealogical research, publishing several booklets, the first in 1988, and won a certificate from the Tasmanian Government. Her second “A Melbourne Family 1848-1948” won the first prize of the Alexander Henderson Award 1989. Her most recent book was self published.

Helen Coonan is a former Australian politician, who was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate representing New South Wales from July 1996 to August 2011. On 26 November 2001, she was appointed Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer in the Howard Government. She was re-elected in 2001 and 2007. From 2004-07, she served as Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.

Since leaving politics in 2011, Coonan has transitioned into the corporate world, and vouches for the seminal importance of the law, including legal training, legal practise and legal experience as a common thread underpinning her capacity to perform across a diverse professional and public landscape for a very long time.

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

Chris Gallus was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs on 26 November 2001.

She was elected to the House of Representatives (Liberal Party) in 1990 for the seat of Hawker, which was later abolished, and for the seat of Hindmarsh in 1993 and subsequent elections.

Elected to the Senate for South Australia in 1984 (Liberal Party), Amanda Vanstone was appointed Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women on 30 January 2001.

Amana Vanstone was honoured with an AO in the Australia Day Honours list in 2020 for distinguished service to the Parliament of Australia, to the people of South Australia, and to the community.

Pamelas-list was a private email list for representatives of Australian national women’s peak organisations and regional women’s organisations not represented nationally. The list was a primary vehicle for high level, day to day information exchange and coordination by women’s organisations in Australia.

The list was first convened by the National Women’s Justice Coalition in July 1998 with financial assistance from the Pamela Denoon Trust. The list is named to honour the life and work of Pamela Denoon.

Pamela’s vision for the advancement of women in Australia included the hope that Australian women’s organisations would, over time, work more closely together and be more supportive of each others issues and priorities.

With over 65 organisations participating, the store of messages posted to the list will be a unique resource for research in future years. The National Library of Australia has recently agreed to store the archive of pamelas-list on an embargoed basis.

Formed under the leadership of Sara Dowse, the Office of Women’s Affairs (OWA) was the bureaucratic support unit of the women’s adviser to the Prime Minister, a position created in 1973 under the Whitlam Labour government. OWA became the state apparatus through which many Australian feminists worked to achieve measures of women’s advancement in equal employment opportunity, legislation and law reform, health funding, refuges, childcare, arts and sport, media representations and school curricula.
The OWA played an important role in securing government funding for women’s services. The Office was originally located in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. However, in 1977, under the Fraser Liberal government, bureaucrats announced the Office was to move to the Department of Home Affairs, representing a significant loss of status given Home Affairs was ranked 26th out of 27 ministries in seniority. Dowse resigned over this move, having always argued for the importance of having the Office located in the chief policy-making agency of the government (Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet). The Office (by then called the Office of the Status of Women) was restored to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in 1983 when Labour returned to office; prominent feminist academic Anne Summers was then appointed its head.

Sources: Sawer, M. 1996 and Caine, B. 1998

The Women’s Constitutional Convention met at Parliament House, Canberra, 29-30 January 1998. Discussions included whether or not Australia should become a republic, women’s place in politics and the status of women in Australia.
Source: RAAM

Margaret Reynolds was a Senator for Queensland from 1983 until 1999. First elected to the Senate in 1983, she was re-elected in 1984, 1987 and 1993. Reynolds worked as primary and remedial teacher then a tutor before entering parliament. She also served on the Townsville City Council from 1979-1983. Reynolds’ responsibilities have included: Federal Government representative on the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation 1992-1995; Minister assisting PM on Status of Women 1988-1990; Chair of the Parliamentary Adviser to the United Nations; and Minister for Local Government 1987-1990. Reynolds has been a member of the Australian Labor Party since 1971, and has held many positions in the ALP.

Reynolds retired from parliamentary politics in 1999. She is now the National President of the United Nations Association of Australia and an Adjunct Professor and Sessional Lecturer in the School of Political science and international studies, University of Queensland.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Karin MacDonald was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory, representing the electorate of Brindabella, in 2001. She was re-elected in 2004.

A member of the Australian Democrats, Roslyn Dundas was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) representing the electorate of Ginninderra, in 2001. She was the youngest woman ever to be elected to an Australian Parliament, but was unfortunately defeated at the 2004 election.
In 2008 she was appointed Director of the ACT Council of Social Service.

A member of the Canberra Liberals, Vicki Dunne was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory representing the electorate of Ginninderra in 2001. She was re-elected in 2004 and 2008 and 2012. She currently holds the position of Speaker in the Assembly.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Katy Gallagher was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the Parliament of the Australian Capital Territory (A.C.T.), representing the electorate of Molonglo, in October 2001. She was re-elected in 2004, 2008 and 2012 and served as Chief Minister from 16 May 2011 to 2014.

In 2014 Gallagher resigned from the A.C.T. government to seek preselection to the Australian Senate. She was appointed to fill the casual vacancy caused by the retirement of Senator Kate Lundy in 2015, and elected in her own right a year later, in 2016. After a brief interruption during the parliamentary elegibility crisis of 2018, when she was forced to stand down because she had not renounced her British citizenship prior to her nomination in 2016, she was re-elected as Senator for Canberra in 2019.

A member of the Liberal Party, Helen Cross was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory representing the electorate of Molonglo, in 2001. She served as an Independent from 2002 and lost her seat at the 2004 election.

A member of the ACT Greens, Kerrie Tucker was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory representing the electorate of Molonglo in 1995. She served in the Parliament until 2004.

Maura Fay’s name is associated with a variety of film, television and theatre projects including: Brides of Christ, The Paper Man, The Thorn Birds, Cold Feet, The Last Bullett, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Farscape and On the Beach.

Wendy Edmond was Queensland Minister for Heath and Minister Assisting the Premier on Women’s Policy. She was elected MLA (ALP) for the electorate of Mount Coot-tha on 2 December 1989.

Irene Longman was the first woman to both stand for and be elected to the Queensland Parliament. She was a member of the Country and Progressive National Party for the electorate of Bulimba from 11 May 1929 to 11 June 1932. Longman moved Address-in-Reply to the Governor’s Opening of Parliament Speech on 21 August 1929.

The federal government (Whitlam) appointed the International Women’s Year National Advisory Committee to oversee the distribution of government funding for projects between 1974 and 1976 associated with the United Nations-proclaimed International Year of Women (1975). Australia’s activities for the International Year of Women were also supported by a secretariat under Elizabeth Reid, the women’s advisor to the Prime Minister. Reid also convened the committee. Membership included Ruby Hammond, Irene Greenwood, Caroline Jones, Margaret Whitlam and Shirley Castley.

The committee attracted criticism from some activists in the Women’s Liberation movement over spending priorities. However, seed and grant funding assisted the development of many important organizations and publications including the Working Women’s Centre and Dr Kay Daniels’s Women in Australia An Annotated Guide to Records.

Kelly Hoare was elected MHR (ALP) for Charlton, New South Wales in 1998.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Sussan Ley was elected to the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Australia, representing the electorate of Farrer, New South Wales, on 10th November 2001. She was re-elected in 2004, 2007 and 2010.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Julia Irwin was elected to the Australian Parliament as Member for Fowler, New South Wales, in 1998. She was re-elected in 2001, 2004 and 2007. She was not a candidate in the 2010 federal election.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Joanna Gash was elected to the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Australia as the Member for Gilmore, New South Wales, in 1996. She was re-elected in 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2010.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Danna Vale was elected to the House of Representatives as the Member for Hughes, New South Wales in 1996. She became Minister for Veterans’ Affairs on 26 November 2001 and Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence from 2001 until 2003. From 1984 until 1988 Minister Vale was a full-time wife, mother and student. In 1988 she began practising as a solicitor and held this position until entering parliament.
She did not contest the 2010 federal election.

Jackie Kelly was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister in the third Howard Ministry on 26 November 2001. She was elected MHR (Lib) for Lindsay, New South Wales on 19 October 1998.

Bronwyn Bishop, Minister for Aged Care (1998-2001), was elected MHR (Lib) for Mackellar, New South Wales on 26 March 1994.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Sharon Grierson was elected as the Member for Newcastle, New South Wales, in the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament at the federal election, which was held on 10 November 2001. She was re-elected in 2004, 2007 and 2010.