The Australian Women's Register

The Victorian Women’s Trust (VWT) was established in 1985 with a gift from the state government to the women of Victoria, in acknowledgement of their contribution to Victoria’s history and achievements. Now independent of government, it operates as both a philanthropic organisation and lobby group that champions the rights and entitlements of women.

The Office of Women’s Policy, located in the Department of Premier and Cabinet provides strategic policy advice to the Victorian Government on issues of concern to women.

Women Tasmania is a division of the Department of Premier and Cabinet. Previously known as the Office of the Status of Women (Tasmania) it was established in 1990 to ensure that the needs and concerns of the women of Tasmania are reflected in Government policy making.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Judy Jackson was elected to the House of Assembly in the Tasmanian Parliament representing the electorate of Denison in 1986. During her parliamentary career, she held the ministerial portfolios of Health and Human Services from 1998-2002 and Attorney-General from 2002 until her retirement in 2006.

Fran Bladel has been Tasmanian Secretary to Cabinet and Spokesperson on the Status of Women. In 1986 she was elected a State Member (ALP) for Franklin.

The Working Women’s Centre is a Statewide information, support advocacy and referral service for the working women of Tasmania

Lynne Kosky was elected Member (ALP) for Altona in 1996. On the election of the Labor Government at the 1999 Victorian state election, she held the portfolios of Finance, and later Post Compulsory Education, Training and Employment. After her re-election at the 2002 state election, she was appointed the Minister for Education and Training. She was re-elected at the 2006 state election and held the portfolios of Public Transport and Minister for the Arts. In January 2010 she resigned from the parliament, citing serious family health problems as the reason for her resignation. She died at Williamstown on 4 December 2014.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Clare Martin gained the distinction of becoming the first Labor and first female Chief Minister of the Northern Territory in 2001. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory at a by-election for the seat of Fannie Bay in 1995. This seat was formerly held by the Chief Minister Marshall Perron, member of the Country Liberal Party. She was re-elected in 1997, assumed the leadership of the ALP in 1999 and went on to win the 2001 election. In addition to her role as Chief Minister, she held the ministerial portfolios of Treasurer, Arts and Museums, Young Territorians, Women’s Policy, Senior Territorians, Communications, Science and Advanced Technology. She won the 2005 election with an increased majority, but resigned from Parliament in November 2007.

Sydney-born journalist Geraldine Brooks worked as a Middle-East correspondent during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Nita Kibble was the first woman appointed as a librarian with the New South Wales State Library. Her career began by accident in 1899 when the signature on her application form was misread, and thought to be that of a man.

The Kibble Awards for Women Writers were established by Nita May Dobbie in memory of her aunt Nita Bernice Kibble. They recognise female writers who have published fiction or nonfiction classified as ‘life writing’.

There are two Kibble awards; the major Kibble Award, worth $20,000 and the Dobbie encouragement award, valued at $2500.

In 2008 Adelaide-based Carol Lefevre, who left school at 16 to sing in a rock band, won the Kibble Award for her first novel, Nights in the Asylum. Karen Foxlee, a nurse-turned-author from Gympie in Queensland, snared the Dobbie encouragement award for her debut work, The Anatomy of Wings.

Raised by her aunt, Nita Bernice Kibble, Dobbie worked as a librarian and research officer. She established the ‘Kibble Awards for Women Writers’ in memory of her aunt. The ‘Nita May Dobbie Literary Award’ was established in 1996 in her memory.

This award was established in 1992 in memory of Nita May Dobbie, a librarian and research officer.

Dr Clare Burton was a strong advocate and activist for social change, particularly in the area of equal pay for women. Her academic research fed into policy and practical change in the workplace.

The Clare Burton Memorial Lectures are an annual event and honour the significant contribution made by the late Clare Burton, who died in 1998, to gender equity and organisational change in higher education and other areas. Since 1999 the Australian Technology Network of Universities have combined with the Equal opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency and with state women’s advisers to host the lectures in each capital city.

Lesley Vick specialises in medico-legal ethics. Using her research and policy development skills she is actively involved in the legal aspects of equality for women, reproductive health, human rights and free-thinking philosophy. She was the senior adviser to the Leader of the Australian Democrats 1985-1992 and Chief of Staff in the Leaders office from 1986.

Lesley Vick was educated at Mentone Girls Grammar; the University of Melbourne (Bachelor of Laws); and La Trobe University (Master of Arts).

Helen Macpherson Schutt, who was charitable in life, bequeathed the majority of her considerable wealth to Victorian charities on her death in 1951. The Helen Macpherson Schutt Trust subsequently donated to hospitals, art galleries, museums, aged care homes, educational institutions and medical research bodies throughout Victoria, according to the stipulations of its benefactor. In 2001, the Trust marked the 50th year of its operation by publishing a brief biography of its benefactor, and by changing its name to the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust in order to honour her family, and recognise the origin of her wealth.

Wendy Lowenstein wrote a number of the most celebrated oral histories in Australia, focusing on the lives and struggles of working class people. She is also one of Australia’s best known historians of folklore. A member of many activist organisations since the age of fifteen, Wendy contributed to both social justice and aspects of Australian history which had, until she tackled them, been largely ignored.

Nancy Cato was an acclaimed author. She published several historical novels and biographies and two volumes of poetry. Cato was also a strong campaigner for environmental conservation.

Dame Enid Lyons AD GBE was the first woman elected to the Australian federal Parliament, in 1943. She was also the first woman in federal Cabinet. She was appointed as a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (Civil) on 11 May 1937 for her public services to Australia and as a Dame of the Order of Australia (AD) on 26 January 1980.

Established in 1950, the Union of Australian Women is a left-wing social change organisation. Its aim is to work for the status and wellbeing of women across the world

Zelda D’Aprano was an active unionist and an activist in the women’s movement. She chained herself across the doors of the Commonwealth Building and later the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission in Melbourne, Victoria in protest against the inadequacy of the decision on the Equal Pay case in 1969. D’Aprano was one of the initiators of the Women’s Action Committee in 1970, and the Women’s Liberation Movement in Melbourne in 1971. She was a member of the Australian Women’s Party and was a member of the Communist Party of Australia from 1950-1971.

Kay Daniels taught and published widely in the fields of women’s, social and colonial history. Until her two-volume work Women in Australia: An Annotated Guide to Records was published in 1977, it had been generally believed that women could not be included in history as they lived within the family and there were no records of their lives in the public sphere.
She spent part of her life as a Commonwealth public servant in Canberra, contributing in areas of cultural policy and intellectual property rights.

In the late 1950s Oldmeadow, with her husband Courtney, founded Oldmeadow Booksellers. In 1974, they opened Dromkeen, which has become an internationally recognised children’s literature museum.

Nina Mikhailovna Christesen AM (née Maximoff) pioneered the study of Russian in Australia and founded the Department of Russian Language and Literature at the University of Melbourne in 1946. She remained at the head of the department until her retirement in 1977.

In the 1987 Australia Day Honours Christesen was made a Member of the Order of Australia “in recognition of service to education, particularly to the study of Slavic language and culture”.

Dr Ruth Sanger was an internationally known expert in blood grouping, who for many years worked for the Medical Research Council in London.

Ruth Sanger, the daughter of Hubert and Katharine Mary Ross (née Cameron) Sanger, obtained her Science Degree from Sydney of University in 1940. She then worked in the blood-grouping laboratory of the Sydney Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service. After the Second World War Sanger moved to London and worked for Dr Robert Race, her future husband, at the Medical Research Council. In 1950 she co-wrote Blood Groups in Man, with her husband and they released their sixth and final edition in 1975. Dr Sanger also contributed papers to medical and genetic journals. She was admitted as a fellow of Britain’s Royal Society in 1972 and in the same year she was a joint recipient of the Gairdner Foundation Award. In 1983 Dr Sanger retired as director of the British Medical Research Council, a position she had held for ten years. She was a member of the International Society of Blood Transfusion and an affiliate of similar groups in Canada, Germany, Mexico and Norway. The British Blood Transfusion Society has established the Race and Sanger Award.

Lillian Wells was the first moderator of the New South Wales synod of the Uniting Church (1977) . On 31 December 1977 she was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (civil) for services to the church.