The Australian Women's Register

Maggie Burrows commenced a law degree at Monash University, transferred to Arts and completed an honours degree in history in 1977. During this period she was active in student politics on the Public Affairs Committee, travelled to Thailand and collected Thai political posters. From 1976 her main interest was in the off-campus women’s liberation movement. She participated in voluntary work at the Melbourne Rape Crisis Centre in 1976; from 1978-79 was employed at the Western Region Women’s Refuge on issues such as domestic violence, public housing and tenancy law reform; 1979-81 Equal Access for Girls Project.

(Source: Historical Note University of Melbourne Archives)

Audrey Cahn was the first woman to complete the newly established agriculture degree at the University of Melbourne in 1928. Born to parents who were influential scientists themselves, she developed a life long interest in the field of nutritional science and went on to pioneer the academic field of dietetics. Regarded in the 1950s and 60s as a ‘soft science’ by the then university’s head of biochemistry, Victor Trikojus, Cahn fought a long battle for respect, one in which she was eventually supported by major funding bodies such as Nicholas Pty Ltd (Aspro).

Her research output in the field of nutritional biochemistry is well respected. Some of her studies undertaken during her time at the University of Melbourne (1947-68) included examining the physical properties and energy value of common dietary foods, so that she could compile calorie tables. She was an early proponent of the need to reduce fat intake and to substitute polyunsaturated fatty acids for saturated fats. With colleagues in the anatomy department, she participated in a 17-year longitudinal study of “Child Growth in Melbourne (1954-71)”. The study was compared with similar studies in the United States and Britain and found that Australian children were overweight and inactive compared with their peers elsewhere.

Cahn enjoyed a very long life, thanks, she said, to a combination of good luck and good genes.

Barbara Cameron, formerly Barbara Williams, was a member of the Women’s Electoral Lobby in its formative years in the early to mid 1970s.

(Source: Historical Note University of Melbourne Archives)

Jenny Cheney was Professor Michael White’s graduate research assistant in the Department of Genetics from December 1960 to White’s retirement at the end of 1975. Cheney also co-authored an article with Professor W.R. Atchley entitled “Morphometric Differentiation in the Viatica Group of Morabine Grasshoppers”.

(Source: Historical Note University of Melbourne Archives)

Elected in 2001, Margetts is a member for the Agricultural Region, in the Legislative Council of Western Australia(WA), representing the Australian Greens Western Australia Party. From 1993-1999 she was a Senator (The Australian Greens) for WA in Federal Parliament.

Prior to commencing her parliamentary career Margetts was a lobbyist and state co-ordinator for the People for Nuclear Disarmament (1988-1991).

Jackes was Head, Tropical Plant Sciences and Deputy Head, School of Tropical Biology at the James Cook University when she retired in 2018, having worked as a lecturer since 1973. She was earlier a member of the academic teaching staff of the University of New England and the University of Queensland. She is the author or co-author of refereed journal papers, refereed conference papers, miscellaneous papers, articles, posters etc and environmental consultancy reports. Her books include: Poisonous Plants in Northern Australian Gardens, Plants of Magnetic Island, A Guide to the Plants of the Burra Range and Plants of the Tropical Rainforest.

Director-General of the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Community Services (appointed by Faye Lo Po’ (qv) in 1998). Niland is the former President of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board, and founding co-ordinator of the NSW Women’s Co-ordination Unit.
(Source: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/lm/stories/s104362.htm accessed 01/02/02)

Pauline Toner stood as a candidate for the Australian Labor Party in the Legislative Council Province of Templestowe at the Victorian state election, which was held on 20 March 1976, but was unsuccessful. She was elected Member of the Legislative Assembly at a by-election for Greensborough in 1977 and served until 1989. While in Parliament she was Minister for Community and Welfare Services (1982-1985) and a former Shadow Minister for Community and Welfare Services and Women’s Affairs.

Following her education at the Brigidine Convent Horsham, Toner obtained the subsequent qualifications TPTC, BA (Melb) and BEd (La Trobe). She held positions at the State College of Victoria (1974-1975), and SCV Hawthorn (1975-1977). Toner began the first woman Shire President of the Diamond Valley Council (1977-1978), where she was a Councillor from 1973 to 1979.

Married to Brian Toner on 2 January 1962 and the mother of five children (1s 4d) her recreations included: canoeing, bushwalking and chess. Also she was a director of the Victorian State Opera and a member of Amnesty International and the National Trust

Miss Marjorie Connor was born in Colac, Victoria in 1906 and died in Balwyn on 7 May 1991 aged 84. She was educated by a governess an later attended Lauriston before training as a nurse at the Alfred Hospital 1925-1928. After graduation she worked in the private consulting rooms of a dermatologist who used radium. She sustained some radium burns to the hand. From 1945-1972 she was the Executive Secretary of the Royal Victorian College of Nursing. Both it and its successor the RANF Vic. Branch awarded her Honorary Life Memberships. After her retirement she became the Hon. Secretary/Treasurer of the Florence Nightingale Committee Vic. Br. until shortly before her death.

(Source: Historical Note University Melbourne Archives)

Isabel Clifton Cookson was born in Melbourne in December 1893 and educated at Hambledon Ladies’ College and later at the Methodist Ladies’ College before entering the University of Melbourne where she graduated B.Sc. in 1916. She tutored at Newman and was appointed as Lecturer in Botany “including evening”) for 1930 and remained associated with the Department until her death on 1 July 1973, when she was still a Research Associate. She visited Europe for the first time in 1925, and in 1929 studied at the University of Manchester under Professor Lang, a specialist in fossil plants. In 1948 she received a Leverhulme Research Grant and in 1952 attended the 40th session of the Indian Science Congress.

Coppel (née Service) was an Arts student at the University of Melbourne and the Womens’ Vice-President of the SRC. She graduated L.L.B in 1924 and in the following year married Elias Coppel (lecturer in law). Marjorie Coppel (author of modern history texts for secondary schools) was an active member of “The Catalysts”, an association of intellectual, professional and artistic women who met regularly for dinners at the Lyceum Club.

(Source: Historical Note University Melbourne Archives)

Joan Coxsedge was the first Labor woman to be elected to the Victorian Legislative Council as the Member for Melbourne West Province in July 1979. She served until 1992. While in office she wrote and produced the newsletter, Hard Facts For Hard Times, from her Footscray office, in which she offered a left view of current local, national and international events.

(Source: Historical Note Melbourne University Archives)

Barclay is the Professor of Family Health and Director of the Centre for Family Health and Midwifery at the University of Technology Sydney.

Prior to commencing an academic career Barclay, who is a registered nurse and midwife, worked in a range of midwifery and women’s health and community development roles. She also has degrees in social sciences and education plus doctoral research into sexuality and pregnancy.
In 1997 The Hon. Dr Michael Wooldridge, the Federal Minister for Health, appointed Barclay to the National Health and Medical Research Council. She was re-appointed for a second three-year term in 2000. Also she is a founding member of the Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care.

(Source: http://www.familyhealth.uts.edu.au/about/lbarclay.html accessed 18/02/02 and http://www.aut.ac.nz/conferences/healthpolicy/speakers.shtml accessed 18/02/02)

In 1998 Mirka Mora was awarded the title of Honoured Artist, by the Lord Mayor and councillors of the City of Melbourne, ‘in recognition of lifelong achievement in the arts which has made an outstanding contribution to the life of this city’. Born in Paris, France, Mora with her husband Georges and son Philippe arrived in Australia in 1951. Over time their cafes and restaurants, The Mirka Café, the Balzac and the Tolarno were renowned for the bohemian style of the time. In 1999, a retrospective of her work was shown at Heide Museum of Modern Art and her autobiography Wicked but Virtuous: My Life was published in October 2000.

A fourth-generation Chinese Australian, Shun Wah is known for hosting ABC & SBS programs Studio 22, The Big Picture, Image, Eat Carpet, The Noise and Media Dimensions.
In 1996, she was nominated for an AFI award in ‘Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role’ for acting debut in Floating Life.
She is the co-author with Greg Aitkin of the publication Banquet: 10 Courses to Harmony.

(Sources: http://www.amida.com.au/profiles/1001.diffe.html accessed 18/02/02; http://www.anu.edu/pad/community/literary/pastlitevents/Text/shun-wah.html accessed 18/02/02 and http://www.thei.aust.com/isite/cellfloatlife.html accessed 18/02/02)

Katie Spearritt completed her PhD in Industrial Relations and became E-commerce consultant at Hewlett-Packard.
She joined the Women’s Electoral Lobby in 1993 and is founding convenor of the Young Feminists Group, Women’s Electoral Lobby (Victoria).
In 1988 Spearritt was award the University Medal, University of Queensland and the Australian PostGrad Research Award in 1993.

(Source: http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ws/research/projects/women_changing.html accessed 01/02/02; http://www.buseco.monash.edu.au/Centres/NKCIR/Update/Issue2/news05.html accessed 01/02/02 and Contemporary Australian Women 1996/97)

Marjorie Tipping is a prolific writer and historian of art and colonial Australia. In 1990, based on her many published scholarly works, she became the first woman to earn the degree of Doctor of Letters by examination from the University of Melbourne. Tipping’s books include Eugene von Guerard’s Australian Landscapes (1975) Ludwig Becker: Artist & Naturalist with the Burke & Wills Expedition (1978), Melbourne on the Yarra (1978) and Convicts Unbound: The Story of the Calcutta Convicts and Their Settlement in Australia (1988).

Tipping was the first woman president (1972-1975) and fellow (1968) of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. She was a member of the Victorian Council of the Arts and numerous other committees and community organizations, often in a voluntary capacity. Tipping was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (13 June 1981), for her contribution to the Arts.

Tipping is the patron of and one of the founders of the E W Tipping Foundation for Mentally Retarded Children and Adults, established in 1970. Tipping has travelled on six continents; her interests include music, theatre, archaeology, Australiana, and Chinese art.

Source(s): Personal Communication (2002), Who’s Who of Australian Women, Who’s Who 2002.

Beryl Ingold AO 2001, MBE 1979 is a former farmer from Cootamundra, New South Wales who has served on many state committees for the advancement of agriculture, education, women and the community. Born in Sydney on 4 March 1927, Ingold was educated at Cootamundra and gained a Bachelor of Applied Science, Agriculture, from the Riverina Murray Institute of Higher Education. She has been a member of the Riverina area consultative committee since 1996, Chair of the Orange Agricultural College of Sydney University since 1995 and the Riverina TAFE since 1994. Ingold is a life member of Country Women’s Association, patron of NSW Rural Youth since 1990.

The above biography was researched and written by Philida Sturgiss-Hoy for Women’s History Month (2002)

Marlene Lugg was a pioneer health planner and statistician in Western Australia. She was born Marlene Heinrich in Wisconsin, USA on 6 March 1938. She was educated at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Pittsburgh in the United States and married Dr Richard Lugg.

In 1982 she was the Chief Health Statistician, Department of Public Health, Western Australia (since 1967), deputy chair, Australian National Committee on Vital Health Statistics (since 1976) and a lecturer at the Medical School at the University of Western Australia.

Marlene Lugg was the first Doctor of Public Health in Australia in 1981: first woman fellow, Australian College of Health Service Administrators (formerly Australian Institute of Hospital Administrators) 1973; first woman of WA State Branch Council of Australian College of Health Service Administrators 1972. Marlene published extensively on health statistics and health planning. In 1983 she returned to the United States as Director of the Health Information Systems Program at the University of California at Los Angeles and was a Visiting Professor in Public Health at California State University, Northridge, 1987—2000.

Dr Jean Youatt was an Australian biochemist. She graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1949 with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and microbiology, before completing her masters in microbiology at the same university, while working with Vic Skerman on the effects of oxygen on anaerobes.

Because she could not get a Ph.D. in Australia at the time, she traveled to the United Kingdom and Leeds University, where she worked under Howard Rogers and Professor Haphold. She finished her Ph.D. there in 1954, doing research on an autotrophic organism that breaks down thiocyanate.

Dr Youatt established her international reputation working with a fungi called allonyces. In an interview she undertook after her retirement in 1990, she said: “Fungi were new for me. I had always worked with bacteria, where all you see is a little dot or dash, but these things grew like little trees: they had roots and branches and produced different kinds of fruiting structures. Looking down the microscope, you could actually watch what was happening; you could then take samples away and analyse them to see chemically what was happening. I decided this was the nicest combination of things I could possibly get.”

She was born in China on 13 March 1925 and educated at Melbourne University after being “enclosed in a compound” by the Japanese for 4 years during the war.
Her PhD work at Leeds on an autotroph organism is still being cited as the organism is being used to deal with industrial waste. She worked for a number of years in Melbourne on a drug that was used to treat tuberculosis.

(Source: Royal Australian Chemical Institute – Chemist Profiles www.raci.org.au/New_Site_ 2001/chemporf.shtml)

[NB: the above biography was researched and written by Philida Sturgiss-Hoy]

Eleanor Bourke, née Anderson, formerly Koumalatsos
Married to Colin Bourke Two children: Sia and Kelly
Descendant of the Wergaia and Wamba Wamba people of western Victoria.
Eleanor and her family moved to Murraydale, near Swan Hill, Victoria in 1945. She attended primary and high school in rural Victoria.
Education; Dip Arts Journalism (RMIT), BA Writing (CCAE), MEdStud (Adelaide) currently PhD Candidate, University of Adelaide.
Eleanor’s paid work includes policy concerning Aboriginal people in both the Victorian and Commonwealth governments and academia.
Positions held include: Associate Professor in Indigenous Affairs and the Director of the Aboriginal Research Institute, Faculty of the Aboriginal and Islander Studies, University of South Australia.
Member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Family Law Council and the National Aboriginal Consultative Committee. Fellow of the Australian College of Education.
Her membership of community-based organisations include the Victorian Aboriginal Advancement League, the Victorian Aboriginal Education Consultative Group and Camp Jungai Cooperative Ltd.

(Sources: Aboriginal Women by Degrees Mary Ann Bin-Sallik, Ed. University of Queensland Press, Queensland, 2000.)

[NB: the above biography was researched and written by Mary Sexton]

Ursula Pridham was the first woman winemaker in Australia in 1968. She was born Ursula Rauschl on 30 March 1935 in Germany and was educated in Germany and Austria in electrical engineering. She married Geoffrey Pridham in 1961.

She established the Marienberg Winery in 1966 in South Australia. Ursula gained national recognition for the quality of her wines long before McLaren Vale became a famous wine making area. Marienberg Wines was sold in 1991 but the current owners continue winemaking in the style that Ursula pioneered. The wines are known for the use of oak and delicate varietal styles. The wines have won many awards.

(Sources: Lofthouse, Andrea, Who’s Who of Australian Women, Methuen, Australia, 1982. Marienberg Wines)

Stefania Siedlecky was one of the first two women medical officers to work at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, New South Wales (NSW). A general practitioner with a particular interest in women’s health, she was influential in the development of the family planning movement in NSW, joining Family Planning NSW in 1971. In 1974 she helped set up the Leichhardt (NSW) Women’s Health Centre and the Preterm Foundation, two initiatives which brought safe legal abortion to NSW. From these beginnings, she developed a national, then international, reputation. In 1986 she joined the United Nations Family Planning Association (UNFPA) Special Advisory Committee on Women, Population and Development and in 1988 conducted a review of the UNFPA program in Zambia.

Ruth Crow and her husband Maurie, long term members of the Communist Party, were active in various progressive movements, in later years becoming especially involved with the North Melbourne Association.

(Source: Historical Note Melbourne University Archives)

Emily Cruickshank was married to F. Cruickshank until 1902 when he died. She was the sole breadwinner for her family of three children.

(Source: Historical Note Melbourne University Archives)

Grace Cuming was the wife of W.J. (Bill) Cuming, of the Cuming, Smith & Co. family.

(Source: Historical Note Melbourne University Archives)

Dorothy Derham was the daughter of H. and Grace Derham (née Taylor and one of four sisters including Mrs Aeneas Gunn), graduated at the University of Melbourne (B.A. 1919, Dip.Ed. 1920, M.A. 1921) and taught English and French to the examination forms at Ruyton Girls’ School. She was first cousin to Alfred and Enid Derham, and a close friend of the latter.