The Australian Women's Register

In 1983 Joan Caelli was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 1983 ‘in recognition of service to the sport of gymnastics’. Joan was a gymnastic judge at the Rome and Tokyo Olympics and was also awarded a life membership of Gymnastics Victoria.

Norma Bull was a war artist in Britain during the Second World War.

As a widower with two young sons, Isabel Royal worked as a secretary during the day and ran the Novelty Manufacturing Company after hours, in order to support her family. Throughout her life Isabel dedicated much of her time to various charities and community organisations. In 2000 she was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) ‘for service to the community, particularly through the Yooralla Society of Victoria’.

Violet Ida Chomley was born in 1870 to parents William Downes Chomley and Sarah Simmonds (Cooper). Violet attended the Presbyterian Ladies’ College and afterwards studied at the University of Melbourne, receiving a Bachelors degree in mathematics in 1890 and a Masters degree in 1893. After graduation Violet was employed as a secondary school teacher.

In 1902 Violet left Australia and travelled overseas for approximately six months. She settled in England in mid-1903 and began teaching soon after, first at the Christ’s Hospital Girls’ School and then at the Bedford High School. In 1921 Violet took up a position as a full-time secretary and in 1936 she was elected to the Bedford Town Council. Violet Chomley passed away in Bedford on March 26, 1957.

Sylvia Goodman was a member and delegate to the National Council of Women and a member of the International Council of Women. She was also a member of the Victorian Association of Day Nurseries, as well as a life member of the Richmond Creche and Kindergarten Association. Sylvia was the secretary and a founder of the Woollies Appeal during the Second World War.

Dr Susan Wise is a Melbourne specialist periodontist and served as President of the Australian Dental Association (Victorian branch) in 2017-2018. One of 17 women and 34 men in her University of Melbourne graduating class in 1994, she is a leader of an Australian professional association where women now outnumber men. While women have held leadership positions in the ADA (Vic Branch) before her, Susan is the first Jewish woman and the first mother with primary school aged children to take on the role of President.

Needless to say, even with the help of a ‘fantastic, amazing’ husband, the combination of mothering, running a home, running a practice and performing professional leadership responsibilities has created its challenges. ‘In meetings,’ she says, ‘I will be texting my mother in law; don’t forget to pick up Benjamin for this or that, don’t forget the tennis racquet. My husband does most of the pick ups and drops offs, and most of the cooking. But I am the one who still has to organise things.’ As all working mothers know, she says ‘The hardest thing is the juggling.’

It’s a juggle, however, that has been well worth the effort. During her presidential tenure, she oversaw the development of a new strategic plan for the ADA that has streamlined operations going forward, making the plan more user-friendly and the association more likely to engage members. She has always seen it as her role to mentor young women in the professions, given that she benefited from mentoring herself. Her legacy, she hopes, will be to leave a ‘straightforward’ plan and ‘well organised’ platform for the incoming president. She’s also demonstrated to women who want to take up leadership roles in professional organisations that, with a low key approach and a lot of planning, you don’t have to be superwoman to do it.

Despite the challenges, she encourages other women to ask for opportunities to be involved, as she did. ‘If someone had told me as a graduate in 1994 that I would be the president of the ADA, I would have said ‘get real’, not a chance. So I’ve achieved more than I could have hoped!’

Romy Prins is a qualified CPA and Chartered Accountant who has worked across a range of industry sectors, including government and corporate organisations. She is studying for Masters of Education, teaches tertiary level accounting at Monash University and is involved in teaching for the CPA. ‘I find comfort in numbers’, she says. ‘I am at home in a spreadsheet’.

This comfort in numbers is part of the toolkit Romy takes to her volunteer work in Jewish communal organisations. She is particularly committed to reviving Emunah, a women’s organisation based in Israel that supports social welfare causes, including advocating on behalf of women and children. As a third generation member of the organisation (her grandmother and mother before her were also involved) she is concerned that it, like other Jewish communal organisations, will ‘fizzle out’ if more young, Jewish women don’t take up leadership opportunities. And while she doesn’t regard herself as a leader in this space (as treasurer at Emunah, ‘I am just a worker who works for the cause’) she is nevertheless committed to helping to shape an environment where women can ‘learn and develop as leaders as much as men can and as much as they want to do’. This commitment extends to involving orthodox Jewish women, who she sees as a largely untapped resource in Australia. ‘There are things that women in the orthodox community can’t do,’ she says, ‘but that doesn’t mean they can’t lead’.

Married, without children, but with significant family responsibilities, Romy juggles the competing demands of family, work and volunteering responsibilities with remarkable aptitude. She would like to increase her volunteering to include using her skills with numbers and teaching to work with women to improve their financial literacy. There are particular problems for women, beyond knowing that financial abuse is domestic abuse. ‘In ultra-orthodox communities,’ she says, ‘we have people on very low incomes trying to support very large families.’ She would like to help women better manage their lives through better managing their finances. But most of all she wants women to ‘be involved in community leadership in whatever capacity they want to be.’ For her, that means ‘just doing the work’.

It also means finding fresh approaches to attracting young people to get involved in communal organisations. ‘I am Jewish, young, modern orthodox and feel we have an issue with bringing younger Jewish women into leadership positions,’ she says. ‘I want to encourage and empower women to take them on, as part of a younger Jewish cohort in general.’

When Kate Ashmor was young, a family member advised her that the best way for her to channel her argumentative tendencies while earning a living was to become a lawyer. She took this advice and now Kate runs her own practice, Ashmor Legal. She has previously worked in a variety of government and corporate settings.

As well as running her own business Kate has a variety of community interests, applying the skills she has in her professional toolkit to leadership in not-for-profit and voluntary organisations. She is Chair of the board of Caulfield Park Bendigo Bank and has served on the boards of Alola Australia and Project Deborah. She is a Past Convenor of Victorian Women Lawyers (2010-2011) and a Past President of Australian Women Lawyers (2012-2013). She served as an elected Councillor in the City of Glen Eira from 2005-2008.

She combines all this with family life, but hastens to add that she doesn’t want to intimidate others with her level of activity. ‘I’ve always felt – and it’s difficult for non-Jewish people to understand this – that there is a motivation that comes from deep within,’ she says. ‘It is like a compass – something that gets me out of bed, and navigates me through tough times. It is an obligation to those who didn’t make it.’ She carries that obligation, ‘in the choice I have made in life to pack in as much as I can, in the types of things I’ve chosen to pack in and in the career risks I’ve chosen to take.’ By ‘packing it in’ she doesn’t assume or expect that others must do the same, but she does hope her example, and some lessons she has learned along the way, will inspire other women to take risks, take leadership opportunities and get involved.

Her view is that if we are going to address the structural issues that work against women, then we need voices that are influential who can stand up and speak. ‘There are a hell of a lot of these voices,’ she says, ‘but they are pushing through each day on a few hours’ sleep, trying to be a million things to a million people, working full time or running their own businesses with a child on their hip.’

Many of them are well educated, and that education creates opportunities. ‘The most powerful tool that a Jewish woman can have, she says, ‘is what is in their head, not what is on their fingers. Stuff just comes and goes. But the legacy you can leave by using your education is what’s important to me, as a Jewish woman. It can’t be taken away.’

Who knows what lies ahead for Kate Ashmor? She certainly won’t waste time moving onto it if the calling comes:

There are those who want to get involved to enjoy the status quo, there are those who want to change it to improve the lives of others. My adult life is to help advocate on behalf of others… I see myself as a problem solver and a change maker. I want my epitaph to be ‘I did the best I could.

Communication isn’t anything, it is everything’ says Leora Givoni, a Melbourne based marketing, strategy and communications expert with over 25 years in the business. ‘The quality of your life is based on how you communicate,’ she continues. ‘Everything for me comes back to words.’

Leora was encouraged by her parents from a very early age to use her words and share her voice:

I had this beautiful head start of hard working parents who brought all walks of life into our house for dinner. There were always open, exciting, and nourishing conversations that happened around the table. It was a safe space…diversity of thought was encouraged inside our home. Nothing was off the agenda, but we had to know our facts. We were encouraged to stand for something.

Professionally, Leora runs her own marketing, coaching and communication business, working with people and organisations to help them solidify their brand so they creatively pop in front of their desired audiences. In so doing, she has learned a lot about the key qualities of good leaders. ‘Authenticity and a real commitment to a values system is vital, it’s one of the most important things you can carry through your everyday life’ she says. ‘You cannot manufacture it. Leaders who survive honour their values. When women seek leadership positions and growth they need to remain true to themselves and understand their own values.’

Leora’s favourite quote to illustrate this point comes from one of the greatest Jewish women leaders of the twentieth century, essentially advising women to just be themselves. ‘Trust yourself’, said Golda Meir. ‘Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.’

Leora brings the skills and insights she has developed in the business world to a variety of philanthropic and community organisations, and is convinced that the skills transfer is a two way street. As well as being a Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute and Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, she is on the boards of a select number of arts and community health foundations, including the 16th Street Foundation and The Centre for Community Child Health. ‘Mixing your world up with both professional and voluntary commitments is something I recommend to anyone wanting to expand their thinking,’ she says.

Mingling with people outside of your world is what brings fresh thoughts and curiosity to your world. It helps unleash the many unconscious and conscious biases we all carry. I truly believe that the more people involve themselves in diverse causes, the more their world opens up.

Simone Szalmuk-Singer, a lawyer by profession, has been a leader in Jewish communal organisations in Australia for nearly a decade. Her first communal leadership position was as President of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) Victoria and National Vice-President of JNF Australia. In her early 40s, at the time, Simone was considered to be a relatively young leader of a major Jewish organisation. Says Simone, ‘I didn’t appreciate that it was a big deal to become President in my early 40s until I was congratulated by others who pointed out that I was both ‘young’ and ‘female.”

A member of a new, young generation of leadership, Simone used the skills she developed in the corporate world to evolve and develop governance and innovative leadership in the Australian Jewish community. Mentored by a wonderful woman, Sara Gold, Simone now fosters young leaders, women and men, and encourages them to take up leadership opportunities in the Jewish community.

Simone is currently Co-Chair of the Australian Jewish Funders, the network of philanthropists committed to inspiring effective philanthropy and strengthening Jewish community. She is also a board director at Jewish Care Victoria – the largest Jewish services organisation in Victoria. Simone co-founded and co-edits Jewish Women of Words – an online writers’ platform for emerging and established Jewish women writers. In 2017-18, Simone is a fellow in the prestigious Schusterman Foundation Fellowship program, a global leadership development program for senior Jewish communal professionals and lay leaders.

Simone does these things while managing the responsibilities of family and home life; experiencing the dynamic challenges posed by that juggling act along the way. In the communal space, Simone has found that she can have meaningful and profound impact on the sector whilst still able to retain work-life balance.

Amelia Tallis was a singer, theatre manager and entertainer.

Florence Higgs trained as an art teacher at the Royal Melbourne Technical College and subsequently worked as an art teacher in Victoria.

Later Florence moved to England where she studied lithography at the Central School of Art and Design in London. She was a member of the London Guild of Weavers and the Society of Designer-Craftsmen.

Priscilla Wardle was a nurse in the Australian Army Nursing Service during the First World War.

Sybil Mary Frances Craig was born in London in 1901 to Australian-born parents Matthew Francis Craig and his wife Winifred Frances (Major). Some time later the family returned to Melbourne and Sybil was educated at a school in St Kilda. In 1920 she began private art tuition and from 1924 to 1931 she studied at the National Gallery of Victoria’s school of painting.

Sybil held her first solo exhibition at the Athenaeum Gallery in 1932. This was followed by further solo exhibitions in 1948, 1978 and 1982. In March 1945 Sybil became an official war artist. She was commissioned by the Australian War Memorial to record the work undertaken at the Commonwealth Explosives Factory at Maribyrnong.

Sybil Craig was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 1981 ‘in recognition of service as an artist’.

Soroptimist International is a worldwide organisation for women in management and the professions working through service projects to advance human rights and the status of women. Soroptimists work at all levels of civil society, local, national and international, and are involved with a wide spectrum of women’s concerns.

The inaugural meeting to discuss the formation of a Soroptimist International organisation in Victoria was held in 1947. Founded by president Dr Jean Littlejohn, the ‘Divisional Union of Victoria’ (later the Region of Victoria) was accepted by the Federation of Great Britain and Ireland in November 1948. The Victorian Region, along with others in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, remained a member of the Federation until the establishment of the Federation of the South West Pacific in 1978.

The first Soroptimist International branch in Victoria was the Melbourne club, which received its charter on June 24, 1948. Dr Jean Littlejohn (CBE) was also the founding president, alongside members Margareta Webber and Myrtle Chisholm. Hilda Chandler was appointed honorary secretary.

The Morning Peninsula club was the second Soroptimist International branch in Victoria, receiving its charter on September 18, 1952. By 1982 there were 15 branches throughout Victoria.

Catherine Kyne was a campaigner for social justice, human rights, community affairs and the environment.

Mollie Shaw was the first female architect employed by the Public Works Department of the Allied Service in 1941. She was one of the first female architects in Australia to be accepted as an equal in the male-dominated architectural profession.

Leslie Moira Henderson was born in Melbourne to parents Lina and Charles James Henderson. She graduated with a degree in arts and law from Melbourne University in 1920 and subsequently spent some time overseas. Leslie joined the Book Lovers’ Library (UK) in 1923 and in 1926 she became a partner and set out to reform the organisation.

In 1930 Leslie was appointed secretary to the Board of Social Studies, which eventually became affiliated with Melbourne University. During World War Two she worked in her brother’s legal practice and then served in the Navy, War Organisation of Industry and Defence departments, from which she retired in 1956.

Hilda Rix Nicholas made a significant contribution to Australian art in the period between the First and Second World Wars. Her art also achieved a high level of success and recognition in France.

Mardi Gething was the only Australian among 80 female pilots who flew with the Air Transport Auxiliary in Britain during World War Two.

Lady Jessie Powell Gepp was a member of both the Executive and the House Committee of the Austin Hospital, Heidelberg. She was also actively involved in Red Cross work in America during the First World War.

Phyllis Boyd held strong views on the role of women as homemakers and was an advocate of motherhood. Phyllis was the Victorian president of the Australian Family Association and a member of its national executive, and later she became a founding member of the Family Council of Victoria.

Grace Winifred Barnett was born in 1902 in Collingwood, Victoria, to parents Emma Jane (Hunter) and John Barnett. Grace married solicitor Herbert Park Philpot in Manly in 1955. She was a member of the ANZAC Fellowship of Women.

Carla Krizanic won gold medals in the Lawn Bowls Triples and Fours at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Jemima Montag won a gold medal in the 20km Race Walk at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.