Marguerite Dale
Marguerite Ludovia Dale was a playwright and feminist and was active in lobbying for the Women’s Legal Status Act of 1918.
Category Archives: Activism
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Rita May Harris
Harris worked with the Australian kindergarten movement, joining the committee of the Collingwood Creche/Kindergarten in 1920, and becoming a member of the executive committee of the Free Kindergarten Union in 1933, assuming the vice-presidency from 1947-50. She was also a member of the Women’s Hospital Committee, and president from 1945-8, when the hospital was challenged by the coincidence of the post-war baby boom and a shortage of materials for redevelopment.
Catherine Helen Spence
In 1901 she established a women’s collective clothing factory and was appointed the chair of its board. She continued her work for electoral reform and moved the resolution that brought the South Australian National Council of Women into existence, although she found the organisation too cautious and resigned from the executive in 1906.
Jean Galbraith
Through her innovative writing for diverse readerships, Jean Galbraith became a leader in promoting native flora.
Lottie Leal
Australian women’s rights activist
Amy Christine Rivett
Amy Rivett was a disciple of Marie Stopes and advocated birth control. Later she specialised in gynaecology. She and her brother Edward were partners in Brisbane in the 1920s and again in Sydney after World War II. As municipal medical officer in Brisbane she was in charge of the health of licensed prostitutes. Rivett was a foundation member of the Queensland Medical Women’s Society.
Ann Marshall
Ann Marshall lectured in geography at the University of Adelaide for over thirty years. She was heavily involved in successful campaigns against inner-city freeways in Adelaide.
Matekoraha Te Peehi Jaram
Maori Ngati Maru, Ngati Awa and Ngati Pukeko; weaver, tailoress, community leader
Ruth Wilkinson
In 1917 she began a pharmaceutical apprenticeship with Frank Brooks, studying by correspondence. Long hours worked during the 1918 influenza epidemic meant that her studies were put on hold until the emergency was over. In 1921 Ruth Webb passed her final examinations, reputedly achieving the top marks in New Zealand. Unable to register as a pharmacist until aged 21, she had to wait until March 1922 before she could officially use the letters MPS after her name.
Min Stuart
On her retirement in 1951, after 35 years’ service, Stuart fought successfully to obtain the same retiring allowance – six months’ full pay – that men received, rather than the half-pay allowance usually given to women. The determination she displayed set an example for other women to follow; after a long campaign, equal pay was implemented by the Post Office in the early 1960s.