Wonderful Women of Australia
Wonderful: full of wonder, such as to excite; wonder as astonishment - large fine, excellent, admirable, heroic, phenomenal ...Wonderful Women Fact Files are short biographies of Australian women who have made a difference.
As so much information is available on the more famous women pioneers and activists, we are celebrating the lives of those who are less well known but whose contribution and inspiration in a wide variety of fields has been just as important.
Wonderful Women Fact Files draw on a wide range of sources. Those from the Library are marked with an asterisk (*). You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 or higher to view most of these files. You can download a free copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader at: http://www.adobe.com/acrobat/readstep.html.
Below is a list of some current fact files. For a full list of the fact files, please contact the library.
- Maybanke Anderson (also Wolstenholme) – Feminist Activist and Social Reformer
- Lillian Armfield- Australia's First Police Woman
- Thea Astley – Writer
- Matilda Ann Aston – Blind Writer and Teacher
- Caroline Louisa Atkinson– Naturalist, Journalist and Novelist
- Faith Bandler - Activist and Writer
- Agnes Bennett – Pioneer Doctor and Feminist
- Mother Mary Berchmans - Teacher and founder of St Vincent's Hospitals
- Dorothy Butler- Bush Walker, Mountaineer and Conservationist
- Marie Byles – Solicitor, Buddhist, Conservationist, Feminist and Pacifist
- Caroline Chisholm – Activist and Supporter of Immigrants
- Jessie Couvreur- Author, Lecturer, Journalist, First Overseas Correspondent
- Joyce Cummings – Local Government Politician and Activist
- Constance D'Arcy – Obstetrician and Gynaecologist
- Tilly Devine – Prostitute, Bordello Madam, Petty Criminal, Colourful Character
- Eliza Forlonge – Pastoral Pioneer
- Miles Franklin - Writer and Feminist
- Dawn Fraser – Swimmer, Colourful Character and Activist
- Kate Grenville - Writer
- Muriel Heagney- Trade Unionist and Writer
- Mary Alice Holman – First Woman Labor Politician
- Marjorie Jackson-Nelson – Athlete and Governor
- Sister Elizabeth Kenny- Nurse and Polio therapy pioneer
- Olive King- Ambulance Driver
- Carmen Lawrence - Academic and Politician
- Louise Mack- Author, Journalist and First Woman War Correspondent
- Grace Munro – Country Women's Association Founder
- Mary Penfold- Co-founder and First Manager of Penfolds Wines
- Katharine Susannah Prichard – Writer and Political Activist
- Henry Handel Richardson- Writer
- Grace Cossington Smith – Artist
- Emma Constance Stone – First Woman Medical Practitioner and Feminist
- Emily Rose Twynam – Artist and Craftswoman