Uncover the hidden histories of the remarkable women who have shaped Australia.
On 14 October 1925, 34-year-old Marion Bell set off from Fremantle Town Hall on an ambitious journey to drive around Australia. She was the first woman and only the third person to do so. She was accompanied by her 11-year-old daughter, also named Marion, who was responsible for recording the speedometer readings, fi lling the radiator, maintaining tyre pressure, and opening the hundreds of outback station gates they encountered, as access to many areas required navigating private properties; there were no public roads in much of the outback.
It took them six months to cross the continent in their Oldsmobile Six, a medium-sized car on the cheaper end of the market. Their route took them from Perth to Broome, then Darwin, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and finally across the Nullarbor back to Perth.
They covered 20,000 kilometres, camping under the stars and navigating dirt roads without maps, driving day and night to achieve Marion’s goal. They crossed treacherous rivers, rescued themselves from bogs and dealt with floods, long stretches without water, snakes, imposing terrain, and violent thunderstorms. When they finally returned to Perth on 7 April, 1926, a crowd of thousands gathered to welcome them home.
In the century that has followed, countless women have followed in Marion’s tracks around Australia. Yet for too long, the impact of women on our country has been overlooked and underestimated. It’s time to set the record straight. Women haven’t just contributed to history – they’ve shaped it.
“Women haven’t just contributed to history – they’ve shaped it.”
Elizabeth Reid – NSW
On 8 April, 1973, Elizabeth Reid was appointed Women’s Adviser to the Prime Minister, the first in the world. During Elizabeth’s appointment, she received more letters than anyone in the government, second only to the prime minister. Under Elizabeth’s guidance, the Whitlam government – which had no elected women – reopened the equal pay case, extended the minimum wage to women, introduced paid maternity leave in the public service, established a single mother’s benefit, funded community childcare, ensured access to contraception, introduced no-fault divorce, and supported refuges and women’s health centres.
Elizabeth also stressed the need for all Cabinet submissions to include an assessment of their impact on women. The work of the Whitlam government and Elizabeth Reid laid the groundwork for major progress towards gender equality in Australia, the effects of which are still felt today.
Fanny Finch – VIC
Castlemaine Town Hall is where the first known vote was cast by women in Australia. On 22 January, 1856, at the height of the Victorian gold rush, a crowd gathered outside Castlemaine Town Hall for the town’s first municipal election. At the time, the law granted all ‘rate-paying persons’ the right to vote. Among the crowd of 218 men were two women. One remains anonymous, but the other was Fanny Finch, a rate-paying, small business-owning, single mother of four of African British descent
On the day of the historic vote, Fanny claimed her ballot card, marked her choice, signed her name and cast her vote.
In that moment, Fanny Finch, a woman of colour, wrote herself into history as the first documented woman to cast a vote in an Australian election. The two women’s votes were later disallowed by assessors who deemed that women had no right to vote, and the law was amended to explicitly exclude women from voting in Victorian local elections.
Mary MacKillop – SA
In 2010, Mary MacKillop became Australia’s first saint. Mary met Father Julian Tenison Woods while working as a governess on her uncle’s farm in the South Australian country town of Penola. Together, they established a free Catholic school in 1866, first in a converted stable and later in a more substantial stone building. One year later, Mary and Father Woods founded a new religious order, the Sisters of St Joseph. This was the first Catholic order founded by Australians. Under Mary’s leadership, the order grew to 130 within four years.
The sisters founded schools, hospitals, and orphanages, and provided shelters for the homeless, former sex workers, and unmarried mothers. Unlike most religious orders which were controlled by local bishops, the Sisters of St Joseph insisted on self-governance, leading to ongoing friction with church authorities. This conflict led the Adelaide bishop to excommunicate Mary for insubordination in 1871.
Although she was restored to her order, Mary and the sisters faced ongoing conflicts with bishops over their centralised control, which led her to move from Adelaide to Sydney, where she spent the last 25 years of her life. In 2009, a bronze statue of a young Mary with two children was unveiled to commemorate the centenary of her death.
Margaret Bale – WA
In 1909, after spending a year teaching on the Kalgoorlie goldfields, 28-year-old teacher Margaret Bale was ready to return to England. Before leaving, she decided to spend a few weeks in Fremantle. When the time came to go home, she found herself reluctant to leave, having fallen in love with the town. On a whim, she devised a plan to transform her identity. Within two hours, Margaret had purchased a suit of male clothing and a pair of boots, cut her hair short, buried her female garments in the sand hills, and emerged as Martin Able. As Martin, Margaret navigated life as a man, staying at all-male hostels and working as a steward at various businesses around town.
She even ventured into entrepreneurship and opened an art studio on High Street – “I said to myself, there are, apparently, artists in Fremantle.
Martin Able will become an artist.” After seven months of living successfully as a man, her ruse came to an abrupt halt when the police circulated a photo of Margaret following her mother’s passing. The shopkeeper who sold Martin his cigarettes recognised that Martin and Margaret were the same person. She later recounted her adventures in a weekly series of articles for a local newspaper titled When I Was A Man and went on to marry the owner of that newspaper.
Gloria Ouida Lee – NT
Gloria Ouida Lee was the first First Nations woman to own a house in colonised Australia.
She purchased the land with her earnings from mining and hospital work, supervising the construction herself. Gloria was the youngest child of Ranjika, a Western Arrernte woman, and Ah Hong, a Chinese market gardener. In 1918, a few years after Ranjika passed away during childbirth, Ah Hong took their children to China to be cared for by relatives, hoping they would receive a proper education – something that seemed unlikely in Australia due to their mixed Aboriginal and Asian heritage, which made them targets for removal by government officials. A decade later and fluent in Cantonese, Gloria returned to Alice Springs in 1929, but she struggled to fit in. The Arrernte community considered her Chinese, while the Chinese community viewed her as an Arrernte woman.
Still, she built a life for herself and was known as a hardworking miner and voracious reader of history, politics, and culture.
“Women’s stories are everywhere, all it takes is a bit of curiosity and willingness to explore beyond the well-trodden paths to find them.”
Lilian Cooper – QLD
When Lilian Cooper, a British-trained doctor, first arrived in Brisbane in 1891, she faced intense scepticism and hostility from her male peers.
Many anaesthetists refused to assist her in surgery, and doctors routinely declined when she asked for second opinions on her patients. Despite long demanding a female doctor, even the city’s women were initially wary of her. But Lilian wasn’t alone.
Her lifelong companion, Josephine Bedford, had moved with her, and when Josephine wasn’t assisting Lilian on house calls, she dedicated herself to charitable work. Recognising a growing need for support for working mothers, Josephine led the committee’s eff ort to turn a recently closed tobacco factory into the city’s first kindergarten which was soon joined by many more. Lilian and Josephine’s commitment to the community won over the people of Brisbane, and in 1926, Lilian purchased a house in Kangaroo Point, where she and Josephine lived out the rest of their lives.
Upon their deaths, the home was left to the Sisters of Charity and became Brisbane’s first palliative care hospital – now St Vincent’s Private Hospital. Lilian and Josephine were buried together in a shared grave at Toowong Cemetery.
Mary Cockerill – TAS
Mary Cockerill, a Mouheneener First Nations woman from Nipaluna (Hobart), was one of only three known female bushrangers in the 19th century. At around 16, Mary escaped from the colonial family she was assigned to work for and went on the run with convict Michael Howe, joining the notorious Whitehead Gang.
Mary’s bush skills were crucial to the gang’s success, aiding them in navigating the harsh Tasmanian terrain and evading capture. In 1817, while being pursued by the military, Michael shot Mary – possibly to prevent her capture or possibly due to his possessive nature. Although she was severely injured, Mary did recover and, driven by her outrage and desire for revenge against the (now ex) lover who shot her, she assisted the military in tracking down Michael and the gang.
Her assistance led to the gang’s downfall and Michael’s death. Mary was subsequently granted a full pardon and chose to start anew in Sydney.
Unfortunately, while in Sydney, she contracted a pulmonary disease and was returned to Hobart. She was admitted to the Colonial Hospital (now Royal Hobart Hospital), where she died in 1819, barely 20.
For more inspiring women, pick up a copy of She Shapes History by Sita Sargeant, published by Hardie Grant Explore. Available in stores nationally
This article was originally published under the title She Shapes History in Issue 41 – Her World Awaits. You can purchase previous issues and enjoy more enchanting content here.
