1900 - 1909

Courtesy: State Library of Queensland (184103)

1900

Lady Lamington Hospital for Women was opened (1 November 1900)

Lady Lamington was renowned for her charitable work and was approached by others to investigate options for women who could not afford to pay for private medical attendance. Her efforts came to fruition in November 1900 when the Lady Lamington Hospital for Women was opened in Brisbane. The hospital was a great benefit to women across Queensland and patients came from far and wide to access the hospital’s services.

Source: Williams, L 2006, No Better Profession – Medical Women in Queensland 1891 – 1999, Lesley M. Williams, North Tamborine.

Courtesy: State Library of Queensland (162778)

1900

Florence Chatfield OBE (1867 - 1949)

From 1900 to 1934, Florence Chatfield acted as Matron and then Superintendent of the Diamantina Hospital for Chronic Diseases in Queensland. In 1904, she presided over the founding meeting of the Queensland Branch of the Australasian Trained Nurses' Association (now Royal Australian Nursing Federation), serving for over 40 years. She was also a supervisor and organiser of the Queensland Government Baby Clinics from their inception in 1918. In 1932, she was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for a lifetime of service to nursing.

Source: The State of Queensland (Queensland Health), 2008, O’Shea, P, The Noble Florence Chatfield OBE, viewed 4 December 2008, <http://www.health.qld.gov.au/pahospital/history/docs/chatfield.pdf (PDF 745 KB)>.

Courtesy: State Library of Queensland (168871)

1901

Dr Eleanor Constance Greenham (1874 - 1957)

Eleanor ‘Ella’ Greenham was the first pupil enrolled at Ipswich Girls Grammar School when it opened in 1896. She went on to study medicine at Sydney University, graduating in 1901 and becoming the first Queensland-born woman to earn a degree in medicine. She began work immediately at the Lady Bowen Hospital and soon became the first Queensland woman to be appointed to a resident hospital position.

Ella also had an avid interest in cars and was regularly seen driving around Brisbane in her new 1907 Darracq and, later, a Hupmobile. She even became a shareholder in Evers Motors of Petrie Bight.

Source: Williams, L 2006, No Better Profession – Medical Women in Queensland 1891 – 1999, Lesley M. Williams, North Tamborine.

Courtesy: State Library of Queensland (19825)

1902

Australian women gain the right to vote and stand for federal parliament

In 1896, South Australia became the first state to give women the right to vote. South Australia argued that if women were able to vote at the state level, the right should be extended to Commonwealth elections. In 1902, the Federal Government introduced the Commonwealth Franchise Act, which established the right of men and women who met certain criteria to vote and stand for federal parliament. Despite uniform suffrage being legislated at the federal level, individual states did not simultaneously introduce voting rights at the state level.

Courtesy: State Library of Queensland (40252)

1903

Margaret Ogg (1863 - 1953)

Margaret Ogg was the fifth of ten children. In her early years, Margaret worked as the Sub-Editor of the Presbyterian Austral Star newspaper and as the Editor of the women’s section of the United Grazier. She became involved in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union - an organisation that fought for women to be heard in Parliament. Margaret also served as a mission secretary, publicising the message of suffrage. She travelled extensively, visiting women on isolated bush properties and advocating women’s suffrage. After meeting and hearing the stories of Queensland women, Margaret founded the Queensland Women’s Electoral League (QWEL) in 1903. In a short space of time, 60 branches were formed with 16,000 members across Queensland. Margaret acted as QWEL’s organising Secretary for 27 years. QWEL educated women about relevant issues and gained significant media coverage and government support with their campaigns. In 1905, the Queensland Parliament passed legislation allowing women to vote.

Source: Grant, H 2005, Great Queensland Women, State of Queensland (Office for Women), Brisbane.

Courtesy: State Library of Queensland (33841)

1903

The first Women’s Prison at Boggo Road in Brisbane was opened

Boggo Road Gaol, now Queensland’s oldest prison, was constructed between 1901 and 1903 and was specifically built to house female prisoners. The facility was built in response to the overcrowding of Queensland prisons and opened in 1903, with female prisoners being transferred from facilities in Toowoomba and Fortitude Valley. The majority of female prisoners at Boggo Road were serving sentences for public nuisance and prostitution offences. In 1921, female prisoners were transferred from Boggo Road as it was decided that the facility would be used to house male prisoners from the St Helena Island Prison which was in need of repair.

The Rivals, Trades Hall v. Employers' Federation. Courtesy: National Library of Australia (nla.pic-an23184987)

1903

Australian women exercise their right to vote and stand for federal parliament

Having only recently been granted suffrage in 1902, Australian women quickly took advantage of this newly afforded right, standing in the federal election in 1903. A total of three women stood for Senate and House of Representatives positions and, although unsuccessful, one female candidate received over 50,000 votes.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2007, Year Book Australia, 2001 - Women and Government in Australia, viewed 27 November 2008, <http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/1301.0Feature%20Article52001?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=1301.0&issue=2001&num=&view=>.

Courtesy: State Library of Queensland (168869)

1903

Dr Eleanor Elizabeth Bourne (1878 - 1957)

Eleanor Bourne was a student at Brisbane Girls Grammar School but, as the school did not teach Latin or Advanced Mathematics (necessary subjects for entry into medicine), she had to study with the boys at Brisbane Grammar School. She was the first Queensland women to win a university scholarship, initiating a change in the application conditions so that women were eligible to apply. Eleanor graduated from medicine in 1903 and began work at the Brisbane Hospital and later at the Hospital for Sick Children. In 1905, she became a foundation member of the National Council of Women alongside Dr Lilian Cooper. Both women dedicated their lives to improving the health of Queensland women.

Source: Williams, L 2006, No Better Profession – Medical Women in Queensland 1891 – 1999, Lesley M. Williams, North Tamborine.

Women voting for the first time in a Queensland state election, 25 May 1907. Courtesy: State Library of Queensland (36662)

1905

Most Queensland women gain the right to vote in State Elections

Australian women were granted suffrage at the federal level in 1902 and, in 1905, Queensland extended state-level voting rights to non-Indigenous women upon the introduction of the Elections Act Amendment Bill in 1905. The victory was a major achievement for the Queensland Women’s Electoral League (QWEL) who’d spent the two years prior to the introduction of the Bill campaigning vigorously for women’s suffrage in Queensland. Women first had the opportunity to exercise this right to vote at the 1907 state election.

Source: McCulloch, J 1994, Women members of the Queensland Parliament 1929-1994, Queensland Parliamentary Library, Brisbane.

1905

Introduction of the Queensland Legal Practitioners Act

Queensland was the third Australian state to introduce legislation allowing women to practice law. Prior to the introduction of the Queensland Legal Practitioners Act in 1905, it was possible for women to study law, however, early attempts to become admitted or registered as a legal practitioner were hindered and refused. The Act established that “as in the case of a man, a woman shall be entitled to admission as a barrister, solicitor or conveyancer… and shall be entitled to practice as [such]”.

Courtesy: National Council of Women of Queensland

1905

National Council of Women of Queensland was formed

Formed in 1905 as a result of a public meeting delivered by Mrs Henry Dobson of Tasmania, the National Council of Women of Queensland (NCWQ) was formed to act as a political lobby group on behalf of a large and varied number of Queensland women’s groups. Mrs J.T. Bell was nominated as NCWQ’s inaugural President and 21 organisations joined the Council (two of which continue to be active members today). NCWQ functions to influence government at local, state and federal levels, focussing on specific women’s issues brought before and agreed upon by the Council.

Source: Carey, J 2004, The Australian Women’s Register, National Council of Women of Queensland (1905 - ), viewed 9 January 2009, <http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0502b.htm>.

Courtesy: B Gibson Portrait c.1905 -10. © Queensland Museum

1907

Elizabeth (Bessy) Gibson (1868 - 1961)

Ipswich-born Elizabeth Gibson began her early artistic training at the Central Technical College in Brisbane, specialising in miniature painting.

To further her artistic studies she moved to Europe in 1905 and throughout the early 1900s, she studied art in several prestigious Paris studios including Colarossi’s, Castelucho’s and Mll Debillemont-Chardon. While studying she continued her work with miniatures as well as learning oil painting and watercolour.

In 1905, she exhibited her first work at the Royal Academy Exhibition – a miniature of her father. In 1907, another of her miniatures won first prize at the Women’s Work Exhibition in Melbourne. She continued to exhibit her works throughout Europe and Australia before returning to Brisbane in 1947.

While Bessie exhibited regularly she was not widely recognised in Australia until her inclusion in the 1975 ‘Australian Women Artists, 100 Years: 1840-1940’. Examples of her oil paintings and watercolours can be seen at several state galleries as well as the National Gallery of Australia.

Source: Dictionary of Australian Artists Online, 2009, <http://www.daao.org.au/main/read/2755>, viewed on 19 June 2009.

Mooraberrie Station Courtesy: State Library of South Australia (B 70311/44)

1907

Laura Duncan (1875 - 1955)

When Laura Duncan’s husband, William, died from consumption in 1907, she was left to raise four young children and in charge of a large cattle station in the Channel country of southwest Queensland. To save the family’s property, Mooraberrie Station, Laura built up a top-quality herd of Shorthorn cattle and established a successful baby beef trade. When the government tried to seize more than 500 heads of her cattle (to tackle a post-war food supply shortage) she challenged the Queensland Supreme Court and the High Court of Australia and won. In later life, Laura worked with the Australian Red Cross, observed and respected Aboriginal land rights and donated a property to orphaned children of World War One soldiers, among other worthy causes. She eventually passed on the management of Mooraberrie Station to her daughter and retired quietly to Kangaroo Point where she died in 1955.

Source: Margaret Kowald, ‘Duncan, Laura (1875 – 1955)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, 2006, accessed 15 January 2009, <http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/AS10136b.htm?hilite=Duncan>.

Courtesy: State Library of Queensland (177525)

1907

Josephine Bedford (1861 - 1955)

Josephine Bedford arrived in Brisbane in 1891 with her lifetime friend and companion Dr Lilian Cooper. She helped Lilian establish herself as Queensland's first female doctor while pursuing her own interest in improving the welfare of the state’s women and children. As the city's population rapidly grew, Josephine noticed that the inner-suburbs, with their unpaved and unsewered streets, were unsafe for children to play. This realisation, along with the help of a local Reverend, led to the creation of the Crèche and Kindergarten Association (C&K) in 1907. By 1911, four centres were operating in Brisbane and a college for kindergarten teachers had been established. On an extended trip overseas, Josephine studied the concept of 'supervised play' and returned to Brisbane in 1918 to help open two supervised playgrounds (in Paddington and Spring Hill). The Bedford Playground in Spring Hill commemorates Josephine's outstanding contribution to Queensland children.

Source: Grant, H 2005, Great Queensland Women, State of Queensland (Office for Women), Brisbane.

Portraits of Annette Kellerman. Courtesy: State Library of Victoria (Accession Number: H96.160/1361. Image Number: cc001540)

1909

Annette Marie Sarah Kellerman (1886 – 1975)

Born in New South Wales, Annette Kellerman moved to England where she trained as a swimmer, setting world records in numerous areas of women’s swimming. She is best remembered for becoming the first woman to attempt to swim across the English Channel. When she wasn’t in the water, Annette was practicing her vaudeville act which included wire walking, ballet dancing and physical comedy. In 1907, Annette caused a stir when she was arrested for indecent exposure in America for wearing a boy’s swimming costume, which she argued was much less cumbersome than the sleeves and heavy bloomers of women’s bathing dresses at the time. Unable to afford a lawyer, Annette defended herself and the case was dismissed. The media attention she received during her court case attracted interest from Hollywood where she became the first Australian actor to star in an American film – Jepthah’s Daughter in 1909. Her film star status was sealed in 1914 with the success of her film, Neptune’s Daughter. When Annette returned to Australia, she settled in Queensland in the area now called Raby Bay, where she lectured on health and fitness until she passed away in 1975 and her ashes were scattered across the Great Barrier Reef.

Courtesy: State Library of Queensland (60868)

1909

Amy Schauer (1871 – 1956)

Although born and trained in New South Wales, Amy Schauer contributed significantly to the education of many Queensland women and girls throughout the early 1900s. From February 1895, Amy taught mainly cookery at the Brisbane (Central) Technical College and delivered classes in invalid cookery at the Mater Hospital. She also co-wrote several popular cookery books with her sister Minnie. By 1909, three of their books were prescribed on the syllabuses of the Departments of Domestic Science and Art in Queensland Technical Colleges. In the years following, Amy played a key role preparing and presenting training courses in basic field, camp, and invalid cookery for members of the Australian Army Medical Corps during the First World War. In 1917, she began teaching cookery at the newly established Nambour Rural School and went on to become the Senior Instructress of Domestic Arts in the Department of Women’s Work until her retirement in 1937.

Source: Donna Phillips Ryan, ‘Schauer, Amy (1871 - 1956)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, 2006, accessed 7 January 2009, <http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110546b.htm>.