1930 - 1939

Courtesy: State Library of Queensland (55943)

1930

Dr Phyllis Dorothy Cilento OAM (1894 - 1987)

Phyllis Cilento was a lecturer at the University of Queensland in child-rearing and obstetrical physiotherapy. Her column, ‘Medical Mother’, featured in the Daily Mail and later in the Courier Mail, running for over 50 years. Phyllis also founded the Queensland Mothercraft Association in 1930. She was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her devotion and commitment to the areas of family planning, childbirth education, and nutrition. The Lady Cilento Parenting Centre at St Lucia commemorates her name, offering facilitated playgroups and positive parenting courses for Queensland families.

Courtesy: Queensland Police Museum

1931

Zara Dare (1886 - 1965)

Zara Dare was 45 years-old when she applied for a police officer role in Queensland. She had previously worked in China for the Salvation Army and, upon returning to Australia, she was an organiser of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. Zara and her colleague, Ellen O’Donnell, commenced at the Roma Street Police Station in 1931. Neither of the women was sworn in and therefore did not receive the pay allowances and privileges (including superannuation) as male officers. Zara’s work within the police force was restricted to looking after lost children, escorting female prisoners, and working with victims of domestic and sexual violence. Nine years after joining the police force, Zara retired to marry. It was not until 1965 that Queensland police women were officially sworn in.

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

Courtesy: Queensland Police Museum

1931

Ellen O’Donnell (1896 - 1963)

In 1931, Ellen O’Donnell, along with Zara Dare, became Queensland’s first female police officers, serving with the service for nearly 31 years. As neither of the women was officially sworn in an officer, they did not wear uniforms or receive officer’s wages. Their duties were restricted to assisting lost children, escorting female prisoners, and working with victims of domestic and sexual violence. Queensland’s decision to allow female officers into the police service was extremely controversial, with divided opinions across the state.

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

Courtesy: Photographer, Bruce Howard and the National Library of Australia (nla.pic-vn4227495)

1933

Ruby Robinson MBE

As the youngest of thirteen children, Ruby Robinson was born with a thirst to prove herself. She excelled at Warwick High School in swimming, athletics, hockey, basketball and baseball. At age thirteen, she and her friend, Pearl, claim to have invented the modern swimmers’ bathing cap, by cutting a football bladder in half and each using a piece! In 1933, Ruby was selected to play hockey for Queensland and when the First World War came, she taught the Women's Royal Australian Air Force (WRAAF) and Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC) girls how to play. In 1967, she became President of the Australian Hockey Association and was later awarded a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for her service to women in sport. She was appointed to the Australian Sports Council in 1975.

Source: Larkins, J & Howard, B 1976, Sheilas: A Tribute to Australian Women, Rigby, Adelaide.

Courtesy: State Library of Queensland (49962)

1933

Lores (Maude Rose) Bonney (1897 - 1994)

Maude Rose Rubens was born in South Africa, adopting the name "Lores" in preference to her given names. Moving first to England and then to Australia, Lores completed her education in Melbourne and attended a finishing school in Germany. She moved to Brisbane in 1917 after marrying Harry Bonney. Here, she commenced her flying career in 1930 and obtained her commercial pilot’s licence in 1932. Lores flew from Brisbane to Wangaratta in 1931, becoming the first woman in Australia to fly solo long-distance. In 1932 she became the first woman to circumnavigate the continent and, in 1933, she became the first woman to fly from Australia to England. In 1937, Lores continued to make history becoming the first person to fly solo from Australia to South Africa. A television series celebrating her life, Somehow We Almost Forgot Mrs Bonney, was screened in 1973. Lores died in 1994 on the Gold Coast.

Source: Pearce, S 2006, Who’s Who of Australian Women: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Australian Women 2007, Crown Content, North Melbourne.

Courtesy: 200 Australian Women

1937

Muriel Heagney (1885 - 1974)

Born in Brisbane to a loyal Labor family, Muriel Heagney gave up her teaching career to fight for women’s rights. Often representing trade unions, she fought hardest for equal pay, believing it to be the best hope for true social equality. After serving in Europe in World War One as the Defence Department’s only female clerk, she gained national recognition with her book Are Women Taking Men’s Jobs?. In 1937, she helped establish the Council of Action for Equal Pay and published a second book, Equal Pay for the Sexes. Sadly, Muriel passed away in 1974, just one week before the Arbitration Commission granted women an adult minimum wage.

Source: Thorpe, DW 1996, A sense of purpose: great Australian women of the 20^th century, Reed Reference Australia, Port Melbourne.

Courtesy: TBC

1938

Una Prentice (1913 - 1986)

Una Prentice (nee Bick) graduated from the University of Queensland in 1938, becoming the first Queensland woman to be admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court. Una experienced a slow start to her career, unable to find legal work in the two years after her graduation. With the onset of World War Two and an associated skills shortage, she finally gained employment as the first female Commonwealth prosecutor. Despite her prestigious position, Una was paid at a rate equal to that of female typists employed by the Commonwealth.

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

Official opening of the Royal Women's Hospital, 1938. Courtesy: RBWH Foundation

1938

Brisbane Women’s Hospital opened

The Brisbane Women’s Hospital was officially opened on 13 March 1938.The hospital’s name has changed over the years, becoming the Royal Women’s Hospital in 1967 and, in 2003, becoming part of the larger Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

Source: Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Foundation, n.d., Our History, viewed 6 January 2009, <http://www.rbwhfoundation.com.au/?/about_us/our_history>.