In the heart of the beautiful garden of the Fitzroy Gardens Conservatory stands the life-sized bronze statue of the first white woman settler in Victoria, Mary Gilbert. Sculptress Ailsa O`Connor sculpted it, using her daughter as the model. O`Connor (1921-1980) was an Australian artist, feminist, and women’s rights activist. Melbourne City Council commissioned it for the 1975 International Women`s Year, and Lady Mayoress Barbara Walker unveiled it on November 26th, 1975. The plaque on the plinth reads- “Mary Gilbert First Migrant Woman Settler Ailsa O`Connor 1974 Mary gave birth to a son. The first white child born in the Port Phillip settlement on 29 December 1835. As servants of John Pascoe Fawkner, Mary and her husband, blacksmith James Gilbert, were in the original party of settlers who landed from the schooner Enterprize on 30 August 1835.” Read more...

On December 2nd, 2004, 102 years after Australian women won the right to vote and elect with the passage of the Commonwealth Franchise Act in 1902, the Women’s Suffrage Commemorative Fountain was dedicated, serving as an ongoing tribute to women’s achievements in Federal Parliament. Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women, Senator Kay Patterson initiated, led, and dedicated the memorial. Cate Riley and Andrew Smith of the National Capital Authority designed it, while artist Mary Stuart created and placed the mosaic tiles. The rectangular fountain has six jets on each side and a weir at the eastern end. The base consists of mosaic tiles in the colors of the suffragette shades of green, white, and purple. The text on the fountain’s border commemorates the passage of the Commonwealth Franchise Act and the following year’s election when women voted and stood for office in the Federal Parliament for the first time in Australian history. The pathway leading away from the fountain is adorned with tiles describing key milestones and achievements in women’s journey to have an equal part in federal politics in Australia. The walkway starts with the passage of the Commonwealth Franchise Act in 1902, continues with the first-time women voted and stood for office in 1903, and a list of the four women who stood at the 1903 election – Selina Anderson in the House of Representatives and Vida Goldstein, Nellie Martel, and Mary Moore-Bentley in the Senate, all were unsuccessful. The last tile commemorates the 2004 opening of the memorial. The fountain stands at the entrance to the House of Representatives garden within a walkway linking Old Parliament House to Constitution Place. The Old Parliament House is the home to the Museum of Australian Democracy; there are many things to see and do in the area, including The Ladies Rose Garden and the Women – Reconciliation Place Artwork. Read more...

A special artwork on the Reconciliation Place is dedicated to three remarkable women activists who had a significant role in the passage of the 1967 Referendum, which was one of the first milestones for equal rights for Australian Indigenous people, Lady Jessie Street, Faith Bandler, and Evelyn Scott. As part of the 1967 referendum, voters were asked whether Indigenous Australians should be included in official population counts for constitutional purposes and whether the Federal Government should have the power to make special laws for Indigenous Australians in states. Following the campaign, which included several massive petitions and hundreds of public meetings, on May 27, 1967, 90.77% of the voters replied Yes, the most successful referendum in Australian history. The Women Artwork consists of three cast bronze slivers, each reviewing the biographies and roles in the 1967 Referendum of Lady Jessie Street, Faith Bandler, and Dr. Evelyn Scott. The convex side of each silver and the pavement are inscribed with words and quotes related to their values. Facing the silvers is a circular seat that contains an audio device that broadcasts personal reflections by Faith Bandler, Dr. Evelyn Scott, and Sir Laurence Street. The artists Belinda Smith and Rob Tindal designed the artwork, Jennifer Marchant designed the graphics, and the patterning was done by Jenuarrie, Thanakupi (Thancoupie Gloria Fletcher), and Violet Petyarre. Lady Jessie Street (1889-1970) was an Australian suffragette, feminist, and Indigenous Australian rights activist. Jessie founded the United Association of Women in Australia in 1929. She attended women’s conferences worldwide, worked with women’s groups in different countries, and was Australia’s first female delegate to the founding of the United Nations in 1945. She ran twice for office and was narrowly defeated each time. Jessie was active in the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement (FCAA)and the initiator and master minder of the 1967 Referendum. Faith Bandler (1918-2015) was a leading campaigner for the rights of Indigenous Australians and South Sea Islanders. Her father was one of the indigenous children who was kidnapped to work on a plantation. Faith began her activism in 1945, campaigning for equal pay for indigenous workers after being paid less than white workers in the Australian Women’s Land Army. In 1956, Faith co-established the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship. Later on, she became the general secretary of FCAA and led the successful campaign for a constitutional referendum to remove discriminatory provisions from the Constitution of Australia. Evelyn Scott (1935-2017) was an Indigenous social activist and educator. She was actively involved with the Townsville Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advancement League in the 1960s and was one of the campaign leaders in the 1967 referendum. It was the first of many achievements in a life of activism for equal rights for Australian Indigenous people. Reconciliation Place is located in Canberra’s National Triangle, an area that celebrates the shared history of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Next to the Women’s Artwork is the stone that commemorates Ruby Florence Hammond. A short walk leads to the Centenary of Women’s Suffrage Commemorative Fountain & Suffrage Walk and the Ladies Rose Garden. Read more...

A statue of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, a philanthropist and matriarch of the Murdoch family, stands in the entrance foyer of the Frankston Arts Centre, welcoming visitors. Frankston City Council and the Murdoch family wanted to celebrate Elisabeth’s devotion to the arts community, so they commissioned the sculptor Peter Corlett to create the sculpture. Corlett sculpted it based on a photo of her from her 90th birthday, depicting her in her senior years, smiling, her hands open in a welcoming gesture. On November 29th, 2013, Elisabeth’s daughters, Anne Kantor and Janet Calvert-Jones, unveiled it in a community ceremony. Elisabeth Greene Murdoch (1909-2012) was born and raised in Melbourne. In 1928, she married Keith Murdoch, 23 years her senior, a journalist, editor, and newspaper manager. They had four children. While her husband built their media business, Elisabeth focused on volunteering work. When Keith died in 1952, Elisabeth inherited most of his fortune, and their son, Rupert, expanded the family news business into a global media empire. Over the years, Elisabeth’s philosophy and involvement increased in many of Melbourne and Australia’s institutions, including the Royal Children’s Hospital, the Australian Ballet, and the Botanic Gardens. Among the many awards she received for her work is the Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Civil Division (DBE) for her role in building a new children’s hospital in Melbourne (1963), Companion of the Order of Australia, Civil Division (AC) for serving the community (1989), the Centenary Medal (2001), the key to the city of Melbourne (2003) and the Victorian of the Year (2005). Several institutions and parks were renamed after her, including the Elisabeth Murdoch Arboretum and the Elisabeth Murdoch College. Read more...

In the heart of Burswood Park stands the sculpture of the Australian author Dame Mary Durack. Also called the Storyteller, the statue was designed in 1996 by Charlie and Joan Smith and was one of the first sculptures in the park and the only one to commemorate a woman. Mary Durack (1913-1994) was born to a family of settlers in the rural Kimberley region of Western Australia. They owned cattle stations, controlling over 7 million acres in that area, living, working, and learning skills from the indigenous people. Mary received her education at Loreto Convent in Perth and operated with her sister Elizabeth, one of the cattle stations in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The sisters became writers and artists and collaborated on several children’s books since 1935. In 1938, Mary married the aviator, Captain Horrie C. Miller; they lived and raised their six children in the Nedlands. Mary wrote novels (several about her family’s history), children’s books, short stories, and plays. Among the many awards Mary Durack received in her lifetime are Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her services to literature (1977) and Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for her service to the community and literature (1989). Also in the park is the Shelley Taylor-Smith commemorative plaque honoring the Western Australian marathon swimmer, Shelley Taylor-Smith, at the location where she finished the 25 km race and won a gold medal at the 1991 World Swimming Championships. Read more...

On June 8th, 2022, Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Memorial was dedicated on the grounds of the Western Australia Government House, becoming the first and only Aboriginal woman commemorated in a sculpture in Western Australia. Balbuk was a Noongar activist who fought for Aboriginal land rights. This statue stands close to where her grandmother, Moojorngul, was buried in the grounds of the Government House years before the building stood there. Balbuk (1840-1907) was born and lived on Matagarup (Heirisson Island) in the Swan River, the area that later evolved into Perth’s central business district area. As a Whadjuk woman (Nyoongar people of Western Australia), she collected zamia fruit, vegetables, turtles, and crayfish from the swampy areas. The draining and filling of swamps and the expansion of the colonies at the expense of the Nyoongar territories impacted Whadjuk’s life tremendously. Balbuk opposed the expansion of the colonies onto the traditional Noongar lands. She went to great lengths to protect these lands, sometimes physically breaking fences erected around houses built on the traditional territories that were on her way. In her later years, Balbuk lived at the Maamba Aboriginal reserve on the Canning River; she shared the Whadjuk land’s history with the Australian author and anthropologist Daisy May Bates. These records played a significant role in the Native Title claim of 2006, which officially recognized the Nyoongar people’s rights over the Perth area. Joan Walsh-Smith and Charles Smith of Smith Sculptors created the statue, depicting Balbuk in her senior years, walking with her Wanna, a digging stick along the Swan River. Visitors are welcome to follow a self-guided walk that retraces the paths Balbuk once journeyed along the Swan River and its surroundings. Read more...

The Great Petition sculpture stands in a small park near the Victoria State Parliament Building in Melbourne, commemorating the fight for Victorian women’s suffrage. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in Victoria and to increase the number of monuments that honor women in Australia, the State Government of Victoria and the City of Melbourne commissioned the artists Susan Hewitt and Penelope Lee to create a public memorial. After extensive research, Hewitt and Lee decided to depict in a sculpture the “Monster Petition,” a 260-meter-long glued sheets of papers containing about 30,000 Victorian women’s signatures that were collected over six weeks in 1891 and submitted to Parliament demanding their voting rights (The state’s Public Record Office holds the original artifact). The sculpture was dedicated on December 3rd, 2008. It is a 20-meter-long scroll on a bluestone plinth that emulates the steps of the Parliament House. The low plinth enables people to interact with it. Victorian women were granted voting rights in 1908 with the passage of the Adult Suffrage Act. Read more...

On September 23rd, 2018, the city of Randwick unveiled a bronze sculpture of renowned English cellist Jacqueline du Pré at Kensington Park. The Music & Opera Singers Trust commissioned the statue, and the artist Drago Marin Cherina created it. Jaqueline du Pré (1945-1987) was one of the world’s greatest cellists of all time; she performed at the most prestigious venues and brought excitement to the world of classical music. Her statue in Australia was one of the first statues in the continent to honor a female musician. Standing in front of the Kingsford Community Centre, the statue has inspired visitors and honored du Pré’s legacy. Jaqueline du Pré became passionate about playing cello when she was four. She studied at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music in London and continued learning with the best cellists in Europe, including Pablo Casals (Switzerland), Mstislav Rostropovich (Russia), and Paul Tortelier (France). In 1961, at 16, she made her formal cellist début at Wigmore Hall in London, impressing Britain’s music critics. Du Pré recorded and performed worldwide, captivating audiences, receiving international recognition, and becoming one of the most beloved cellists in the world. In 1967, at 22, she married Israeli pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, and the two became known as the golden couple of the music industry. In 1971, du Pré started losing sensitivity in her fingers, accompanied by fatigue and depression. Two years later, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Her last studio recording was in 1971, and she stopped performing live in 1973. Her passion for music never declined, and she continued to teach music as long as her health permitted it. At the age of 42, she passed away. Read more...

On January 5th, 2023, Australian legendary women’s cricketer Belinda Clark made history again when her statue was unveiled at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and became the first statue of a woman cricketer worldwide. The SCG decided in 2021 that after 73 statues of male cricketers in Australia, the time has come to honor a female player. The SCG selected Belinda Clark from a list of talented players, and the artist Cathy Weiszmann won the commission to create it. Weiszmann sculpted the statue based on a photo she and Clark chose; it stands near two of Australia’s finest men’s captains: Richie Benaud and Steve Waugh. Belinda Clark was born in 1970 in Newcastle, New South Wales, and grew up playing cricket and tennis. She started playing cricket more seriously in high school and made her international cricket debut in January 1991, playing against New Zealand. Two years later, and for 12 years, Clark became the captain of the Australian Women’s team, winning two ICC Women’s World Cups trophies (1997, 2005), 15 Test matches, and scoring 919 runs at an average of 45.95. Clark became the first person to score an ODI double century in 1997, blasting 229 runs off 155 balls against Denmark. She has held the record for the most ODI runs scored by an Australian woman – 4,844 runs in 118 ODIs at an average of 47.49. In 2000, Clark became the CEO of Women’s Cricket Australia (WCA), playing a significant role in the merger with the Australian Cricket Board to combine the administration of the men’s and women’s games. After her retirement in 2005, Clark held several roles in the Australian Cricket Board and also served as the manager of the Australian Cricket Academy (till 2017). Since 2002, the Belinda Clark Award recognizes Australia’s best women’s international cricketer. In 2014, Clark was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. Read more...

The Pioneer Women’s Memorial in Sydney is a 3.5-meter bronze statue of a woman carrying a baby on her left arm and pulling an old child with her right hand. It honors the early settlers women in Australia and their contribution to colonialism in Australia. The Women’s Pioneer Society of Australasia commissioned this statue as part of Australia’s bicentenary celebrations. They chose the Australian sculptor Alex Kolozsy to design and create it. The dedication ceremony was held on 19 November 1988 with Lady Faye Rowland, the spouse of the Governor of New South Wales at the time. The plaque at the base of the statue reads: This statue was commissioned by the Women’s Pioneer Society of Australasia in recognition of the courage and endurance of our Women Pioneers and their vital role in the development of this country. The project was jointly funded by: The New South Wales Bicentennial Council The National Mutual Life Association of Australasia Limited The Women’s Pioneer Society of Australasia to commemorate the Bicentenary of Australia. Unveiled on 19.11.1988 by Lady Rowland. Sculptor Kolozsy. The statue stands at the Jessie Street Gardens, a small urban park named after the Australian women and Indigenous equal rights activist Jessie Street (1889-1970). Street helped found the United Associations of Women, co-chaired the first union equal pay committee, and was the first Australian women delegate to the UN. About three kilometers from this statue is the Jessie Street National Women’s Library, which preserves, collects, and promotes Herstories of Australian women from all fields of life. If you are interested in experiencing more sites related to pioneer women in downtown Sydney, follow this self-guided tour. Read more...