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First Female Workers Riot
First Female Workers Riot occured at the Parramatta Female Factory over conditions and food deprivation. -
First Australian Suffrage Society
Henrietta Dugdale and Annie Lowe formed the Victorian Women’s Suffrage Society -
Organising Women's Suffrage in South Australia
Women’s Suffrage League formed in South Australia -
Votes for Women in South Australia
The proclamation of South Australia's Suffrage Act, assented to by Queen Victoria on 2 February, gave women an equal right with men to vote, and to stand for election to the Colony's House of Assembly.
Women with property could also vote in Legislative Council elections, but women could not stand for the upper House of the parliament until 1959. -
Women Win the Vote in Western Australia
West Australian women win the vote in WA elections with Queen Victoria’s assent to the Bill passed by the WA parliament on 15 December 1899 -
Australian Constitution
Queen Victoria's Assent enacts the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution. -
Federal Suffrage
Commonwealth Franchise Act grants right to vote and stand for election for the Australian parliament to women on the same basis as men, with Aboriginal people in some States still without this right. -
First Australian Women Stand for Federal Parliament Elections
Vida Goldstein, Nellie Martel, and Mary Ann Moore Bentley stand for the Senate, and Selina Siggins for the seat of Dalley in the House of Representatives. -
Votes for Women in Tasmania
Tasmanian women won an equal right with men to vote in elections for the House of Assembly. Women with property were eligible to vote for the Legislative Council and from 29 October 1920 those who served in the 1914-18 war were also eligible to vote for the upper House. An equal right to stand for election to both Houses was won two years later. -
Australian Exhibition of Women's Work Opens
Opening of the Australian Exhibition of Women’s Work in Melbourne by Lady Northcote, with Pattie Deakin running a model creche during the five-week exhibition showcasing the work of musicians, artists and craftswomen. -
Votes fo rWomen in Victoria
Women in Victoria won an equal right with men to vote in State elections. Only women who met the propery qualification could vote in Legislative Council elections. Victorian women won an equal right to stand for election to both Houses of their State parliament in 1924. -
First Woman Elected to an Australian Parliament
Edith Cowan (Nationalist, West Perth) became the first woman to be elected to an Australian parliament. She served in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly until 22 March 1924. -
Australian Federation of Women Voters
The federated body of Australian women’s political associations was a national group to liaise with international feminist organisations and establish credentials as lobbyists/advisers at the League of Nations. PM Billy Hughes had woman included on Australia's delegations to the annual League of Nations General Assembly. From 1922 Australia was one of the few member nations to comply with the equailty provision in the covenant of the League in including a woman on each official delegation. -
First Woman Member Speaks in the NSW Parliament
Millicent Preston-Stanley, elected to the NSW Legislative Assembly in May 1925, delivered her first speech two weeks after the opening of the parliament. -
First Women Elected to the Federal Parliament
Dame Enid Lyons becomes a member of the House of Representatives for the United Australia Party, and the Australian Labor Party’s Dorothy Tangney takes a seat in the Senate representing West Australia. -
South Australia Council of Aboriginal Women
Founded by Gladys Elphick, a Kaurna descendant. -
Zelda D'Aprano
In 1969, Zelda D'Aprano chained herslef to the Commonweath Building in Melbourne. 35 years later (2004) she was awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of her campaigning on women's workplace issues. -
Equal Pay
After decades of campaigning, Australian women workers win equal pay rates with men doing comparable work under an Arbitration Commission decision for incremental increases, with pay parity eventually achieved in 1972. -
Women's Electoral Lobby
The Women's Electoral Lobby (WEL) began in Feb 1972 when 10 women met in a femisnists home to disuss ways of playing a more influential role in the election planned for December that year. -
Australia Celebrates International Women's Day
The Australian Government held the first national conference from 31 August to 6 September in1975 on the status of women (Women and Politics) and committed Australia to celebrating International Women's Day with other member nations of the United Nations. The coinference generated a great deal of debate in Australia. Some conference delegates invaded the offices of the Canberra Times to protest about the coverage of the conference. -
ANZAC Day: Women Arrested while Marching to Remember Women Raped in War.
In the early '80s, a number of Australian women attempted to join official ANZAC Day marches because they wanted to commemorate all women who had been raped in wars. In 1980, fourteen women who tried to do this were arrested. The following year, around 250 women attempted to join the tail of the official ANZAC Day march but were stopped by police and directed not to march. The police were acting under a section of the Traffic Ordinance that had only been gazetted the day before the march. -
Australia Becomes CEDAW Signatory
Australia becomes a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). -
National Foundation for Australian Women Launched
The official launch of the National Foundation for Australian Women was at the National Press Club in Canberra on 1 July 1989. A series of mini-launches in all states and territories were held in the following six months. -
Women's History Month 2002 Launched