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Women’s History Month 2013

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The theme for the 2013 Women’s History Month Australia is Finding Founding Mothers, identifying women involved in shaping Federation and the new nation of Australia from 1901.

This theme contributes to other commemorations in Australia this year, including Constitution Day on 9 July and the Centenary of the founding of Canberra, the national capital.

Finding Founding Mothers for Womens’ History Month 2013 means reviewing how we built on their achievements in the last hundred years – and of our progress towards our own legacy for the dawn of the 22nd Century. More ..

Visit the Finding Founding Mothers Gallery to share in the federation of ideas and check out the Calendar for happenings in 2013 around Australia!

And check out our network for events and resources overseas, for instance in the USA where Womens’ History Month is a national observance.

The pioneering legacy of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers is revealed not only in our museums and history books, but also in the fierce determination and limitless potential of our daughters and granddaughters.  US President Barack Obama March 2012

Women’s History Month 2012
You can still browse the WHM 2012 Women with a Plan Gallery, the feature article about how these women architects, town planners and landscape architects contributed to Australian history, and download the Women with a Plan poster.

Earlier website
The Australian Women’s History Forum’s previous website is still online while we transfer all resources to this new site.

How to blog
New to blogs? Find out how they work.

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Australian Women’s History Month 2012 poster

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Women with a Plan

Urban planners, architects, and landscape architects who shaped our surroundings, and our history in the past century.

On the 2012 WHM website page you will find some great resource material, including an essay by historian Dr Lenore Coltheart on the struggles and successes of early women planners around Australia.  If you want to investigate further we have also included a bibliography of useful reference material at the end of the essay.  We have just posted an A4 size poster which you can print off or use as publicity material on-line.  In the New Year we will also be adding a Gallery that will highlight a small number of significant, early women planners.

Download our 2012 poster

Woman leaning over a drafting table.

Winsome Hall Andrew, Sydney Architect 1905-1997.

Right click on this link to download the A4 poster (PDF 223kb)

WHM event 6 March 2012

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Trailblazing Women
West Terrace Cemetery (SA)

Discover the stories of some of South Australia’s many fascinating and influential women of the 19th and early 20th centuries on this guided walking tour of West Terrace Cemetery. Amid the elaborate headstones and monuments you will encounter the graves of women such as trade unionist Augusta Zadow, suffragist Mary Colton, reformer Caroline Emily Clark, and pioneer Mary Thomas.

The tour will commence at 11.30am on Tuesday 6 March.

To book, telephone (08) 8139 7438 or email eventswtc@aca.sa.gov.au. Tours cost $5.50 per person and booking are essential.

More info: http://www.aca.sa.gov.au/

WHM event 8 March 2012

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International Women’s Day Lunch
National Convention Centre, Constitution Ave, Canberra 12.30 – 2.00 (ACT)

UN Women Australia are hosting the International Women’s Day Lunch in Canberra on Thursday March 8th 2012 to help to raise funds for programs to provide assistance to women at risk all over the world.

Guest speaker, Sally Sara, well-known ABC correspondent will give the key note address.

Individual tickets and corporate tables are available

For more information visit UN Women or you can visit the event organisers DKC or phone them on 02 8218 2912.

WHM event 8 March 2012

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WE WIN – Women Empowering Women In Need
ninefold venue Allianz building, Level 20 2 Market Street Sydney
New South Wales 2000 Australia (NSW – Sydney)

You are invited to attend WE WIN, a celebration of International Women’s Day presented by Women as Entrepreneurs (WomenAsEntrepreneurs.com.au). This is an awareness event – a celebration of successes of women with a focus on enabling change for women as entrepreneurs, both here and in the third world. Profit will go towards empowering women living in poverty in developing countries.

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WHM event 8 March 2012

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Florence Taylor: Architect, editor, businesswoman
‘The Great Lady of Sydney Town’

Surry Hills Library, 6.00 – 7.00pm
405 Crown Street Surry Hills
Sydney, NSW 2010

Dr. Bronwyn Hanna will describe the humble beginnings, courageous career and mixed legacies of Florence Taylor, Australia’s first professionally qualified, practising woman architect. Taylor was also an engineer, town planner, journalist, publisher, social climber and rightwing feminist.

This event is held in conjunction with Women’s History Month. Free event, bookings essential. Telephone: 8374-6230

Dr Hanna, an architectural historian has published widely in her field, including two co-authored books: Women Architects in Australia 1900-1950 (2000) and Florence Taylor’s Hats (2006).

WHM event 10 March 2012

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Cooking Program: Jams and Preserves
Calthorpes’ House (ACT)

It’s harvest time in the garden. Visitors are invited to learn the tricks for making a range of juicy preserves and jams crafted by Canberra Country Women’s Association. Presented in association with Women’s History Month.

More info: Calthorpes’ House, Museums and Galleries ACT

WHM event 11 March 2012

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‘Muldoon’s Guest House AKA Vatican City’
Stuart Terrace, Alice Springs, NT

A family focussed theatrical tour of HM Gaol & Labour Prison, Stuart Terrace, Alice Springs led by Mrs Muldoon, the first gaol keeper’s wife. Exploring the boundaries between fact & fiction, history & heritage, architectural possibilities and construction realities.

Sun 11th March 4pm

Proudly sponsored by the NT Government.
More information about the gaol on the National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame website

WHM event 14 March 2012

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Walking Tour: Australian National University
Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University (ACT)

Join Deborah Clark, Curator Visual Arts at Canberra Museum and Gallery, for a gentle walking tour of public art at the Australian National University. Meet outside the Drill Hall Gallery (ANU) at 11.45am for a 12.00pm start.

More info: Museums and Galleries ACT

WHM event 14 March 2012

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Women, Children and Welfare History in the Archives

1.00-2.30pm, Victorian Archives Centre
99 Shiel Street, North Melbourne, VIC

The Public Record of Victoria and the Australian Women’s Register Project extend an invitation to a seminar to commemorate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month.

The seminar aims to raise the profile of the Australian Women’s Register and to highlight the richness of the PROV in locating records about women and their contribution to Victorian society.

It will take place in the Seminar Room, the Public Record Office, 99 Shiel Street, North Melbourne, 1:00 – 2.30pm.

Panellists
Shurlee Swain – ‘Making their case: archival traces of mothers and children in negotiation with child welfare officials’
Charlie Farrugia – ‘The wardship records in the PROV Collection’
Nikki Henningham – ‘What’s New with the Australian Women’s Register’.

Professor Shurlee Swain is a professor of Humanities at the Australian Catholic University. She specialises in Australian social history, including religious, women’s, children’s and welfare history.Charlie Farrugia is Senior Collections Adviser at PROV.

Dr Nikki Henningham is the Executive officer of the AWAP, a committee of the National Foundation for Women.

Refreshments are available from Café 99 located within the Victorian Archives Centre.

Queries: Charlie Farrugia: Charlie.Farrugia@prov.vic.gov.au or
Rosemary Francis: landrfrancis@bigpond.com 0A

More info: www.prov.vic.gov.au

WHM event 15 March 2012

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10 x 10 Building Canberra
Canberra Museum and Gallery (ACT)

To celebrate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, CMAG and the ACT Office for Women present ten prominent architects, historians, artists and town planners who will each talk for 10 minutes, reflecting on different aspects of Canberra’s built environment from its history to its future.

More info: Canberra Museum and Gallery

WHM event 15 March 2012

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The Least House Necessary – Interactive Design Workshop

6-7pm, Cairns City Library Meeting Room 151
Abbott Street Cairns (QLD)

Interactive Design Workshop with Dr Shaneen Fantin Director People Oriented Design. The workshop focuses on how to develop a concept for your house.

Bookings 07 4044 3720. For more information check outhttp://www.cairnslibrary.com.au

WHM event 20 March 2012

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Margaret Hendry Oration
‘Sex & the City: what part of it do we not get?’

6.00-7.30pm
Albert Hall, Commonwealth Avenue
Canberra, ACT

The speaker at the Margaret Hendry Oration 2012 will be Elizabeth Farrelly, Sydney-based author, architectural critic, essayist, columnist and speaker. This event is free and open to the public and there will be non-alcoholic refreshments.

RSVP through the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects web site www.aila.org.au or AILA office (02) 6248 9970.

Elizabeth, who contributes a weekly opinion piece on a range of topics in the Sydney Morning Herald, has been invited to stimulate thoughts as well as attract a range of interested people and to signal that there is an opportunity for Canberra’s communities to be engaged with a different approach to the planning, design and development of the city.

WHM event 22 March 2012

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A History of Active Citizenship:
the Australian Women in Leadership Project

5.30pm, Public Village Roadshow Theatre
State Library of Victoria, Entry 3 via La Trobe Street
Melbourne, VIC

The seminar is being held as one of the Making Public Histories Seminars, offered jointly by the Institute for Public History at Monash University, State Library of Victoria and the History Council of Victoria.

Find out more about the Australian Women in Leadership Project

WHM event 27 March 2012

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Four Great Women of Architecture in conversation

Starts 6.30pm sharp
Tusculum, 3 Manning Street
Potts Point, Kings Cross
Sydney, New South Wales

Four inspirational women with extraordinary careers come together in conversation. Don’t miss this very special evening with four leaders in their field. Louise Cox is joined by Diane Jones and Joan Domicelj for an evening of discussion, hosted by Anne Higham, to talk about the highs and lows of a life considering architecture.

Louise Cox AM is the UIA Immediate Past President; Diane Jones is the Principal Director of PTW architects and Adjunct Professor FBE UNSW; Joan Domicelj is currently on the World Heritage Reference group for ICOMOS; and Anne Higham is immediate past heritage consultant for the Australian Institute of Architects and the Institute’s Honours committee member.

Australian Institute of Architects members are free.
Pay on the night.
Non members $10
Students $5
Train, 311 Bus Service
Please note: There is no parking at Tusculum

Women’s History Month 2012 theme

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Winsome Hall AndrewWomen with a Plan: Architects, Planners and Landscape Architects 

The Australia’s Women’s History Month 2012 theme aimed to turn the extraordinary into the ordinary with the theme Women with a Plan. The women urban planners, architects, and landscape architects who shaped our surroundings, and our history in the past century deserve attention both for the notable work of some and for the extraordinary determination they all showed in following professions dominated by men.

Some of these women helped lay the foundations of these professions in Australia. Others, from early 19th century First Lady Elizabeth Macquarie to fighting feminist Bessie Guthrie 150 years later, had a more singular impact on the planning and design of their surroundings.

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March is women’s history month

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Two women in working clothes.Women in the Business of Food
2011 WHM Theme

The theme for WHM 2011 brings a focus to Australian women who made significant contributions to the history of food, whether in cooking or in education, science, or technology. In taking their skills and expertise into the public sphere, these women changed history by challenging perceptions about women’s unpaid domestic skills.

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Mietta O’Donnell

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Mietta O'DonnellMietta O’Donnell (1950–2001)
Australian chef and food critic

Mietta O’Donnell was arguably the person who defined haute cuisine in Australia – first through her 21 years as a restauranteur and in later years as the country’s leading culinary publisher and critic. Her grandparents, Mario and Teresa Vigano, arrived in Melbourne from Milan in 1928. They went on to establish the legendary “Mario’s” restaurant, which they ran for more than thirty years. Mietta was influenced by their entertainment flair from an early age.

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Hetty Perkins

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Hetty PerkinsHetty Perkins (1905 ?-1979) 

Hetty Perkins was fourteen when her father died and her mother lost the work she had found on the Winnecke goldfields in Central Australia. Hetty and some friends found work in the hotel at Arltunga, 90 kilometres ENE of Alice Springs. The hotel cook, also Aboriginal, had been brought up by a Chinese woman ‘and she can cook!’ as Hetty recalled.

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Flora Pell

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Flora PellFlora Pell (1874-1943)
Domestic Science Teacher and Cookery book writer

Flora Pell was born in Melbourne on March 12, 1874.  She was the eldest girl in a large family and went to work early to help support her siblings. By the time she was 15 she had passed her teacher’s exams and she began teaching cookery in Geelong, then Bendigo and Carlton.

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Doris Irene Taylor

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Doris TaylorDoris Irene Taylor MBE

Doris Taylor’s contribution to social welfare in Australia is both significant and long-lasting. Meals on Wheels, the organisation she founded in Australia in 1953, provides regular, balanced and nutritious food through its own kitchens to the elderly and infirm in their own homes, at a small charge. It serves the needs of many thousands of Australians every day.

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Mary Farrelly

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Mary FarrellyMary Farrelly, Diet Reformer and Social Worker

During her lifetime, Mary Martha Farrelly was a committted and popular advocate for the health giving properties of wholemeal grains, fresh fruits and vegetables.  Although perhaps ahead of her time in recognising the benefits of such foods, Mary’s commanding presence and straightforward message on the subject of diet gained her considerable respect.  She was in demand as a speaker throughout Western Australia for much of her life and she was fondly referred to as The Wheat Queen.  Mary’s life-long interest in the welfare of women and children contributed to her success in other fields such as in the Country Circles movement, seen as the genesis of the Country Women’s Association in Western Australia.

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