Described as ‘a woman for all seasons’ Barbara van den Broek was a registered architect, town planner and landscape architect, as well as a person committed to lifelong learning.
A founding member of the Queensland Institute of Landscape Architects in 1965, she later served terms as secretary, and as president from 1973-75.
In 1957 Stroma Buttrose became the first woman to be appointed as a Planning Assistant in South Australia when she joined the Town Planner’s Office (later the State Planning Office).
Margaret Feilman OBE was Perth’s first female town planner. She also had a successful career as an architect and landscape designer and was an early advocate for identifying and protecting built heritage.
A founding member of the Western Australian Town Planning Institute in 1950, she was also – in 1959 – a founding member of the Western Australian branch of the National Trust of Australia.
Margaret Keitha Findlay was the first registered female architect in Tasmania and the first woman in Tasmania to qualify as an associate of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects,becoming a member of the Institute’s state council. In 1944 she became the first female architect employed by the state’s Public Works Department.
In 1945 Margaret Findlay was appointed Instructor in Architectural Draftsmanship at the University of Sydney, the only female academic at the school, working there until her retirement in 1970. As the department grew she became responsible for an entire group of instructors.
Florence Mary (Parsons) Taylor OBE made history when she became the first woman to qualify and practice professionally as an architect in Australia. Later she was to become a strong advocate of town planning as an important element in the built environment.
Her enduring legacy lies in the contribution she made for over fifty years as a major publisher, writer and editor in the fields of architecture, construction and town planning.
Architect Marion Lucy Mahony Griffin was among the first women to prove that women had the intellectual capacity, creative talent and administrative ability to contribute to the profession of architecture, previously regarded as the right of men.
She was the second woman in the United States to gain a degree in architecture, awarded by the Boston Institute in 1895 and in 1898 the first woman to complete registration examinations to qualify for the practice of architecture.
