Feather Curlers & Cleaners

Sydney Gazette, 11 August 1825 Not an occupation I can find out much about. Feather curlers were used by milliners to produce suitable feathers for their hats. However, if you read down through these advertisements you’ll see they’re offering a different, if related, service. Bearing in mind here, hats were necessary fashion accessory, and if…

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On the trail of the lady detective

Lady detectives seem to have come late to Australia. The concept of them was known throughmost of the Victorian era, as they were subject of some popular novels, including Revelations of a Lady Detective  (1864) which was advertised, widely, for many, many, many years in regional Australian newspapers. (It made searching… fun.) Tracing them was also…

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100 Years of Disappointed, Disgruntled, Discredited Husbands

Sydney Gazette, 16 October 1803 Sydney Gazette, 19 June 1808 Sydney Gazette, 12 February 1810 Hobart Town Gazette, 19 October 1816 Hobart Town Gazette, 12 August 1820 Sydney Gazette, 16 October 1823 Sydney Gazette, 23 October 1823 Sydney Gazette, 9 January 1826 The Australian, 10 September 1828 Sydney Monitor, 20 September 1828 Sydney Gazette, 21…

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Vulcana: strong woman

The Evening Star, 7 November 1903 Vulcana and Atlas, the athletes who presented a unique and graceful weight lifting entertainment at the Miners’ Institute with the Rickards Co., are Welsh, and have always been strong. Vulcana is just out of her teens, is about 5ft. 4in. in height and weighs 10st. 10lb. Atlas, her brother,…

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Votes for Women: the people

With the addition of two words,  the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 (pictured above) extended the right to vote in Federal elections to women as well as men.  Of the women who campaigned for this, you don’t hear much so I have started collection information about those that fall within the scope of this blog (active before…

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Alice Henry

ALICE HENRY and HER TIMES When Alice Henry died, public interest was taken up with World War II. Her work in Australia was practically forgotten, her real career had been in America. Few Australians realised what part she had played in shaping those two countries as they are to-day Too few Melbourne people know of…

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Miss Milne

Jeannette Milne Photo from TAHO (Tasmanian Archive & Heritage Office), record, available Flickr Jeanette Milne was a nurse from Edinburgh who came out to Australia during the time when the “Nightingale system” of nursing was still being introduced, hospital standards were generally poor and nurses rarely received formal training. (That’d be 1880s and later for most…

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Annie Lowe

A lot of words associated with Annie Lowe but few images. Also few links compared to her colleagues. Australian Women’s Register Entry on 1891 Women’s Suffrage Petition website [Extract] Mrs Lowe pointed to a small photo graph group on her drawing-room wall. “There,’ she said, “Is a portrait group of the committee of the first Women’s Suffrage…

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Henrietta Dugdale

Henriette Dugdale in 1845 (from Wikipedia Commons). Formed the Victorian Women’s Suffrage Society in 1884, the first Australian women’s suffrage society Australian Dictionary of Biography Wikipedia Amazing Women in History The Encyclopedia of Women & Leadership in Twentieth-century Australia Australian Women’s Register AN APPEAL TO MR. HIGINBOTHAM. TO THE EDITOR OF THE ARGUS. Sir,-At best…

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Jessie Rooke

(Image from the cover of the White Ribbon Signal, see below) Prominent Tasmanian suffragist. Tasmanian & Australian president of the W.C.T.U (Women’s Christian Temperance Union), one of major lobby groups for women’s suffrage, particularly in Tasmania, as well as social reform in general. Australian Dictionary of Biography Wikipedia Department of Premier & Cabinet, Tasmania Australian…

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