SA Firsts - Timeline for South Australian firsts
Political and social rights for women
1876
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Women property owners gain the right to vote in District Councils - but were not allowed to stand as candidates.
This was ahead of the United Kingdom where this right only applied in some Councils. |
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1879
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The first State Secondary School for Girls in Australia opens in Adelaide - the Advanced School for Girls. |
The Advanced School for Girls Old Scholars Association at a 1928 reunion.
1880
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The University of Adelaide Degrees Act - admits women to degrees - the first University in Australia. The first woman graduate was Edith Dornwell B.Sc, a former student of the Advanced School for Girls. |
Speech by the Chancellor of the University of Adelaide, Samuel Way, on awarding the first science degree conferred by the University to Edith Dornwell. The Advertiser on 17 December 1885.
1895
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The Constitutional Amendment Act - women are given the right to vote and to stand as Members of Parliament. |
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1895
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Catherine Helen Spence is appointed to the Government's Commission of Enquiry into the Adelaide Hospital - the first woman in Australia to participate in an official commission. |
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1896
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Women vote in a general election for the first time in Australia and the second time anywhere in the world. |
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1897
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Catherine Helen Spence stands for election to the Constitutional Convention for Federation, becoming Australia's first woman political candidate. |
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1897
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Blanche McNamara is appointed the Inspector of Schools - the first woman school inspector in Australia. |
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1915
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Women police are appointed - the first in the British Empire appointed on equal terms with men, including equal pay. |
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1919
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Mrs Susan Benny was the first woman in Australia elected to enter local government (for Brighton council). |
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1965
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Dame Roma Mitchell is appointed the first woman judge in Australia. |
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1970
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South Australia becomes the first State in Australia to decriminalise abortion in certain circumstances. |
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1976
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The government sets up the Women's Advisor's Office in the Premier's Department - the first State government to create such an office. |
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1991
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Dame Roma Mitchell is the first woman appointed a State Governor in Australia. |