National Council of Women of Australia

The National Council of Women of Australia (NWA) is an Australian organisation founded in 1931. The council is an umbrella organisation with which are affiliated seven State and Territory National Councils of Women. It is non-party political, non-sectarian, volunteer organisation and open to all women. It first affiliated with the International Council of Women in 1896, through the New South Wales NCW. That NSW organisation was created on 26 August 1896 in Sydney Town Hall by eleven women-related organisations. ^[1]

The Constituent councils were formed in:

• New South Wales −1896 ^[1]
• Tasmania – 1899, ^[2]
• Victoria and South Australia – 1902
• National Council of Women of Queensland – 1905
• Western Australia −1911
• Australian Capital Territory −1939
• Northern Territory – 1964.

The NCWA works on a Triennium basis and holds a conference every 18 months to encourage participation in its policy platform.

A Programme made for the Pacific Assembly in the mid 1900s. Includes the first and last pages of the programme.

The Pacific Assembly was a gathering in Brisbane City, Australia, over a three-day period in the 20th century. The assembly was sponsored by the National Council of Women. The gathering included representatives from many different countries around the world.

Pages 2 and 3 of the Pacific Assembly programme made in the mid 1900s.

Notable women

Women associated with the Council include Diane Alley, Yvonne Bain, Gracia Baylor, Ruby Board, Ivy Brookes, Elsie Byth, Margaret Davey, Emily Dobson, Leonie Christopherson, Edith Cowan, Dorothy Edwards, Margaret Findlater-Smith, Maureen Giddings, Ruth Gibson, treasurer Minnie May Gates, ^[3] Vida Goldstein, Helen Elizabeth Gillan, ^[4] Ann Hamilton, Margaret Emily Hodge, Esther Lipman, Irene Longman, Laurel Macintosh, Joyce McConnell, Margaret McIntyre, Thelma Metcalfe, Adelaide Miethke, Mabel Miller, Necia Mocatta, May Moss, Mildred Muscio, Ada Norris, Judith Parker, Audrey Reader, Gwen Roderick, Jessie Scotford, Edith Helen Barrett, Lillias Skene and Zara Aronson.^{[ citation needed ]}

List of presidents

List of federal presidents of the NCWA: ^[5]

• 1906–24: Emily Dobson
• 1924–27: Lillias Skene
• 1927–31: Mildred Muscio
• 1931–36: May Moss
• 1936–42: Adelaide Miethke
• 1942–44: Ruby Board
• 1945–48: Elsie Byth
• 1948–52: Ivy Brookes
• 1953–56: Ruth Gibson
• 1957–60: Thelma Metcalfe
• 1960–64: Dorothy Edwards
• 1964–67: Anne Hamilton
• 1967–70: Ada Norris
• 1970–73: Jessie Scotford
• 1973–76: Joyce McConnell
• 1976–79: Margaret Davey
• 1979–82: Laurel Macintosh
• 1982–85: Diane Alley
• 1985–88: Necia Mocatta
• 1988–91: Maureen Giddings
• 1991–94: Yvonne Bain
• 1994–97: Gwen Roderick
• 1997–00: Gracia Baylor
• 2000–03: Judith Parker
• 2003–06: Leonie Christopherson
• 2006–09: Hean Bee Wee
• 2009–12: Margaret Findlater-Smith
• 2012–15: Julie Morris
• 2015–18: Barbara Baikie
• 2018–2021: Robyn Nolan
• 2021–: Chiou See Anderson

Archives

Its archives – pre the current Triennium – are held by the National Library of Australia for use by researchers.

Records of National Council of Women NSW activity are held by the NSW State & Records Authority, e.g. 1918 correspondence to Minister for Justice concerning women's citizen's rights and conditions of women prisoner.

Works

• Balancing Work and Life – A Guide for Employers and Employees 1999. To avoid confusion with current day legislation and practice, this booklet is no longer available.
• From a Camel to the Moon (ISBN 0-646-38702- 2) 1999 An Anthology for the International Year of Older Persons,
• From the Heart ( ISBN   0 9581638-0-4) 2002 – Women's experiences of the Australian Outback, to mark the Year of the Outback.
• 45 years on: What now in Contraceptives? Published in 2006 – This booklet includes information about research at the time (2006), with articles by Professor Gab Kovacs, Dr Neisha Wratten, and a piece by Dr Terri Foran on the history of contraceptives.
• A website has been created as a review of the NCWA presidents 1906–2006 – Stirrers with Style.

See also

• Australia portal
• Feminism portal

• Feminism in Australia

References

1. "About Us | NCWNSW". ncwnsw.org.au. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
2. "Women in Tasmania". www.women.tas.gov.au. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
3. Pilger, Alison, "Minnie May Gates (1878–1966)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 1 October 2023
4. Gray, Kate, "Helen Elizabeth Gillan (1873–1955)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 10 October 2023
5. "Presidents". National Council of Women of Australia. Archived from the original on 22 April 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2019.

• "Stirrers with Style" – This electronic exhibition is a project of the National Council of Women of Australia, supported by the NCWA History Steering Committee. Work on this project was generously funded by Australian Research Council Linkage Grant LP088371, in collaboration with the University of Melbourne. This exhibition uses the Online Heritage Resource Manager, a tool developed by the eScholarship Research Centre, part of the University of Melbourne Library. Copyright National Council of Women of Australia, 2013. Published by the Australian Women's Archives Project http://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/ncwa
• Carey, Jane (10 September 2004). "National Council of Women of Australia". The Australian Women's Register. Retrieved 18 October 2010.

Further reading

• Quartly, Marian; Smart, Judith; National Council of Women of Australia (issuing body.) (2015), Respectable Radicals: A history of the National Council of Women Australia, 1896–2006, Clayton, Victoria: Monash University Publishing in conjunction with the National Council of Women of Australia, ISBN   978-1-922235-94-7

External links

• NCWA website