CELEBRATE International Women's Day with these trailblazing heroines!

The theme for International Women's Day 2020 is I am Generation Equality: Realising Women's Rights.
Here at Wakefield Press we are proud of the cultural, social, economic, and political achievements of the Australian women who have shaped our country and our home state, South Australia. 

Did you know that South Australia was the first place in the world where women won both the right to vote and the right to stand for parliament, on 18 December 1894?

Australia’s first female prime minister. The country’s first female judge. The first woman to win the Archibald Prize for portraiture. Australia’s first female chief diplomat. The nation’s first female winemaker.
Wakefield Press proudly acknowledges the outstanding contributions and achievements made by Indigenous and non-Indigenous women in South Australia. Join us in celebrating International Women's Day this week and discover a few of our South Australian trailblazing heroines for yourself!

 

A TIRELESS ADVOCATE FOR RECONCILIATION AND EDUCATION

Photo: Mike Burton, courtesy of the Advertiser (Aunty Josie was a tireless advocate for her community.)

Aunty Josie was a role model, always treating people with compassion, dignity and respect. She championed reconciliation all her life, seeking to bridge differences by sharing her culture at every opportunity. Her message to all: ‘Let’s not forget the past, but let’s not dwell on the past.’
 

PIONEERING POLICEWOMAN

Photo: SA Police Historical Society (Kate Cocks, 1908.)

South Australia’s first policewoman Kate Cocks was no stranger to the underbelly of city life, but she never wavered from her profound belief that there was good to be found in everyone. Appointed in 1915, she was also the first policewoman in the world to be granted the same powers as a male police constable.
 

CAMBODIAN ORPHANAGE FOUNDER

Photo: Courtesy of Geraldine Cox

Just about everyone else was running for their lives, but Geraldine Cox had other plans. There was a coup underway in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, and trigger-happy troops owned the streets. To make matters worse, Cox had been working with the losing side in this July 1997 power grab, so she was especially at risk. But Cox also knew the orphanage she had helped to create, just outside the city, was in trouble.
 

PIONEER OF MODERN ART

Dorrit Black, Australia, 1891-1951, The Bridge, 1930, Sydney, oil on canvas on board, 60.0 x 81.0 cm, Bequest of the artist 1951, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

With its cubist planes and brilliant palette, Dorrit Black’s depiction of the Sydney Harbour
Bridge under construction is considered an icon of Australian modernism, but it received an icy reception when it was first shown in 1930. It was slated for being too modern, too radical and simply inept.
 

FIRST FEMALE ACADEMIC AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE

Photo: Courtesy of the University of Adelaide (New graduate Ellen Benham, 1892.)

Ellen Benham wisely did not give up her day job when she became the first female academic at the University of Adelaide in 1901. Having graduated with a science degree
from the university in 1892, she was a full-time teacher with dreams of owning her own school.
 

FIRST WOMAN IN SA TO GAIN A COMMERCIAL DRIVER'S LICENSE

Photo: Courtesy of The Advertiser (Sylvia Birdseye on her Eyre Peninsula mail run, 1920s.)

Not much could stop pioneering Outback bus driver Sylvia Birdseye. She could change a tyre in four minutes and an axle in 20 – skills that came in handy when driving an average 3000 km a week, often on roads that were little more than horse tracks, throughout the South Australian bush.
 

These women were all trailblazers, but they have something else in common - every one of them was South Australian!

And these are just a handful of the 100 remarkable women whose stories are told in Wakefield's beautiful new book, illustrated with hundreds of photographs.
Discover more for yourself about our book Trailblazers:100 inspiring South Australian women!
Visit our website or contact us on 08 8352 4455 for more information, or to purchase this book.