Catherine Helen Spence
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Catherine Helen Spence was a Scottish-born Australian writer, preacher, and social reformer. Spence began her career as a writer of fiction, and later used her journalism and public speaking to become
Spence, c. 1900
Catherine Helen Spence and her mother Helen Brodie Spence, c. 1880
Portrait taken c. 1865
Catherine Helen Spence c. 1901
Women's suffrage in Australia was one of the early achievements of Australian democracy. Following the progressive establishment of male suffrage in the Australian colonies from the 1840s to the 1890s
Catherine Helen Spence
…the time of her death, she was widely eulogised as the "Grand Old Woman of Australia". She advocated for a range of causes, including electoral reform, women's suffrage, poverty relief, and girls' education. She was also a regular lay preacher at the Adelaide Unitarian Christian Church. In 1897 Spence became Australia's…
Australia's first female political candidate, South Australian suffragette Catherine Helen Spence (1825–1910). South Australian women won the parliamentary vote in 1894 and Spence stood for office in 1897.
Edith Cowan (1861–1932) was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly in 1921 and was the first woman elected to any Australian Parliament.
Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales, 1902