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Notable Women of East Melbourne

This project is aimed at building a repository of short biographies of Notable Women of East Melbourne

There is other biographical information about other women of East Melbourne including biographies of nurses who served in WW1. They may be found here:
People of East Melbourne or here:
EMHS Catalogue

Everyone can participate by suggesting candidates for a biography and by gathering or documenting information:

  • Photos, memorabilia and family records
  • Stories in books, newspapers and on-line
  • Search the wonderful resources of the State Library of Victoria

Contact EMHS

AINSLIE, Margaret

Biographical notes: 

The Ainslie family were natives of Gladsmuir, East Lothian, Scotland.

  • 2517 reads

BERMAN, Margaret

Date of birth: 
1923
Biographical notes: 

Margaret (Peggy) Berman (1923-2002)

Margaret Berman. The Age
  • 4994 reads

BRAHE, May

Date of birth: 
1884
Biographical notes: 

Mary (May) Hannah Brahe (née Dickson) was born at 23 George Street, East Melbourne (now part of Georgian Court B & B) on 6 November 1884.  Her father was Richard Dickson, a Melbourne-born cordial manufacturer.  Her mother died when May was 12 years old.  She had, however already taught May to play the piano and May’s musical interests were further fostered at Stratherne Girls

  • 2096 reads

BROCKELBANK, Lilla

Date of birth: 
1883
Biographical notes: 

Lilla Brockebank, cricketer and architect, was the fifth of the six daughters of Duncan Brockelbank, actuary and accountant, and his wife Bessy Jemima, née Westmore .[1]  Lilla was born in Hackney, London in 1883.[2] The family left London for Australia in August 1885 aboard the Melbourne.  A month into the journey Duncan died of consumption.[3]

Miss Lilla Brockelbank, the 'Wilfred Rhodes' among Melbourne's lady cricketers,
Group portrait of Coldstream Ladies Cricket Club, Mr Gooley on left.
  • 2540 reads

BROOKS, Constance Jessie

Date of birth: 
1888
Biographical notes: 

Constance Jessie Brooks (1888–1966), who served with the Australian Army Nursing Service in India from 1917 to 1919, was the daughter of Yates and Emma Brooks (nee Mullen).

Constance Brooks, Bombay 1918 (private collection)
Rawalpindi where Brooks was stationed in 1917 (AWM P00562.079)
Brooks in AANS uniform for India (private collection)
Constance Brooks (right), Sisters Club, Bombay 1917
Brooks (top right) on leave in Egypt c1918 (private collection)
Constance (front right), John Clerici (front left) Basrah (private collection)
Constance Clerici and Chassie Brooks (left) (private collection)
  • 8526 reads

CAMERON, Edith Clare

Date of birth: 
1889
Biographical notes: 

For many of the Great War nurses linked with East Melbourne, the connection was primarily a professional one, that is they trained or nursed in one of the suburb's hospitals. Some, however, were brought up and/or lived in East Melbourne for a number of years.

Edith Cameron (Punch, 10.12.1914)
Cameron's home in East Melbourne (East Melbourne Library)
1 AGH, Cairo 1915 awaiting sick and wounded. AWM C04021
Queen Mary visiting 1AGH, Rouen, 1917 AWM K00019
Cameron commemorated at Holy Trinity East Melbourne (East Melb Library)
Edith Cameron commemorated at St Peter's Eastern Hill, East Melbourne
  • 8511 reads

CHILDERS, Emily

Biographical notes: 

Emily Childers (1827-1875), Diarist

  • 2228 reads

CLARKE, Janet Marion

Biographical notes: 

Janet Marion Clarke was born on 4 June 1851 at Doogallook Station on the Goulburn River, Victoria, the eldest of nine children of the affluent landowner Peter Snodgrass and his wife Charlotte.

  • 2806 reads

DAVITT, Ellen

Biographical notes: 

Ellen Davitt is best remembered as a pioneer educationalist in her role as the first superintendent of the Model School, East Melbourne, which once stood on the island site now occupied by the Royal College of Surgeons.  She and her husband, Arthur, who held the senior position of principal, resided and worked at the school from its foundation in 1854 until 1859. 
 

  • 2431 reads

GALLIN, Alice Matilda

Date of birth: 
1875
Biographical notes: 

Introduction: three Gallin sisters AANS

AGallin (3rd row back,5th from left) 1AGH Egypt 1915 (AWM P00173.001)
Deccan War Hospital, Poona 1917 (AWM P00562.075)
Unidentified nurses and patient Anzac Hostel, Brighton (AWM P03098.004)
  • 5860 reads

GALLIN, Eleanor

Date of birth: 
1873
Biographical notes: 

Introduction: three Gallin sisters AANS

Eleanor Gallin 4th row, fifth from left. AWM E02112
Station Hospital, Trimulgherry, India (source: FIBIS)
Gallin grave, Melbourne General Cemetery, Carlton (ancesty.com Find a Grave)
  • 6603 reads

GALLIN, Mary Josephine

Date of birth: 
1869
Biographical notes: 

Introduction: three Gallin sisters AANS

Ward at 2AGH Wimereux c1918 AWM PO1630.002
Nurses and other personnel leaving 2AGH March 1919 AWM 2402.021
Gallin grave, Melbourne General Cemetery, Carlton (ancesty.com Find a Grave)
  • 6092 reads

LA TROBE, Sophie

Biographical notes: 

Born Sophia de Montmollin, in Neuchâtel, a French speaking town in Switzerland, Sophie was the eighth of sixteen children. Sophie grew up in an imposing town house and M. Montmollin was active in public affairs as befitted his noble birth, the family having been prominent citizens of Neuchâtel for two hundred years.

  • 2574 reads

MAXWELL, May

Date of birth: 
1876
Biographical notes: 

From the time when Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India to the landing on Mars – this was the span of the interesting life of May Maxwell, who died at the age of 100 in 1977 at 157 Wellington Parade South Jolimont, which had been her home for sixty years.

A youthful May Maxwell. Australian Media Hall of Fame
May Maxwell. Australian Media Hall of Fame
  • 1939 reads

MOUCHETTE, Berthe

Biographical notes: 

Berthe Mouchette, nee Lion, was born in 1846 at Forcalquier, Provence-Alpes-Cotes d’Azur, France.  She studied painting, gained qualifications as an art teacher and developed into an admired artist in her own right, exhibiting regularly at the Salon.
  

  • 2604 reads

MURPHY, Agnes

Date of birth: 
1869
Biographical notes: 

Agnes Gillian Murphy was born in Ireland but that is as much as we know about her early life.  She appears to have arrived in Melbourne about 1884 on a visit to her sister, Elizabeth (Lily), who was already living here.  She was first employed transcribing legal documents but in 1885 managed to persuade Maurice Brodsky to take her on as a contributor to his new magazine, Table Tal

Agnes Murphy. Punch, 11 Mar 1909, p.19
Agnes Murphy and Aimee Moore. The Herald, 17 Jun 1929, p.22
from the papers of the concert pianist and piano teacher Valda Johnstone (1914-2
  • 2699 reads

ROBERTSON, Gertrude Muriel Norton

Date of birth: 
1883
Biographical notes: 

The life of Gertrude Muriel Norton Robertson encapsulates in many ways the development of Victoria as colony and state, and its ongoing links with the British Empire. Early colonial Melbourne, medical practice in the colony, its involvement in the Boer War, and pioneering veterinary research in the interwar period were all part of her family's life. 

Gertrude Muriel Norton Robertson 1907 (private collection)
Gertrude Muriel Norton Robertson, patient 11 AGH 1920 (private collection)
  • 7123 reads

SEARL, Alice

Date of birth: 
1875
Biographical notes: 

Their working lives brought Alice Searl and several of her siblings to East Melbourne in the first decades of the twentieth century. Alice and her sisters Mary Ann and Louisa (1101 and 1109 Hoddle St) were all nurses, and Matthew their brother (108 Powlett St) was a law clerk. Louisa lived in East Melbourne for many years working as a nurse.

Alice Searl (7th from right, front), 1 AGH, Rouen 1918 (AWM E03440)
  • 5524 reads

TOVELL, Ada

Date of birth: 
1864
Biographical notes: 

ADA TOVELL – FIRST WOMAN DENTIST

Ada Tovell.  Weekly Times, 19 Dec 1903, p.28
Ormiston, Grey Street, East Melbourne
  • 221 reads

WALLER, Louisa

Date of birth: 
1887
Biographical notes: 

Louisa Waller was born in Benalla, Victoria on 29 January 1887, the daughter of local storekeeper Charles Richard Waller (c1856-1932) and his wife Jane Matthews (1859-1936). She was the fourth of the couple’s fourteen children.

  • 6275 reads

WHITE, Jessie McHardie

Date of birth: 
1870
Biographical notes: 

Notes by Janet Scarfe additional to material below.

Jessie McHardie White
  • 5306 reads

WILSON, Grace Margaret

Biographical notes: 

 

Grace Wilson on Lemnos
  • 7654 reads

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