Although lacking formal education, Isabella Siteman was aware of the benefits it could confer. She decided to devote a large part of her savings to the better education of students who required financial help. Her will left the residue of her estate in trust for this purpose. The Isabella Siteman Scholarship was founded in 1923 and was intended to provide assistance to young men and women who wished to obtain a university education in New Zealand.
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231)
Immensely popular English novelist.
Saxon lady of Coventry and naked activist for the poor.
Born in 1923, Dame Beryl Beaurepaire was a leading figure in the late twentieth century feminist movement in Australia.
Stella Miles Franklin was a leading writer who published under the pseudonyms Miles Franklin and Brent of Bin Bin.
Using an inheritance from Woods, she established St Margaret’s, a non-denominational maternity home in 1893, and for the next 30 years was involved in its management, initially as president and later as matron.
Also known as Umm al-Banayn, Fatima bint Muhammad Al-Fihriyya is credited with founding the al-Qarawiyyin mosque in 859 AD in Fez, Morocco. The mosque later developed a teaching institution, which became the University of al-Qarawiyyin in 1963.
Alongside her employment, a’Beckett played an active role in the life of her community, fitting her ‘philanthropic activities … [into] the leisure moments of a busy professional life (Argus, 12 February 1927), fulfilling the adage that it was ‘the busiest women who can always find time to do a little more’ (Argus, 18 February 1927). To Melbourne journalist, ‘Vesta’ she was an example of the contribution which educated women could make to philanthropic work (Argus, 23 January 1935). She was a founder of the Victorian Women Graduates Association, took leadership roles in both the Janet Clarke Hall Committee and the Lyceum Club, and was also a member of the National Council of Women and the Victoria League. However, her most important contribution was through the Free Kindergarten Union, of which she was the foundation vice-president, president from 1919-39 and life president from then until her death. She was one of the founders, and later a lecturer at the Kindergarten Teaching College and founder of the Australian Association for Pre-School Child Development which was responsible for the establishment of the Lady Gowrie model centres across Australia. Kindergartens, she believed, had the potential to ‘eradicate the weaknesses of human nature and strengthen the good points’ and might in time ‘do away altogether with gaols and asylums’ (Argus, 19 August 1944).
Throughout World War Two she was both commandant of the Australian Women’s Air Training Corps and a munitions worker at the Maribyrnong explosives factory. In addition, she vacated her home for use by the Red Cross as a convalescent home for returned soldiers.
Brookes used her social position to energetically promote her causes, raising funds for hospitals and other charities. Her most outstanding contribution was as president of the Queen Victoria Hospital from 1923-1970. She waged a long battle to get adequate accommodation for the hospital, a struggle which she described as ‘a fight by women against prejudice, suspicion and intolerance of women’ (Argus, 19 January 1956).