This biography is republished from The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia. Written by Alexandra Dellios, The University of Melbourne. See below for full attribution.
Born: 1931, Australia
Died: NA
Country most active: Australia
Also known as: NA
Matina Mottee was born in Tasmania in 1931 to Greek parents who had arrived in Australia in the early twentieth century. She found growing up in Hobart to be “terrible”, a conformist and snobbish environment. Perhaps these feelings of cultural alienation encouraged her dedication to bolstering community services, a cause she took up after leaving Tasmania. From 1985, she started working in support services for immigrant women. Since that time she has advocated for the equal status and rights of women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. She found a natural ally in Beryl Mulder, and together they convened the Association of Non-English Speaking Background Women of Australia in 1987-they were both inaugural office bearers, sharing a belief in the need for public representation. Mottee was most concerned with ensuring immigrant women knew their legal rights. She continued to advocate for migrant women’s issues in public policy well into retirement age. In 1994, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to women.
Alexandra Dellios, ‘Mottee, Matina’, in The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia, Australian Women’s Archives Project, 2014, http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0221b.htm, accessed 16 January 2022.