THE lives of two Newcastle women who became radicals and were pivotal in the story of the fight for women’s rights and suffrage will be explored in a talk to be delivered at the Newcastle Family History Society.
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Jude Conway is undertaking a PhD at the University of Newcastle on the women’s movement in Newcastle in the 1970s and 1980s. However, this research has led her a little further back in time than the scope of her thesis to the late 19th and 20th centuries.
“It was while doing background reading for my thesis that I also became passionate about bringing to light histories of some of the fascinating women who have lived in the Hunter,” Ms Conway said.
Rose Scott was considered by some to be one of the most famous women in Australian history. Scott Street in Newcastle was named after her uncle, the entrepreneur Alexander Walker Scott.
She lived for the first 11 years of her life near Singleton, and the next 22 years in the former military commandant’s house, now known as Monet’s Cafe in the James Fletcher Hospital. She eventually moved to Sydney.
“Rose Scott in her time was famous, she was covered by all the newspapers, everyone had heard of her,” Ms Conway said.
She once delivered a public speech on federation from the balcony of the Crown and Anchor Hotel, which Ms Conway will cover in her talk.
“She was integral to women’s suffrage, getting the vote, when federation happened [1901] and NSW women getting the vote, 1902, well before suffragettes in England,” she said.
“Once she moved to Sydney she became more politically active, she set up the first women’s evening literary society, and [from that] a few started the Womanhood Suffrage League in NSW to get the vote for women.”
Rose Scott’s aunty was Rose Selwyn, the wife of Reverend Arthur Selwyn who was to become the Dean of Newcastle Diocese. Selwyn Street in Merewether was named after the family. She will also be covered in the talk.
In the 1890s Mrs Selwyn was publicly advocating for women to be on juries and became the president of the Newcastle branch of the Womanhood Suffrage League (WSL).
“In the talk I will be looking at how these two women became radicalised,” Ms Conway said.
The talk will be held on Tuesday, June 7 at 2pm and will have an emphasis on their time in the Hunter.
The Newcastle Family History Society holds a monthly meeting, on the first Tuesday of the month.
The society is located at the Mechanics Institute, 68 Elder Street, Lambton, and welcomes visitors who wish to use their resources.
Find out more at: nfhs.org.au
