Her Place Museum, 1 Saint Heliers Street, Abbotsford, QC (2026)

06/16/2026

Dr Ethel Cowan - The First female doctor at the Melbourne Free Hospital for Sick Children now the Royal Children’s Hospital.

📓 Her Story - Dr Ethel Mary Vaughan Cowan was born in Ballarat in 1868. After training as a nurse at Ballarat Hospital, she went on to study medicine at the University of Melbourne.

Six years after the first woman in Australia finished a medical degree, Ethel graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine as one of two women in her class in 1897.

Following this, Ethel completed further study to acquire a Bachelor of Surgery and qualify as a fully trained doctor.

Despite her strong academic record and professional references, Ethel struggled to secure hospital employment as a woman but she persisted.

In 1898, Ethel was offered a one-month trial in the outpatient department at the Melbourne Free Hospital for Sick Children, without pay. Ethel was subsequently appointed to an 18-month residency.

With this appointment, Ethel became the first woman to hold a resident doctor position at the Children’s Hospital and one of the first in Victoria.

📍 Commemoration

In 2023 City Of Melbourne proposed to rename Corporation Lane CL520 after Dr Ethel Mary Vaughan Cowan. Geographic Names Victoria Department of Transport and Planning approved the name and Cowan Lane was published in in the Victoria Government Gazette on 8 February 2024.

💡 Do you know a woman whose story needs to be told and considered for commemoration by place naming”? Let us know herplace@herplacewomensmuseum

06/15/2026

📖 In the lead-up to NAIDOC Week 2026 (50 Years of Deadly), join us for a conversation about whose stories get told — and how.

In conversation with Professor Julie Andrews OAM (Where's All the Community? Aboriginal Melbourne Revisited) and Professor Clare Wright OAM (Näku Dhäruk: The Bark Petitions).

Two historians, two major new books — in conversation about land, place, community and what it means to research and tell these histories, histories built on deep research and on relationships of trust with the communities and families at the centre.

🕒 Doors 5.30pm, program 6–7.30pm 📍 Her Place, Studio 1.28, Abbotsford Convent 📙 Books available for purchase and signing on the night 🎟️ Tickets: [LINK] Clare Wright Historian Black Inc.

06/12/2026

spotlight - Elsie Dorrington. In December 1951, aged 49, Elsie broke Mornington’s all-male council tradition by winning the South Riding seat. In 2013 a reserve in Mornington that had been unofficially known by locals as Elsie Dorrington Reserve was formally named after her.

📙Her Story: The Shire of Mornington, established in 1871, had been governed exclusively by men until Elsie’s Dorrington’s election ended 80 years of all-male representation.

Elsie’s groundbreaking success was credited to her dedicated grassroots campaign:

💬 “ She handmade her own how-to-vote cards at the kitchen table, visited most of the voters in her electorate while toting her raffia bag and wearing sensible shoes, and talked to ratepayers in the streets and outside shops..”

As a councillor, Elsie pushed for social and infrastructural improvements. She set up the shire’s first home-help scheme, campaigned for street lights, supported women’s sports facilities, and in 1956 secured funding for one of Australia’s first roundabouts.

Elsie also made lasting contributions to her local community through extensive volunteer work.

📙Read her full story via the Finding Her link in Bio

📍Commemoration: Elsie is honoured by the Elsie Dorrington Reserve in Mornington, a site secured for netball facilities. The site reflects her dedication to promoting women’s sports and community programs. Naming the reserve after her recognises her council leadership and lifelong commitment to improving the area.

Acknowledgement: Elsie’s Finding Her Biography was written by Her Place Women’s Museum in consultation with Elsie Dorrington’s grandchildren Michael Hast and Rhyll Dorrington.

💡Do you know a trailblazing local woman who deserves to be commemorated? Let us know so we can add her to our name bank of candidates for place naming herplace@herplacemuseum.

06/10/2026

Yesterday morning, Her Place Women's Museum opened its doors for a small but deeply meaningful gathering — the commemoration of Hedwig 'Hedy' Benz, interpreter, advocate, and pioneer.

Hedy arrived in Australia from Switzerland in 1948. She went on to become the country's first full-time hospital interpreter, spending 17 years at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital helping migrant women navigate some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives — childbirth, illness, medical procedures — in their own language. She spoke seven languages by the end of her life, including Greek, which she taught herself at 45 because the hospital needed it and she decided that was reason enough. She received a British Empire Medal for her work and, characteristically, told almost no one.

Yesterday, Hedy's great-niece Nathalie travelled from Queensland to be in the room where her great aunt's biography card now hangs on our wall and her story is permanently live on the Finding Her digital map. It was one of those mornings that reminds you exactly why this work matters.

Craig Sandy, Registrar of Geographic Names Victoria, who led the commemoration, said: At Geographic Names Victoria, we work with names every day. But names are never just labels. They are signals about who matters.

Hedy is commemorated through the naming of Benz Lane in Melbourne's central city. She is now also on the Finding Her map — publicly visible, permanently archived, and connected to the growing record of Victorian women whose contributions have shaped this state.

Our deep thanks to Geographic Names Victoria for bringing this commemoration to life at Her Place, and to Hedy's family for sharing her story with us and with the public.

To read Hedy's full biography, visit findingher.org.au

06/05/2026

On 30 March, Her Place launched Finding Her at the Abbotsford Convent — Australia’s first interactive digital map of women’s stories in Victoria’s public landscape.

Over 100 women on the map. 25 new biographies added this year. Two Ministers at the launch. And families who came to see their mothers, grandmothers and aunts honoured for the first time.

This June, your tax-deductible gift helps us add more names to the map — and keep the Feminist Reading Room and education programs running at the Convent.

Donate Now before 30 June @ https://herplacemuseum.org.au/support-us/

No history without her story.

05/31/2026

🌈 This Pride Month, help put an LGBTQIA+ person on the map. Many LGBTQIA+ Victorians have shaped our communities, but too few are recognised in our public places.

You can help change this by nominating an LGBTQIA+ person through the Remember a Local, Name a Place campaign on Engage Victoria. (Link in bio)

The is collecting community nominations for local council name banks, which are used to name future roads, parks, schools, public buildings, and other public places.

The initiative aims to elevate the stories of underrepresented Victorians, including LGBTQIA+ people, women, and First Peoples.

👉 Need help with your nomination? The Her Place Finding Her Research Hub can provide research support and guidance.

📧 [email protected]

05/31/2026

Lady Gladys Nicholls. Gladys worked with strength, compassion and determination to advance Aboriginal and Women’s rights and to provide practical assistance to those living in poverty.

📓 Her Story: Gladys Naby Muriel Bux was born in 1906 on Cummeragunga Mission, in Yorta Yorta country. She had Baraparapa and Dja Dja Wurrung connections on her mothers side. Her father was a Punjabi Indian merchant.

In 1939 Gladys and her family were part of The Cummeragunga Walk-Off. Gladys moved to Barmah then Melbourne, however she continued to visit and support the mission community throughout her life.

At the end of World War 2, Gladys worked voluntarily to fundraise and actively address rising poverty and social problems in Melbourne’s Aboriginal community.

She established a food van near the Victorian Housing Commission office in Glenroy and ran a series of opportunity shops in Fitzroy.

In the 1950s Gladys saw a need for safe accommodation where Aboriginal girls from the country seeking work and refuge in Melbourne could stay.

She opened, managed and worked daily at a hostel in Northcote -which became known as the Lady Gladys Nicholls Hostel.

In the 60’s and 70’s Gladys co-founded The Women’s Auxiliary of the Aborigines Advancement League (AAL) and was a founding member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Council. Gladys also worked with the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. She actively campaigned alongside her husband Pastor Doug Nicholls for Indigenous rights in the 1967 referendum.

📍 Commemoration:

A mural painted by artist Adnate in 2020 depicts Lady Gladys Nicholls on the side of the building that used to operate as The Gladys Nicholls hostel.

Acknowledgement: Lady Gladys Nicholls Finding Her Biography was written in consultation with the family of Lady Gladys Nicholls.

Photo: Lady Gladys Nicholls provided by Family.

05/25/2026

❤️💛🖤National Sorry Day 26 May. “We can all, no matter what our colour, fight with courage and sincerity, to put right what is wrong in our countries.” Aunty Marge Tucker MBE, Aboriginal Name Lilardia survivor of the Stolen Generation, Activist and Author.

📓 Her Story: Margaret Tucker – Aboriginal name Lilardia (meaning water flower) was a pioneer in the Aboriginal struggle for equality.

In 1917, Margaret aged 13, and her younger sister May were removed from their family against their mother’s wishes. Both were placed at the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home.

In 1932, Margaret was a founding member of the Australian Aboriginal Advancement League. In 1938 she helped to organise the Day of Mourning in Sydney.

Her many achievements also included becoming the first woman on the Victorian Aboriginal Welfare Board in 1964.

📍 Recent Commemoration: Lilardia Mural 2026 - Lilardia is a 12 metre wide and 9 metre high mural honouring Aunty Margaret (Lilardia) Tucker MBE and her dedication to creating a more equal and understanding society.

It is located in Lilardia Park in Footscray, City of Maribyrnong on Wurundjeri country. Lilardia is Aunty Marge’s traditional name, meaning “water flower”.

🌳The park was named for Aunty Marge in 2023.

🎨The mural was produced by Grace Dlabik from BE. ONE CREATIVE and brought to life by an all-women Indigenous creative team, led by Wiradjuri artist, Jessi Rebel, alongside Kee’ahn Bindol, Kiri Wicks and Emma Ismawi.

The artistic team worked closely with Aunty Marge’s family.

The Lilardia mural was supported by the Victorian Public Art Program.

Her Place is proud to honour Aunty Marge Tucker M.B.E as part of our Finding Her Project.

💡 If you are the family or descendant of an Aboriginal Woman whose story and achievements need to be more widely acknowledged, celebrated and commemorated, contact us at [email protected]

05/21/2026

“Women in leadership shouldn’t be amazing because women lead all the time”, well said .kannangara - opening remarks at Australian Women’s Leadership symposium

05/19/2026

Step inside the stories of extraordinary women this week at Her Place Women’s Museum. .

Currently on Display: Alice Anderson Garage Snap Album with Alices original handwriting C:1920’s. Photograph by Suzanne Balding.

About Alice: Alice Anderson was a trailblazing mechanic, businesswoman, and the first woman in Australia to run her own garage. Born in 1897, she challenged the gender norms of the early 20th century by becoming an expert in a male-dominated field.

A campaign is currently underway to memorialise Alice - Learn more about how to support the project via The Alice Anderson Memorial Project

📍 Visit
Her Place Women’s Museum
Abbotsford Convent
1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford VIC 3067
Wed - Friday (11 - 4pm)

💡 Highly recommended to complement your visit this week: Melbourne Design Week exhibition Lines of Forces at St Heliers Street Gallery. The exhibition pays homage to the iconic work of three female design luminaries.

Artist Ash Allen has recreated, in steel weldmesh, a piece from each of their portfolios and presents the narrative behind each work.

Her Place Museum

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