KATANNING WOMEN

Katanning women

In an isolated community like Katanning in its early days, despite the best efforts of its menfolk, without the women who moved to settle with their husbands the town would not have grown and developed into the centre it is today.

I hope to be able to tell the stories of those brave, often enterprising, women on this page. Unfortunately, it is harder to find their stories than those of the men of the district. Therefore, I am relying on those of you who read this page to let me know of any women you consider should be included. This includes recent women as well.

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Centenary of Women’s Suffrage in Western Australia
Tuesday, 20 November, 1999

Memorial to Pioneer Nurses and Women.
Photo Credit – Arthur Todd

South Australia granted women the right to vote in 1894; Western Australia followed suit in 1899, and New South Wales in 1902. That same year women Australia-wide were granted suffrage [2] in Commonwealth elections.

In 1998, after a suggestion by Ainslie Evans, a group of Katanning women, lead by Yvonne Ball, formed a “Women’s Suffrage Committee” to plan the celebration of the centenary in Western Australia. Part of those celebrations was the production of a booklet to acknowledge local women.

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Edith Dircksey Cowan
(née Brown), OBE

Although having no direct association with Katanning, Edith Cowan set the course for all West Australian women with the introduction of women’s suffrage in this state. I think it is important to start a series like this with this amazing woman’s story.

Edith Cowan
Born 2 August 1861 – Died 9 June 1932

In 1920, Western Australia passed legislation allowing women to stand for parliament. At the age of 59, she stood as the Nationalist candidate for the Legislative Assembly seat of West Perth because she felt that domestic and social issues were not being given enough attention.

She won a surprise victory, ironically defeating the Attorney General, Thomas Draper, who had introduced the legislation that enabled her to stand. She championed women’s rights in parliament, pushing through legislation which allowed women to be involved in the legal profession.

She succeeded in placing mothers in an equal position with fathers when their children died without having made a will and was one of the first to promote sex education in schools. However, she lost her seat at the 1924 election and failed to regain it in 1927.

At the age of 18, on 12 November 1879, Edith married James Cowan, registrar and Master of the Supreme Court. She was one of the first women elected to the Anglican Synod in 1916.

She became concerned with social issues and injustices in the legal system, especially with respect to women and children. In 1894, she helped found the Karrakatta Club, a group where women “educated themselves for the kind of life they believed they ought to be able to take”. In time, she became the club’s president. The Karrakatta Club became involved in the campaign for women’s suffrage, successfully gaining the vote for women in 1899.

Edith Cowan died on 9 June 1932, at the age of 71.
Read her Inaugural Speech to parliament HERE.

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DAISY BATES – 1859–1951

Daisy May Bates

Daisy Bates came to Katanning in 1908 to study the Aboriginal people at a reserve near Police Pools in what is now Twonkwillingup Nature Reserve. However, only a dislocated remnant population remained. Traditional Aboriginal affiliations, she observed, had all but disappeared.

At the Police Pools camp near Katanning there were natives from Eucla, Balladonia, Mt Stirling, Mt Ragged and many other places far south and east and north-east of Katanning.

Particular susceptibility to European diseases was the single greatest factor in the collapse of the black population. Bates reported that during her time at Police Pools, about 80 per cent of camp residents contracted measles. Although they received regular visits and treatment from Katanning’s Dr House, the toll was heavy.

Between 1908 – 1909 Daisy Bates lived at the pools as part of her life long association with Aboriginal people. She encouraged greater understanding amongst Europeans of traditional Aboriginal ways.

Daisy Bates was the first anthropologist to carry out a detailed study of Australian Aboriginal culture. Born Daisy May O’Dwyer on October 16, 1859, at Ballychrine, County Tipperary, Ireland (for years, she had given her birth date as 1863); died on April 18, 1951, at Prospect, near Adelaide, South Australia; only daughter of Marguarette (Hunt) and James Edward O’Dwyer; educated privately; married Edwin Henry Murrant (said to have been “Breaker” Morant), on March 13, 1884, at Charters Towers (no record of a divorce exists); married Jack Bates (a cattle rancher), on February 17, 1885; children: one child, Arnold (b. 1886).

First settlement founded in Australia at Sydney Cove (1788); Bates arrived in Australia (January 1883); carried out first study of Aboriginal conditions (1899); Commonwealth of Australia founded (1901); appointed “traveling protector” of Aborigines in Western Australia (1910); established residence at Ooldea (1919). Selected publications: The Passing of the Aborigines (1938); numerous articles in Australian and British newspapers. Continue reading.
Read more: [Bates] [Bates Obituary]

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STORIES OF KATANNING WOMEN

Many of the stories below were written by community members. A booklet was prepared and edited by Yvonne Fleay, Katanning’s Community Arts Officer in 1999, to celebrate the Centenary of Women’s Suffrage on 20 November, 1999. Some of these women still serve in the community they love and some of these amazing women have since passed on. However, it is important that their stories live on.

Click on a name below to read their stories

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PIESSE, MARY JANE
(Katanning’s “First Lady”)

Born: Mary Jane Elizabeth Chipper,
Perth, 1854
Died: 5 April, 1936
Buried at Katanning Cemetery

Miss Mary Jane Chipper was in charge of the Kojonup Post Office and was one of the first woman telegraphists in Australia. Mary Jane became Mrs. F.H. Piesse on 18 Oct 1877 at Kojonup, not long after his arrival in Williams.
Continue reading

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NANCY TYSON BURBIDGE

Nancy Tyson Burbidge

Nancy Tyson Burbidge AM (5 August 1912 –
4 March 1977) was an Australian systemic botanist, conservationist and herbarium curator.

Burbidge was born in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire; her father, William Burbidge, was an Anglican clergyman and immigrated to Australia in 1913 when he was appointed to the Katanning parish in Western Australia. She was educated at Katanning (Kobeelya) Church of England Girls’ School – founded by her mother Nancy Eleanor Burbidge.

She completed her schooling in 1922 when she graduated from Bunbury High School, and went on to study at the University of Western Australia. She completed her BSc in 1937, and afterwards received a prize to travel to England where she spent 18 months at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. While at Kew she worked on a revision of the Australian grass genus Enneapogon. When Nancy returned to Australia she continued her study of Australian plants through the University of Western Australia, completing her MSc. in 1945.
Continue reading [2]

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JOAN HALPIN

Contributed by Sue Hackett

Joan Halpin (Golfer)

Joan was a very successful golfer having played State and local golf for most of the years in Katanning.  An old leg injury finally called a halt to the long walking required.  She and Thomas were both very active in St Patrick’s Parish. Joan produced the Parish bulletins, as well as being the organist at all three weekend Masses for many years as well as playing the organ at many weddings.  She was one of the mothers who introduced Oslo lunches to the Canteen at St Patrick’s school.
Continue reading

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LYDIA GRACE YILKARI WILLIAMS

Lydia Williams

Lydia Grace Yilkari Williams (born 13 May 1988) is an Indigenous Australian soccer player, who currently plays for Houston Dash in the American NWSL and is a member of the Australian National Soccer squad and was a team members of the hugely successful “Matildas” team in the 2023 Women’s World Soccer Cup held in Australia in August, 2023.

Williams was born in Katanning, Western Australia to a father of Aboriginal descent, Pastor Ron Williams, and a mother from the United States.
Continue reading

Rio Olympics (Bronze Medal
More reading

Lydia Williams in action in the USA competition

MARY ELIZABETH NEWPORT

Submitted by Des Noonan

Mary Elizabeth Newport (aged 67)

Some of the older Katanning residents may remember Mrs Newport and some of the now men may have been in the Cub Pack she ran in the old RSL Lesser Hall in Carew St. She used to live on the corner of Broome and Beaufort Streets and ran the Cubs for many years. As you can see, this cutting comes from the Weekend News 1960 (62 years ago).
Mary Elizabeth Newport (nee Brennan) was born 7 October, 1894, married Alfred George Newport in May,1924 making her home in Katanning, and died in Perth 15 March, 1983.
Continue reading

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ANGELA RYDER

Angela Ryder

Angela Ryder is a Wilman Noongar from Western Australia who is chairwoman of the Langford Aboriginal Association and the manager of Aboriginal programs with Relationships Australia.

Ryder was born in Katanning, and is a member of the Stolen Generation. She was removed from her family and placed in Wandering and Roelands Missions between the ages of 8 and 12. Her mother was also stolen. In the early 1980s she got a government job in Katanning and was later transferred to Perth where she has lived for many years.
Continue reading

BARBARA JACKSON (nee HAYWARD)

Barbara Jackson, a Noongar woman, is an unsung Aboriginal hero from the South-West of WA. She was a strong advocate for Aboriginal rights during her lifetime. Barbara lived in Perth, where she opened her home to all family from far and wide and helped raise her grandchildren.

When it came to Aboriginal rights, Barbara was a proactive and passionate woman, who devoted years to working to improve the lives of her people. She was involved with a number of Aboriginal rights committees throughout her life, including the New Era Aboriginal Fellowship Council Inc and Training Centre for Work Release Prisoners.

In the early 1970s, Barbara single-handedly started the Aboriginal Youth Training Centre. This was situated on Beaufort Street in Northbridge, near the Aboriginal Advancement Council (AAC) building, which still remains at 201 Beaufort Street. At the Centre she taught young Aboriginal people specific skills that would help them in their lives.
Continue reading –
CLICK HERE and scroll down on page)
“Right the Wrongs” Click HERE

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This will be a continuing story…

Do you know of any Katanning women worthy of adding to this list?
Email their story (with a photo if possible) to:
admin@lostkatanning.au
or CLICK HERE

Researching our local Katanning and surrounding districts history has developed into a big task. The Central Great Southern region has such a rich history dating back to the mid 1880s.

This website has been set up to preserve that history for future generations and for people to find that information and photographs in one place for their own research – particularly for family trees. Although I have many research sources available to me, that is not always enough. Often, information comes from local folk – just like you.

If you have any information, photographs or files about our history that you would be prepared to share I would love to hear from you.

My email address is: admin@lostkatanning.au
or you can complete and submit the form by CLICKING HERE

The posts on this page have been added from a variety of sources, especially Trove, whilst researching this segment. Information has also been provided by the Katanning Historical Society Inc. as well as family members. The posts are intended to recognise and celebrate the lives of those women who lived in Katanning and contributed so much to our district and community over the years.

The posts are not intended to upset anyone, so if you wish to have an immediate family member removed, please email me at admin@lostkatanning.au and I will remove it. The use of the word “Lost” is used by many local history sites, such as this one, to indicate our past – our yesterdays – and I make no apologies for using it.

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