Women’s work on display
SPECIALIST STAFF FROM THE GEELONG HERITAGE CENTRE
ON the afternoon of September 25, 1907, the formal opening ceremony of the Women’s Work
Exhibition took place at the Geelong Mechanics’ Institute, which was located on Ryrie St until 1926.
The opening was performed by Lady Gertrude Frances Madden, wife of the Lieutenant Governor of Victoria, Sir John Madden, and at various times president of the Austral Salon and Alexandra Club in Melbourne, while also co-founding the Bush Nursing Association.
Lady Madden was received warmly by the “large and fashionable gathering present” that day, where she spoke about the importance of the exhibition for each woman “to show her husband that she was superior to him in something”.
The crowd responded with laughter and applause, and she announced the exhibition officially open.
The Geelong-based exhibition accepted submissions from women residing within a 32km radius of Geelong, as well as women from Meredith, Winchelsea and Inverleigh.
A wide range of items were submitted for exhibition and judging, including 200 art works and items in categories such as “horticultural”, needlework, “laundry work” and “cookery”.
Five entries were received for the “best invention by local women”.
While the exhibition was in many ways representative of
what was considered at the time to be traditional “women’s work”, it also captured the rumblings of a movement that sought more equal political rights for nonIndigenous women.
The Geelong Advertiser reported on each of the exhibition committee meetings, and reports hinted at their significance beyond organising a social event.
According to one report, the women who organised the event “had all heard of the benefits that would accrue from these exhibitions – broadening their views of women’s work in general, educating them in a hundred ways, bringing them together for mutual improvement and giving them mutual interests which tended towards less egotism and a more loyal feeling towards each other”.
In July 1907, a conference dubbed “the first of its kind in the state held outside of Melbourne” also took place in the Geelong Mechanics’
Institute. There, Women’s National League branch representatives met to discuss politics, including the recent charges against the league’s vice-president for breaching electoral law. The members considered it “a peculiar thing that the first prosecution for an infringement of the Act was against a woman”.
It would not be until the following year, 1908, that nonIndigenous women were allowed to vote in Victoria and many decades later, in 1962, that Indigenous women were allowed to vote in federal elections.
Discover more about Geelong’s fascinating history with a visit to the Geelong Heritage Centre.
Historic Images from the archive of the Geelong Heritage Centre, 51 Little Malop Street, Geelong. Search the Geelong Heritage Centre Archive online: https://archives.grlc.vic.gov.au