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Articles on Hidden women of history

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Elephants destined for Wirths’ circus on a ship’s deck circa 1925. Early last century, Frances Levvy asked school students to write an essay on whether the exhibition of wild animals in travelling menageries was consistent with humanity. By Sam Hood ca. 1925-ca. 1945, State Library of NSW

Hidden women of history: Frances Levvy, Australia’s quietly radical early animal rights campaigner

Born in 1831, at a time when animals were widely regarded as property, Frances Levvy used the power of the press and the passion of children to advocate for their welfare.
Pat Larter (England; Australia, b.1936, d.1996) Pat’s anger 1992. acrylic and mixed media on board, 91 x 60.5 cm; 92.5 x 62 cm. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Gift of Frank Watters 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program © Estate of Pat Larter. Photo: AGNSW 32.2018

Hidden women of history: Pat Larter, pioneering ‘femail’ artist who gave men the Playboy treatment

Best known as the subject of her husband Richard’s work, Pat Larter was herself a major artist.
Grata Flos Greig, First Female Law Graduate, c1904, University of Melbourne. Flos was the first woman admitted to the Australian legal profession. University of Melbourne Archives, UMA/I/5131

Hidden women of history: Flos Greig, Australia’s first female lawyer and early innovator

When Flos Greig first entered law school, it was illegal for women to become lawyers. Undeterred, she lobbied for change and became the first woman admitted to the legal profession in Australia.
Isabel, on left, when she was working for Mangankali Housing Company, talking to politicians and/or bureaucrats on the Wollai, the Aboriginal reserve at Collarenebri. Family collection, provided to author.

Hidden women of history: Isabel Flick, the tenacious campaigner who fought segregation in Australia

Denied an education in 1930s Australia because she was too black, Isabel Flick went on to fight segregation at her local cinema in the early 1960s. She became a powerful campaigner for Indigenous rights.
The National Museum of Iraq photographed in February 2018. Many of the pieces discovered at the ruins of Ur, arranged and labelled by Ennigaldi-Nanna, can be found here. Wikimedia Commons

Hidden women of history: Ennigaldi-Nanna, curator of the world’s first museum

Ennigaldi-Nanna is largely unknown in the modern day. But in 530BC, this Mesopotamian priestess worked to arrange and label various artefacts in the world’s first museum.
An 1808 painting by Marie-Gabrielle Capet titled Atelier of Madame Vincent, showing Labille-Guiard at work (centre) as Capet fills her palette. Wikimedia Commons

Hidden women of history: Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, prodigiously talented painter

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard was a supremely skilled artist. But like so many talented women before and since, she suffered from snide allegations that she could not be capable of such brilliance.

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