by Anne Summers
First meetings of the Women’s Liberation Movement held in Sydney and Adelaide.
1970
Germaine Greer publishes her landmark book The FemaleEunuch.
Daughters of Bilitis, formed in Melbourne, is Australia’s first gay rights group.
FERTILITY CONTROL
1858
Dr Louis Lawrence Smith prosecuted in Melbourne for performing abortions.
1866
Australia’s first maternity – or ‘lying in’ – hospital established in Sydney.
1888
Justice Windeyer in Sydney rules that Fruits of Philosophy, an infamous pamphlet advocating birth control, is not obscene. In the United Kingdom in 1877 the progressive free thinkers Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant had narrowly escaped imprisonment for republishing this ‘indecent, lewd, filthy, bawdy and obscene book’, which had been first published by its author, Dr Charles Knowlton, in 1832. The pamphlet was released in Australia in 1878.
1908
The New South Wales Police Offences (Amendment) Act 1908 prohibits the advertising of contraceptives and abortion services.
1912
Maternity Allowance Act 1912 provides a £5 ‘baby bonus’ grant to all non-Indigenous mothers on the birth of a child.
1916
Jessie Street, Annie Golding and Kate Dwyer form the New South Wales Social Hygiene Association, which aims to provide sex education, and to eradicate prostitution and venereal diseases.
1923
Federal government customs regulations prevent the import of contraceptives.
1927
Racial Hygiene Centre of New South Wales becomes Australia’s first sex education clinic.
1933
First birth-control clinic, operated by the Racial Hygiene Association (RHA), opens in Sydney’s Martin Place – for married women only.
1935
Dr Frances Harding patents a contraceptive diaphragm for use in RHA clinics.
1949
Seventy per cent of Australian women estimated to be practising birth control, up from 35 per cent in 1939.
1960
RHA changes its name to Family Planning Association of Australia.
1961
Oral contraceptive Pill becomes available in Australia.
1966
Australia is one of 30 countries to sign the United Nations (UN) Population Declaration that states ‘the opportunity to decide the number and spacing of children is a basic human right’.
1969
The Menhennit ruling by Justice Menhennit in the Victorian Supreme Court sets out the conditions under which abortions can be performed legally in Victoria.
1970
South Australia legislates to enable medical practitioners to recommend and perform abortions provided two doctors agree that continuance of the pregnancy would pose a risk to the woman’s physical or mental health.
1972
The Levine ruling in New South Wales establishes a legal precedent that protects doctors against prosecution for performing abortions, similar to the Menhennit ruling in Victoria.
The Whitlam Labor Government removes the 37.5 per cent tariff on imported rubber contraceptives, and abolishes the 27.5 per cent ‘luxury’ sales tax on oral contraceptives.
Federal government for the first time publicly supports family planning with a grant to the Family Planning Association of Australia.
1973
Supporting Mothers’ Benefit introduced by the federal government to provide a regular income for single mothers.
1974
Preterm, Australia’s first legal abortion clinic, opens in Sydney. Leichhardt Women’s Health Centre, operated by feminists, opens and offers free outpatient abortion services.
Dr Stefania Siedlecky appointed the first adviser on Family Planning in the federal Department of Health.
1980
Australia’s first test-tube baby born.
1983
In Melbourne, the world’s first pregnancy via in-vitro fertilisation is achieved.
1985
Queensland police raid abortion clinics, seize 47 000 medical records and charge doctors Peter Bayliss and Dawn Cullen with conspiring to procure abortion.
1986
The ruling of Justice McGuire in the Bayliss abortion case follows that of Justices Menhennit and Levine and brings Queensland into line with those states, clearing the way for the operation of legal abortion clinics.
1998
Western Australia passes Abortion Law Reform Act 1998.
The Australian Capital Territory introduces legislation, the Osborne Bill, which would severely limit women’s right to choose, with provisions such as parental consent for minors and a requirement for doctors to show women seeking abortions photos of foetuses; the Bill is modified after an intense lobbying campaign and becomes law.
1999
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission report Pregnant and Productive: It’s a right not a privilege to work while pregnant is tabled in federal parliament.
2002
Medical Practitioners (Maternal Health) Amendment Act 2002 commences in the Australian Capital Territory, permitting a registered medical practitioner to conduct an abortion at any time.
2006
Legislation known as the ‘RU486 Bill’ passes federal parliament with the cross-party sponsorship of four female Senators, removing the restriction on importing the abortifacient pill.
2008
Abortion Law Reform Act 2008 in Victoria permits a registered medical practitioner to conduct an abortion up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy, or after that time with conditions, and legalises the supply by pharmacists or registered nurses of abortifacient drugs to 24 weeks.
2012
RU486 pill is added to the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s register, enabling it to be prescribed by medical practitioners.
2013
Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Act 2013 in Tasmania permits abortions on request up to 16 weeks into a pregnancy.
2015
Preterm Clinic closes, reportedly due to the high costs involved in maintaining the standards necessary for Department of Health accreditation.
1972
Formation of Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL).
McMahon Coalition Government’s Federal Child Care Act 1972 provides first federal funding and involvement in child care.
Conciliation and Arbitration Commission awards women ‘equal pay for work of equal value’.
Whitlam Labor Government removes the 37.5 per cent tariff on imported rubber contraceptives, and abolishes the 27.5 per cent ‘luxury’ sales tax on oral contraceptives.
First issue of Refractory Girl, Australia’s first women’s studies journal.
1973
Supporting Mothers’ Benefit introduced.
Oral contraceptives placed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits List, reducing their price considerably.
Family planning clinics receive federal funding for the first time.
The Maternity Leave (Australian Government Employees) Act 1973 provides paid maternity leave for federal public servants.
Elizabeth Reid is appointed first women’s advisor to the prime minister.
Elizabeth Evatt is the first woman to be appointed Deputy President of Conciliation and Arbitration Commission.
1974
Leichhardt Women’s Health Centre, Australia’s first, established in Sydney.
Elsie, Australia’s first women’s refuge, established in Sydney.
National Wage Case awards women an equal minimum wage, to be phased in over two years.
Royal Commission on Human Relationships begins, with Elizabeth Evatt as chair, inquiring into aspects of female and male relationships relevant to the powers and functions of the Australian Parliament and Government, with topics including sex education, contraception and abortion.
1975
International Women’s Year decreed by the United Nations (UN).
Family Law Act 1975 establishes no-fault divorce and sets up the Family Court to hear matrimonial and custody issues.
South Australia’s Sex Discrimination Act 1975 is the country’s first sex-discrimination law.
Sydney Rape Crisis Centre established, the first in Australia.
1976
South Australia becomes first jurisdiction in the world to make rape in marriage a crime.
Fraser Coalition Government introduces the family allowance payment, a non-means-tested award to mothers based on the number of children they have.
Elizabeth Evatt appointed the first Chief Judge of the Family Court of Australia.
Pat O’Shane is the first Aboriginal woman barrister.
Liberal Senator Margaret Guilfoyle is appointed Minister for Social Security, the first woman Cabinet Minister with portfolio responsibilities.
1977
New South Wales and Victoria introduce laws against discrimination on the basis of sex, race or marital status, and sex or marital status, respectively.
1977
Utopia Women’s Batik Group founded, comprising a number of Indigenous artists including Emily Kame Kngwarreye who would become one of Australia’s foremost contemporary artists.
1978
Mardi Gras first held in Sydney as a gay rights protest march, resulting in 53 arrests.
1979
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) test case on maternity leave results in (unpaid) leave provisions being inserted in most awards.
Deborah Wardley becomes the first woman commercial pilot after winning a case against Ansett Airlines before the new Victorian Equal Opportunity Board.
Gillian Armstrong directs My Brilliant Career based on the book by Miles Franklin and starring Judy Davis as the headstrong Sybylla, who chooses independence over marriage.
1980
Margaret Guilfoyle is appointed first woman Minister for Finance.
1981
Pat O’Shane is the first Aboriginal woman to head a government department, the New South Wales Department of Aboriginal Affairs.
Mary Gaudron is the first woman to be appointed Solicitor General, in New South Wales.
1983
Office of the Status of Women restored to the Prime Minister’s Department, upgraded in bureaucratic status and its budget increased by the Hawke Labor Government.
Australia ratifies the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Senator Susan Ryan appointed Minister for Education, the first Labor woman Cabinet Minister.
Dame Roma Mitchell appointed the first woman Chancellor, at the University of Adelaide.
1984
Sex Discrimination Act 1984, which outlaws discrimination in employment, education and the provision of services on the grounds of sex, marital status or pregnancy, passed by federal parliament.
1985
Helen Williams appointed secretary of the Department of Education, the first woman to head a federal government department.
1986
Affirmative Action (Equal Employment Opportunity forWomen) Act 1986 passed by federal parliament; Affirmative Action Agency established to administer the Act.
Joan Child becomes the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Janine Haines, elected leader of the Australian Democrats, is the first woman to lead an Australian political party.
Mary Gaudron is the first woman appointed to the High Court.
Pat O’Shane is the first Aboriginal magistrate, appointed to the Local Court, New South Wales.
CHILD CARE AND PARENTAL LEAVE
1895
Kindergarten Union established in New South Wales; provides first free child-care centre for inner-city children, in Woolloomooloo.
1908
Kindergarten Union established in Victoria.
1912
Maternity Allowance of £5 pounds a week paid without a means test to married and unmarried mothers (but not to Indigenous women).
1941
Menzies United Australia Party Government, with Australian Labor Party support, introduces a child endowment of 5/– a week paid to mothers (except Indigenous mothers) for second and subsequent children.
1950
Menzies Coalition Government extends child endowment to include the first child in a family.
1970
The Women’s Bureau in the federal Department of Labour produces the first government report on child care, estimating that 13 725 children are in child care, the vast majority of them in unsubsidised and commercial centres.
1972
Federal Child Care Act 1972, introduced by the McMahon Coalition Government, provides first federal funding and involvement in child care.
1976
Office of Child Care established by the Fraser Coalition Government.
1977
The first Australian Bureau of Statistics survey of child care finds there are 20 000 subsidised child-care places and 45 000 commercial places.
1978
Family allowances introduced: a new non-means-tested payment that combines the former child endowment and tax rebates for children into a generous new allowance paid to the primary carer, in almost all cases the mother.
Maternity Allowance abolished.
1983
The Family Income Supplement, a special payment directed at low-income working families, introduced.
1984
The Hawke Labor Government announces the first significant expansion of child-care places – 20,000 new places, amounting to double the existing provision.
1991
Child-care assistance extended in the form of fee relief to users of private, for-profit child care.
1993
Labor Prime Minister Keating undertakes to meet total demand for work-related child care and to make it more affordable via a child-care rebate.
1994
National Quality and Improvement Accreditation Scheme introduced, requiring all child-care centres receiving fee relief to comply with national standards of care.
Childcare Cash Rebate on all work-related child-care expenses comes into effect.
Home Childcare Allowance (replacing the Dependent Spouse Rebate and paid direct to the mother) comes into effect.
1996
Home Childcare Allowance replaced by a new payment, the Basic Parenting Allowance.
1999
Fifty-one per cent of all children aged under 12 (1 599 300 in total) are in some form of child-care, with 70 per cent of children of working couples or sole parents in child care.
2000
Child Care Benefit introduced (amalgamating the former Childcare Assistance; what used to be known as fee relief; and the Childcare Cash Rebate), but with stringent incometest requirements.
2005
Child Care Tax Rebate is introduced as a tax offset, allowing claims of 30 per cent of out-of-pocket costs for approved child care (to a maximum of $4000 per child per year).
2008
Tax rebate increases from 30 per cent to 50 per cent of all approved out-of-pocket child care costs (to a maximum of $7500 per child per year).
2009
Fair Work Act 2009 doubles the maximum period of unpaid parental leave from 12 to 24 months.
2010
Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 introduces the first paid parental leave scheme, providing for 18 weeks’ leave for the primary carer of a recently born or adopted child at a payment equalling the weekly national minimum wage.
Educational and Care Services National Law, which is passed first in Victoria followed by other states and territories from 2010 to 2012, introduces a new National Quality Standard for child-care services, including higher staff qualifications and increased staff-to-child ratios.
2012
Paid parental leave scheme expands with ‘Dad and partner pay’ for two weeks.
2014
Forty-eight per cent of all children aged under 12 (3.8 m
illion total) usually attend some type of child care, with 60 per cent of children of working couples and 72 per cent of children of a working sole parent usually attending child care.
1987
Mary Gaudron sworn in as first female Justice of the High Court.
Di Yerbury is appointed the first woman Vice-Chancellor, of Macquarie University.
Female students outnumber male in Australia universities for the first time.
1988
The first women pilots in the Royal Australian Air Force graduate.
Federal Child Support legislation establishes Child Support Agency to collect maintenance payments from non-custodial parents.
Sydney Gay Mardi Gras is renamed Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
1989
Rosemary Follett, Labor Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory, becomes the first woman to head an Australian Government.
Elizabeth Reid appointed Program Director, Division for Women in Development, UN.
1990
Australian Government ratifies International Labour Organisation Convention 150 on Workers with Family Responsibilities. ILO 156 is aimed at making it easier for employed people to reconcile the demands of job and family.
Carmen Lawrence (Labor) becomes the first woman premier, in Western Australia.
Joan Kirner (Labor) becomes first woman Premier of Victoria.