The Lyceum Club and the Making of the Modern Woman

Authors

  • Kay Ferres Griffith University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1017/qre.2014.8

Keywords:

The Lyceum Club, community organisations, 'the club habit', Irene Longman, electoral success

Abstract

In 1934, the editor of the Courier-Mail’s women’s page, Winifred Moore, reflected on the growth and importance of women’s clubs in Queensland in the early decades of the twentieth century. Moore herself had been involved in community organisations since she took up her career in journalism during World War I. She was a foundation member of the National Parks Association, a member of the Press Association, the Queensland Women’s Electoral league (QWEL) and the Lyceum Club. Many of her contemporaries shared what she called ‘the club habit’, a habit that had enabled women to ‘find their tongues in public assemblies’ in the decades after they achieved the vote (Courier-Mail, 8 February 1934, 16). 

Author Biography

  • Kay Ferres, Griffith University

    Kay Ferres is Professor of Literary Studies and Cultural History in the School of Humanities, Griffith University. She researches women’s citizenship and the forms of their incorporation into the public sphere. She writes about the way narrative works to create and shape public spaces, including galleries, museums and reading groups.

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Published

2014-06-01

How to Cite

Ferres, K. (2014). The Lyceum Club and the Making of the Modern Woman. Queensland Review, 21(1), 62-71. https://doi.org/10.1017/qre.2014.8