'Coppertails and Silvertails'
Queensland Women and Their Struggle for the Political Franchise, 1889–1905
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1321816600004074Keywords:
Queensland campaign for womanhood suffrage, 1889–1905, class war, 'coppertails', 'silvertails'Abstract
'Sides have now been taken. The temperance women will have a skirmish of their own for any stray man with no beer stains on his tie, but Miriam's loud timbrel has sounded for the battle royal between Labour and Government women — coppertails and silvertails!'
This call to arms sounded by the Worker towards the close of the campaign for womanhood suffrage in Queensland captured well the class antagonism that prevailed within the movement. At this late stage, there was little chance that the conflicting elements within the movement could put aside their differences and unite in a concerted effort to secure the female franchise. To all intents and purposes, the struggle for womanhood suffrage had become a class war.
References
Worker (Brisbane), 18 July 1903: 5.
This idea that Queensland is ‘different’ or deviates from the norm established by her southern counterparts has been an enduring theme in Queensland historiography. This argument has been voiced by: Humphrey McQueen, ‘Queensland: A State of Mind’, Meanjin 38(1) (1979): 41–51; Deane Wells, The Deep North (Collingwood: Outback Press, 1979): xi–xii; Margaret Bridson Cribb and D.J. Murphy, ‘Winners and Losers in Queensland Politics’, in Margaret Bridson Cribb and P.J. Boyce (eds), Politics in Queensland: 1977 and Beyond (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1980): 8–25; Peter Charlton, State of Mind: Why Queensland is Different (Sydney: Methuen-Haynes, 1983); Patrick Mullins, ‘Queensland: Populist Politics and Development’, in Brian Head (ed), The Politics of Development in Australia (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1986); Chilla Bulbeck, ‘The Hegemony of Queensland's Difference’, Journal of Australian Studies 21 (1987): 19–28.
George Shaw explains that this was due to the fact that, unlike the other colonies, Queensland was established by an Order of Council rather than by an Act of Parliament. The first draft of this Order in Council appeared in 1857 when New South Wales was still subject to a restricted property franchise. See ‘“Filched from us …”; The Loss of Universal Manhood Suffrage in Queensland 1859–1863’, Australian Journal of Politics and History 26(3) (1980): 372–85.
This favourable concentration of electoral power in the hands of the conservative landowners was highlighted by Governor G.F. Bowen in a letter to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1860. See Johnston, W. Ross, A Documentary History of Queensland (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1988): 307–9.
The plural vote was abolished in New South Wales in 1894, Tasmania in 1900 and Victoria in 1899. South Australia did not have the plural vote in its Constitution. See Audrey Oldfield, Australian Women and the Vote (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994): 19.
Fitzgerald, Ross, From Dreaming to 1915: A History of Queensland (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1982): 325.
This anti-intellectualism was fostered by the colony's lack of a university. Queensland's first university, the University of Queensland, was not opened until 1915.
Bowden, Bradley, ‘The Limits to Consciousness: Urban Workers in the Maritime Strike of 1890’, in Ferrier, Carole Pelan, Rebecca (eds), The Point of Change. Marxism/Australia/History/Theory (St Lucia: Department of English, University of Queensland, 1998): 75.
Lawson, Brisbane in the 1890s: 6.
Thomas, Martin, ‘Australian Labour History and Marxism’, in Ferrier and Pelan, The Point of Change: 33.
See Census of the Colony of Queensland/Registrar General's Office (Brisbane: Government Printer, 1891): xxvi.
Celia Louise Hamilton notes that in 1891 Irish Catholics comprised 23.98 per cent of the Queensland population, whilst in New South Wales and Victoria they were respectively 25.96 per cent and 22.90 per cent. Queensland would later surpass both colonies in this figure, becoming known as the most Catholic of the Australian states. See Hamilton, ‘Irish-Australian Catholics and the Labour Party: A Historical Survey of Developing Alignments in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland, 1890–1921’ (unpublished MA thesis, University of Melbourne, 1957): iii.
Lawson, Ronald, ‘The Political Influence of the Churches in Brisbane in the 1890s’, Journal of Religious History, 7(2) (1972): 158–60.
Hamilton, ‘Irish-Australian Catholics and the Labour Party’: 6.
Goring, Pam, ‘The Political Development of the Women's Movement in Queensland’ (Unpublished BA Hons thesis, University of Queensland, 1978), cited in Reekie, Gail, On the Edge: Women's Experiences of Queensland (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1994): 22.
See Census of the Colony of Queensland/Registrar General's Office (Brisbane: Government Printer, 1881), Part 1, Table no. XIV: 11.
See Census of the Colony of Queensland/Registrar General's Office (Brisbane: Government Printer, 1891), Part 1, Table no. XIV: 14
For example, in Brisbane in 1891 there were 15,204 adult men and 14,169 adult women, whilst during the same year in Darling Downs Central there were 2,072 men and 1,317 women, in Burke 2,675 men and 708 women, and in Mackay 4,223 men and 1641 women. See Census of the Colony of Queensland/Registrar General's Office (Brisbane: Government Printer, 1891), Part 1, Table no. XIV: 14.
Spearritt, Katie, ‘The Poverty of Protection: Women and Marriage in Colonial Queensland’ (BA Hons thesis, University of Queensland, 1988): v.
Spearritt, ‘The Poverty of Protection’: v.
See Spearritt, Katie, ‘The Market for Marriage in Colonial Queensland,’ Hecate 16(1/2) (1990): 23.
See John Stuart Mill to Archibald Michie, 7 December 1868, reproduced in Francis E. Mineka and Dwight N. Lindley (eds), The Later Letters of John Stuart Mill: 1849–1873, Vol. xvi (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972): 1515–16.
John Stuart Mill to Catherine Helen Spence, 28 November 1869, reproduced in Mineka and Lindley, The Later Letters of John Stuart Mill: 2016.
Spearritt, Katie has estimated that about half of all ‘first wave’ feminists in the colonies were widows or spinsters. See ‘New Dawns: First Wave Feminism, 1880–1914’, in Saunders, Kay Evans, Raymond (eds), Gender Relations in Australia: Domination and Negotiation (Sydney: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992), p. 325.
Boomerang (Brisbane), 8 December 1888: 12.
Boomerang, 8 December 1888: 12.
Boomerang, 24 December 1887: 13.
Dawn (Sydney), March 1890: 1.
According to William Blackstone, the great British jurist of the eighteenth century, this involved the suspension of a woman's being or legal existence during marriage. William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 14th edn, with notes by Edward Christian, Efq.) (London: A. Strahan, 1803): 442.
Mackinolty, John, ‘The Married Women's Property Acts’, in Mackinolty, Judy Radi, Heather (eds), In Pursuit of Justice: Australian Women and the Law 1788–1979 (Sydney: Hale and Iremonger, 1979): 68.
This observation was made by ‘Warra’ in the ‘Queensland Notes’ section of Sydney suffragist Louisa Lawson's journal, the Dawn, October 1897: 10.
Legislation which recognised the right of a woman to retain property upon marriage was passed first in England in 1882, in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania in 1884, Queensland in 1891, Western Australia in 1892 and New South Wales in 1893.
The married woman's legal status was discussed by the Boomerang, 29 September 1890: 5.
Matrimonial Causes Jurisdiction Act, No. 29, 28 Vic. (1864–65).
See section 21 of the Matrimonial Causes Jurisdiction Act (1864–65), Queensland State Archives, Brisbane, Papers and Correspondence Regarding Proposed Acts and Amendments to Various Acts, Series PRV8739, COL/234.
Legal divorce on the basis of cruelty alone was not accepted into the common law until the Clark Case of 1900. See Worker, 30 June 1900: 6.
Boomerang, 20 July 1889: 5.
Boomerang, 3 August 1889: 5.
Married Women's Property Act, No. 9, 54 Vic (1890), enabled married women to acquire, hold and dispose of any real or personal property as her separate property (s. 3(1)). See Queensland State Archives, Brisbane, Papers and Correspondence Regarding Proposed Acts and Amendments to Various Acts, Series PRV8739, COL/234. The Guardianship and Custody of Infants Act, No. 3, 55 Vic. (1891–92) was passed the following year. This piece of legislation ensured that a woman became the sole legal guardian of her children upon the death of her husband. The Criminal Law Amendment Act, No. 24, 55 Vic (1891–92) raised the age of consent to ‘twelve and fourteen’ from ‘ten and twelve’, which it had been. This meant it was a felony to have carnal knowledge of a girl under 12 and a misdemeanour to have carnal knowledge of a girl under 14.
Scott, Dianne, ‘Woman Suffrage: The Movement in Australia’, Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society 53(4) (1967): 301.
Like Chinese workers, women were excluded from many trade unions because economic necessity and the prevailing social doctrines had forced them to accept considerably lower rates of pay than the union-agreed standards. Rather than sympathising with the plight of the poorly paid female workers, many unions perceived women to be undercutting all that had been achieved for the male labour force — in particular, the achievement of the ‘family wage’.
Spearritt, ‘The Poverty of Protection’: 8.
Spearritt, ‘The Poverty of Protection’: 8.
Spearritt, ‘The Poverty of Protection’: 8.
Spearritt, ‘The Poverty of Protection’: 5. Although this census data indicate that a significant number of women (21.5 per cent) were engaged in pastoral or agricultural work, this work was largely undertaken on family selections, and so it is not as relevant when considering women's position within the public sphere. The figure for the numbers of women engaged in textile manufacturing is most likely significantly higher than the census data indicate. In the clothing industry, most production was done by outworkers who came from a wide range of social backgrounds and who often took on such work in order to remain within their homes in order to care for children. See Ann Marie Lynzaat, ‘Respectability and the Outworker: Victorian Acts 1885–1903’, in Mackinolty and Radi, In Pursuit of Justice: 85.
The working conditions of Aboriginal women were especially bad. Jackie Huggins has discussed how many Aboriginal women were contracted out to white people ‘in need’ of domestic help. These women rarely had a choice about which people they were sent to work for and were often paid in provisions rather than money. See ‘White Aprons, Black Hands: Aboriginal Women Domestic Servants in Queensland’, Labour History 69 (1995): 188–95.
Boomerang, 7 January 1888: 7.
This Royal Commission is discussed in detail by Kath Thomas in ‘Queensland Women at Work in the 1890s’, in Second Women and Labour Conference Papers (Bundoora: Convenors of the Second Women and Labour Conference, Department of History, La Trobe University, 1980): 32–40.
See Young, Pam, Proud to Be a Rebel: The Life and Times of Emma Miller (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1991): 59.
Dawn, April 1891: 7.
This meeting took place on 4 February 1889. It was reported in the Brisbane Courier, 29 July 1890: 6.
Jewellers, printers, tailors, chemists, and furniture polishers all refused to admit women into their unions, even when women were being paid the same rates of wages. See Dawn, June 1891:9.
Worker, 4 June 1890: 7.
Hamley, Helen has noted how the formation of this union went unreported by the labour press, despite the fact that it was the first distinctively female union to be registered under the Trade Unions Act. See, ‘Class War or Sex War? White Women and Labour Activism in Queensland 1890s to 1920,’ in Melanie Oppenheimer and Maree Murray (eds), Proceedings of the 5th Women and Labour Conference: 29 September–1 October 1995, Macquarie University (North Ryde: Organising Committee of the Fifth Women and Labour Conference, 1997): 255.
This section was established at the suggestion of W.G. Spence: Boomerang 16 August 1890: 7.
The formation of these women's unions was reported by Mr C. McDonald, the president of the Labour Federation, at the first Social of the Brisbane Women's Union. See Dawn, November 1890: 8. The president of the Charters Towers Union later complained of the difficulty involved in organising women, as ‘our women throughout the colony are sadly wanting in public spirit’. See Dawn, June 1891: 9.
The Blackall Woman's Union began with 22 members. See Dawn, April 1891: 7.
At the first meeting of the Hughendon Servant Girls’ Union, the Chairman, Mr McDonald Jnr, warned the women that: ‘The Press would probably attempt to block the formation of their union, but they must not be discouraged, but stick close together.’ See Western Star (Roma), 20 September 1890: 2.
Worker, 16 May 1891: 2.
Gollan, Robin, Radical and Working Class Politics: A Study of Eastern Australia, 1850–1910 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1960): 178.
Dawn, April 1891: 7.
Prevention of Contagious Diseases Act, No. 40, 31 Vic. (1868).
The only other Australian colony to introduce such legislation was Tasmania, in 1879. See Saunders, Kay, ‘Controlling (Hetero) Sexuality: The Implementation and Operation of Contagious Diseases Legislation in Australia, 1868–1945’, in Kirkby, Diane (ed.), Sex, Power and Justice: Historical Perspectives of Law in Australia (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1995): 8.
Woman's Voice, July 1895, cited in Oldfield, Woman Suffrage in Australia: 116.
See Telegraph (Brisbane), 29 September 1894: 2. At the 1896 Annual Convention of the WCTU, the Queensland president reported in her address that: ‘Our petitions to the House of Assembly re granting the franchise to women and repealing the Contagious Diseases Act are being largely signed, and will be presented in a very short time.’ See Lather, A.E., A Glorious Heritage: A History of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Queensland (Brisbane: Abell, 1966): 11.
Brisbane Courier, 29 July 1890: 6.
This change in the organisation's name was reported in the ‘Brisbane Notes’ section of the Dawn, August 1890: 10.
Oldfield, Woman Suffrage in Australia: 116.
At a meeting of the League on 9 September 1890 in the mayor's room of the Town Hall, a motion was put forward to present a petition to MLC A.J. Thynne concerning the Married Women's Property Act, which had already been introduced into the Legislative Council. See Brisbane Courier, 10 September 1890: 4.
At the first annual meeting of the organisation in July 1890 (what would appear to be the last of its kind), the following officers were elected: Mrs Reading as president; Mrs Drew, Mrs Clark (wife of an alderman) and Mrs S.W. Brooks (wife of an MLA) as vice presidents; Mrs Keith as secretary; Mrs Charming Neill as assistant secretary; Mrs J.H. Smith as treasurer; and Mrs Leontine Cooper (journalist), Mrs Dyne, Mrs Chalk, Mrs Wells, Mrs Willmore and Miss Jordan (trade unionist) as committee members.
The Dawn, September 1890: 25. Whilst there was no mention by the women of the plural vote at this early stage, it is quite clear that there were already rumblings within colony concerning the basis of the female franchise. The colony's first woman's magazine, which claimed to be ‘under the patronage of the Gentlewomen of Australia’, clearly stated in an article on womanhood suffrage that: ‘Property is to be the basis on which the right of women to the possession of a vote is to depend.’ See Princess: A Lady's Newspaper, 21 May 1889, 1(8): 1, John Oxley Library, Brisbane, Rare Books Collection, RBF 994.3 PRI C1.
Boomerang, 9 August 1890: 5.
Boomerang, 9 August 1890: 5.
Minutes of the Sixth Annual Convention of the Queensland Women's Christian Temperance Union, held in Rockhampton, 22nd, 23rd, 24th & 25th September (Brisbane: ‘Joy Bells’ Steam Printing Works, 1891): 22. This department continued its work for 27 years, whereupon it merged with the Legislation Department. See Judith Pargeter, 'For God, Home and Humanity': National Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Australia, Centenary History 1891–1991 (Golden Grove, SA: National Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Australia, 1995): 7.
This Bill was presented on 31 July 1890 by MLA Richard Hyne.
Dawn, May 1891: 14.
Boomerang, 18 July 1891: 4.
The government's close alliance with capitalist interests was demonstrated by its invocation of an antiquated piece of legislation, commonly referred to as the ‘Intimidation Act’, which made the combination of workmen unlawful unless the combinations were aimed solely at determining wages, prices and hours of work. A breach of this Act was interpreted as criminal conspiracy. The Shearers’ Strike of 1894 later saw the government enact the extremely repressive Peace Preservation Act, No. 3, 58 Vic. (1894). Included among the provisions of this Act was the empowerment of police officers to arrest and detain people suspected of an ‘act of violence or intimidation’ without trial for a period of seven months. See Jenny Fleming, ‘In the Name of Peace: The Enactment of the Peace Preservation Act, 1894,’ in Royal Historical Society of Queensland Journal 16(3) (1996): 118, 125.
Oldfield, Woman Suffrage in Australia: 116. This view is also shared by Lees, Kirsten, Votes for Women: The Australian Story (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1995): 97–98.
Dawn, May 1891: 14.
At the Seventh Annual Convention of the WCTU, it was agreed: ‘Every Union should do all that is possible in that [suffrage] department.’ See Minutes of the Seventh Annual Convention of the Queensland Women's Christian Temperance Union: 17. The next year it was reported that whilst no other union within the colony had formed a Suffrage Department of their own, many had had the matter under consideration and were distributing literature. See Minutes of the Eighth Annual Convention of the Queensland Women's Christian Temperance Union: 37.
The Married Women's Property Act, No. 9, 54 Vic (1890); The Guardianship and Custody of Infants Act, No. 3, 55 Vic (1891–92); the age of consent was raised by the Criminal Law Amendment Act, No. 24, 55 Vic (1891–92).
See Worker, 24 February 1894: 2.
At this meeting, a resolution was passed which read: ‘That this meeting views with pleasure the results of the operation of womanhood suffrage in New Zealand, and hopes that this desirable reform will soon be extended to this colony.’ See Brisbane Courier, 18 December 1893: 4.
The only resolutions that were agreed to at this initial meeting were as follows: ‘1. That this meeting of Brisbane citizens are of opinion that the time has come when the electoral laws of the colony should be so altered so as to extend to women the privilege of a political vote’ and ‘2. That, in the opinion of this meeting, it is desirable to form an association to be called the Woman's Franchise Association.’ See Brisbane Courier, 18 December 1893: 4.
Telegraph, 1 March 1894: 5.
He was accompanied on the platform by Sir Charles Lilley, Lady Lilley, Alderman J.A. Clark, Dr Little, Leontine Cooper, Emma Miller, Mrs Trimble, Mrs G. Harris and Mrs Moginie. See Brisbane Courier, 1 March 1894: 5.
See note 85.
Telegraph, 1 March 1894: 5.
For instance, Mr W.G. Higgs and Mr J. Willard objected to the wording of the resolution as it made no mention of abolishing the plural vote. In addition, Mrs Sarah Bailey — who at the beginning of the evening had been distributing slips of paper notifying her intention — moved a motion that the proposed to embody the principal of one-woman-one-vote. Queenslander (Brisbane), 10 March 1894: 473.
Brisbane Courier, 1 March 1894: 6.
Telegraph, 1 March 1894: 5.
Telegraph, 5 March 1894: 4.
The Telegraph claimed that there were 130 ladies present with 110 qualifying to vote — and that there were 50 men present. This figure differs from that reported by the Queenslander, which claimed that 350 people attended. See Telegraph, 6 March 1894: 5, and the Queenslander, 10 March 1894: 473.
Worker, 10 March 1894: 2.
See Queenslander, 10 March 1894: 473.
Queenslander, 10 March 1894: 473.
The following officers were elected: president, Mrs J. Donaldson; vice-presidents, Mesdames Cooper, McFie, Moginie; treasurer, Mrs D.R. McConnel Jr; committee, Mesdames J.A. Clark, Reading Miller, Culpin, G. King, Swanwick, Levy, Addison, A.M. Francis, Shelton, McConnel Sr, Higgs, Banks, Snow, Fairman, and Miss Glassey The women elected did indeed represent a very broad cross-section of political interests. See Queenslander, 10 March 1894: 473. Note that the treasurer, Mrs McConnel Jr (nee Jordan) was a committed Labor advocate, and Mrs McConnel Sr was a member of the influential McConnel family, and her mother-in-law. See Mary McLeod Banks’ (a descendant) account of the family, Memories of Pioneer Days in Queensland (London: Heath Cranton, 1931).
This is extracted from Cooper's letter of resignation, copies of which were also sent to the Queenslander and the Telegraph. See Brisbane Courier, 7 March 1894: 4.
Brisbane Courier, 23 March 1894: 4.
Forty persons attended this first meeting, and 29 ladies were signed as members. See Brisbane Courier, 4 April 1894: 4. The election of officers were as follows: president, Mrs Leontine Cooper; vice-presidents, Mesdames Shelton, Pope, Swanwick and Kingsbury; secretary, Mrs Preston; treasurer, Mrs Buttlerley; council, Mesdames Alcott, Richardson, Sankey, Clough, Austin, Proctor, Bryce, Yorkston and Xenos. See Queenslander, 21 April 1894: 724.
These elections were held on 27 April. Both Mrs Miller and Mrs Trundle were nominated for the presidency; however, Mrs Miller was voted in by a large majority. See Brisbane Courier, 28 April 1894: 6. Mrs Trundle was then elected to the position of the colonial superintendent of the WCTU's Suffrage Department. See Telegraph, 29 September 1894: 4.
Queenslander, 21 April 1894: 734.
Brisbane Courier, 23 April 1894: 4.
Brisbane Courier, 24 April 1894: 7. She rightly commented that the original motion which was adopted by the meeting read: ‘that the object of this association be to secure every adult woman the right of the franchise’.
This decision was made at a meeting that was held in Temperance Hall on 27 May. See Brisbane Courier, 28 April 1894: 6. This principle was formally adopted as the organisation's platform at its third general meeting which was held on 25 May. Here it was reported that the organisation now had 256 members. See Brisbane Courier, 26 May 1894: 5.
Brisbane Courier, 28 April 1894: 3. McConnel claimed that, despite the decision to seek one-woman-one-vote, theirs was a platform on which ‘all women, of whatever political party, might without violation of their principles have enrolled themselves under’.
See Brisbane Courier, 30 April 1894: 4; and 1 May 1894: 7.
In 1894, Eleanor Trundle reported that suffrage societies had been formed in Maryborough, Gympie, Bundaberg, Townsville and Charters Towers at the instigation of the WCTU. She noted: ‘We have cause to feel hopeful for success, and may this year not close without Queensland placing her daughters politically free with her sons.’ See Minutes of the Ninth Annual Convention of the Queensland Woman's Christian Temperance Union: 65.
Glassey tabled one petition in Parliament that had the signatures of 7,781 women and 3,575 men on the second reading of his Electoral Reform Bill on 6 September 1894. See Queensland Parliamentary Debates (QPD), Legislative Assembly (LA), Vol. LXXI (1894): 464. The petition was most likely organised by the WEFA, which had included a copy of their ‘One Woman One Vote Coupon’ in the Worker on 7 July 1894: 2. The presenting of this petition was also reported in the Minutes of the WEFA on 4 September 1894, in Women's Equal Franchise Association Papers 1893–99 (2 Sheets), John Oxley Library, Brisbane, Manuscripts and Records Collection, OM 87–19.
The second reading of Powers’ Elections Act Amendment Bill was on 28 September 1894. See QPD (LA), Vol. LXXI (1894): 716.
Premier Nelson informed the ladies that, whilst he would not actively oppose the deputation, he would also not support them in their quest for womanhood suffrage, as he was totally against the principle. See Queenslander, 27 October 1894: 772–73.
It was later reported in the Brisbane Courier that Cooper had written the original letter to Emma Miller on 13 March and that the president of the WEFA responded immediately, yet both women claimed that their respective organisations would not move from their stated platforms. See Brisbane Courier, 3 April 1896: 6, where Cooper's original letter is reproduced.
Brisbane Courier, 1 April 1896: 7.
Brisbane Courier. 2 April 1896: 7.
Brisbane Courier, 1 April 1896: 7.
Oldfield, Woman Suffrage in Australia: 120.
Minutes of the Annual Convention of the Queensland Woman's Christian Temperance Union, held in Bundaberg, September 30 to October 6 (Brisbane: Outridge Printing Co., 1897): 84.
The WEFA's attitude to the WCTU's stance on class issues was clearly demonstrated by a pamphlet that the organisation (under the auspices of the WWPO) produced, entitled ‘Why Miss Willard was a Socialist: Will the WCTU Please Note?’ See Women Worker's Political Organisation, Women's Equal Franchise Association Papers, John Oxley Library, Brisbane, Manuscripts and Records Collection, VF 320.531 WIL C1.
Brisbane Courier, 20 February 1899: 6.In their suffrage report for 1899, Trundle and Williams reported that the Union of the Darling Downs District refused to support this apolitical circular, preferring instead to send an independent circular — most probably seeking support for the Labour principle of one-woman-one-vote. See Minutes of the Fourteenth Annual Convention of the Queensland Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Held in Rockhampton, 25th September to 3rd October (Brisbane: Outridge Printing Co., 1899): 64.
Brisbane Courier, 20 February 1899: 6.
See Alcazar Press, Queensland, 1900: A Narrative of Her Past Together with Biographies of her Leading Men (Brisbane: Alcazar, 1900): 155. This short, yet glowing biography of Byrnes also noted that ‘[b]itterness was an alien whom he never naturalised’.
Minutes of the Thirteenth Annual Convention of the Queensland Woman's Christian Temperance Union: 80.
See Brisbane Courier, 20 February 1889: 6.
Brisbane Courier, 21 February 1899: 6. This was part of Dickson's policy speech, which was presented on 20 February at the Bulimba School of Arts.
Brisbane Courier, 24 February 1899: 6.
This deputation was in response to claims that one person, one vote was part of the premier's platform. This deputation was headed by Emma Miller, Leontine Cooper and Agnes Williams. See Worker, 21 July 1900: 6.
Commonwealth Franchise Act, No. 8, 2 Edw. VII (1902).
See Worker, 6 June 1903: 5.
Brisbane Courier, 3 July 1903: 2.
Worker, 11 July 1903: 11. Original emphasis.
The Pioneer Club was an association that was founded in 1894. It was purely social in nature, and was formed in order to provide opportunities for social intercourse amongst women. See Anne Wood, ‘The Evolution and Growth of Women's Organisations in Queensland, 1859–1958’, Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland 6(1) (1959): 189.
Worker, 18 July 1903: 5.
Worker, 18 July 1903: 5.
Worker, 18 July 1903: 5.
Worker, 18 July 1903: 5.
Worker, 18 July 1903: 5.
At the first meeting of the QWEL, held on 29 July, the following were elected to positions within the organisation: president, Mrs Corrie; vice-presidents, Mrs Edwyn Lilley, Mrs Edgar B. Harris and Miss Fox; treasurer, Miss M.S. Dods; secretary, Miss M.A. Ogg. See QWEL, ‘Minute Book — Executive Committee, 29 July 1903–29 June 1911’, 29 July 1903: 1, Queensland Women's Electoral League Papers, John Oxley Library, Brisbane, Manuscripts and Records Collection, OM71-47.
Worker, 11 July 1903: 4.
Worker, 26 September 1903: 5. Original emphasis.
Worker, 15 August 1903: 5.
The close linkage between the QWEL and the NLU was clear. When discussing the formation of QWEL branches in the south of the state, ‘Mrs Lilley explained that it should be clearly understood that these Branches be Branches of the QWE League & not the National Liberal Union although both organisations are working side by side.’ See QWEL, ‘Minute Book’, 3 September 1903: 7-8. Emphasis added.
See Ogg, Margaret Ann, Memories of Early Brisbane, As Sketched and Told to Ernest Briggs (Unpublished Manuscript, 1953), John Oxley Library, Brisbane, Records and Manuscripts Collection, OM 83-1.
See, the chapter on Cooper in De Vries, Susanna, Strength of Purpose: Australian Women of Achievement From Federation to the Mid-20th Century (Sydney: Harper Collins, 1998).
See ‘Emma Miller and the Campaign for Women's Suffrage in Queensland, 1894–1905’, Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Cultural Heritage Series 2(2) (2002): 228. The history of the QWEL supports Young's contention. It claims that, in its first decade, the QWEL ‘did not regard the women's vote as an active political force, but merely as a reinforcement of the male vote’. See Dr Eveleen Ahsworth, Summary of the History of the QWEL (1959), Queensland Women's Electoral League Papers, cited in Kay Daniels, . (eds), Women in Australia: An Annotated Guide to Records, Volume 2 (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1977): 17.
MLA John Cameron, who had been elected to the committee of the League, claimed that he was glad that women had the vote. The Worker was quick to highlight the ingenuousness of this statement, staring that the ghost from Hansard had come back to haunt the MLA, who had clearly stated in parliament: ‘I do not believe in woman suffrage.’ See Worker, 25 July 1903: 3.
Worker, 18 July 1903: 5.
Worker, 12 September 1903: 10.
Worker, 12 September 1903: 11.
Worker, 19 September 1903: 5.
Worker, 12 September 1903: 5.
QWEL, ‘Minute Book’, 3 September 1903: 7.
Undated newspaper clipping from the Daily Telegraph, Women's Political and Educational League of New South Wales: Papers, 1902–1903, ML: NSW, MSS 38/43, item 93, cited in Oldfield, Woman Suffrage in Australia: 126.
In the aftermath of her visit, Scott received letters of thanks from the QWEL, the WEFA and the WCTU. (Note: Although the WEFA had apparently already reformed as the WWPO, the letter that was written to Scott was done so under the auspices of the franchise association.) See Rose Scott Papers, Correspondence: Womanhood Suffrage, 1877–1920 (Sydney: Mitchell Library), held on Microfilm in Fryer Memorial Library, Brisbane. See vols 2 and 3.
Bundaberg Mail and Burnett Advertiser (Bundaberg), 16 October 1903: 3. This would have perhaps annoyed the leadership of the QWEL, who had earlier sent a telegraph message to Scott whilst she was in Bundaberg, requesting that she influence the Bundaberg woman's suffrage organisation to align with the QWEL. See electric telegraph message from Margaret Ogg to Rose Scott, dated 14 October 1903, Correspondence: Womanhood Suffrage, vol. 3.
See Letter from Margaret Ogg, dated 30 November 1903.
Harris, Flora B., the Queensland president of the WCTU, stated that the Union simply wanted women to exercise their franchise at the impending federal election ‘for the protection of our children and the safe-guarding of our homes and home-life’. See New Idea (Melbourne), 5 December 1903: 527.
See Minutes of the Eighteenth Annual Convention of the Queensland Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Held in Brisbane, 21st to 25th September (Brisbane: Outridge Printing Co., 1903): 39.
See Minutes of the Seventeenth Annual Convention of the Queensland Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Held in Brisbane, 27th September to 4th October (Brisbane: Outridge Printing Co., 1902): 53.
At the 1895 annual convention, it was claimed that very little could be done to help the female factory workers until the franchise had been obtained. Then, it was claimed, women inspectors would be appointed and would not be satisfied with less than personal and complete inspections. See Minutes of the Tenth Annual Convention of the Queensland Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Held in Brisbane, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th September (Brisbane: Muir and Morcom, 1895): 36.
Worker, 15 August 1903: 5.
In order: Morehead, Boyd Dunlop (1888–90); Samuel Walker Griffith (1890–93); Thomas McIlwraith (1893); Hugh Muir Nelson (1893–98); Thomas Joseph Byrnes (1898); James Robert Dickson (1898–99); Anderson Dawson (1899); Robert Philp (1899–1903); Arthur Morgan (1903–06). See MurphyDennis et al. (eds), The Premiers of Queensland, rev. edn (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1990).
Knox, B.A., ‘The Honourable Sir Arthur Morgan, Kt: His Public Life and Work’ (Unpublished BA Thesis, University of Queensland, 1956): 49.
QPD (LA), Vol. XCIII, 29 September 1904: 121.
QPD (LA), Vol. XCIII, 29 September 1904: 158.
QPD (LA), vol. LXXXVIII, 13 November 1901: 1821. This idea was derived from the Belgium model where up to two additional votes could be granted to persons with higher education. As one letter to the Brisbane Courier pointed out, however, the inequity of this system had led to great riots in Belgium by the unrepresented workers. See 20 November 1901: 7.
Turley, Mr, per QPD (LA), Vol. LXXXVIII, 13 November 1901: 1965.
Reeves, William Pember, State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand: Volume One (London: Grant Richards, 1902): 137.
Brisbane Courier, 28 July 1900: 8.
QPD (LA), Vol. LXXI, 28 September 1894: 718.
See Queenslander, 27 October 1894: 772. The Maryvale Gazette (Maryvale) provided the following argument against the extension of the political franchise to women: ‘The more practical and independent women become, the more will man tend to relieve himself of the sense of protection which fortunately most of them have towards the softer sex, and as a result, as men saw more and more that women were able to look after themselves, so would they more and more leave them to look after themselves, until at last the once ‘weak sex’ would find that they were expected to hold their own in the walks of life … [robbing] women of the refinement which ease and culture begets, and exert in all a most baneful influence on our civilization.’ See 12 November 1892: 1, John Oxley Library, Brisbane, Records and Manuscripts Collection, OM 78-92/32.
Queenslander, 29 September 1894: 581. An article written by M.L. Manning in Centennial Magazine (Sydney) strongly refuted this claim, justifying that ‘difference of religious opinion is not conducive to greater family discord than other tolerated causes, not the result of conviction, but of temper or ignorance; as no one can deny that religion is the greatest motive power in man's nature, and least amenable to outside influence’. See Queenslander 1(6) (1889): 410.
See Brisbane Courier, 1 August 1890: 4.
This concern was expressed by the Home Secretary, Foxton, when he received a deputation of WCTU suffragists. See Worker, 4 November 1899: 7.
Brisbane Courier, 27 August 1900: 4.
See Boomerang, 31 January 1891: 2.
Telegraph, 29 June 1894: 5.
See Brisbane Courier, 1 August 1890: 4.
It was thrown out of the council on a vote of 19–12. See QPD (LA), Vol. XCIII, 29 September 1904: 502.
Worker, 29 October 1904: 2.
Worker, 12 November 1904: 5.
QPD (LC), Vol. XCIV, 10 January 1905: 84, per A.T. Annear. Frederick Brentnall complained that the council chose to postpone its consideration of the Electoral Franchise Bill so that the members could have a holiday for a change. Instead, he remarked, they had been treated by the ‘great pedagogue who has the control of our political destiny … like a lot of naughty schoolboys’, QPD (LC), Vol. XCIV, 12 January 1905: 122.
The Daily Mail announced that it was ‘very disappointing to some of our country cousins, who stayed in town for the occasion’. See Daily Mail (Brisbane), 5 January 1905: 2.
This Bill was the Elections Act Amendment Bill.
This was the terminology employed by the Worker, 14 January 1905: 8. The passage of the Bill was reported in QPD (LA), Vol. XCIV, 5 January 1905: 31; QPD (LC), Vol. XCIV, 5 January 1905: 78.
Worker, 29 October 1904: 2.
The Council agreed to go into Committee on the Bill on 17 January, yet agreed not to go beyond the second reading until the Machinery Bill had been passed. See QPD (LC), Vol. XCIV, 17 January 1905: 152. The Machinery Bill was passed on 20 January. See, QPD (LC), Vol. XCIV, 17 January 1905: 188. The minor amendments included changes to the lodging of a postal vote so that women in remote areas could more easily exercise their franchise.
This Bill only required a 12-month residency within the state in order to have one's name on an electoral roll. It was no longer necessary to have resided in an electorate for six months. This had been the factor that had disenfranchised many itinerant workers.
This right was granted in 1915 through the amendment of the Elections Act, under the leadership of T.J. Ryan. See Elections Act, No. 13, 6 Geo. 5 (1915).
This right was extended in 1965 by the Elections Act Amendment Act, No. 59.
QPD (LA), Vol. XCIV, 24 January 1905: 228.
The women reported to have attended were Mesdames Higgs, Adler, Culpin and Kate Collings. Emma Miller was unable to attend as she was at the bedside of a sick friend. Worker, 28 January 1905: 12.
Worker, 28 January 1905: 12.
See QPD (LA), Vol. XCIV, 26 January 1905: 230. Elections Acts Amendment Act, No. 1, 5 Edw. 7 (1905).
Daily Mail, 26 January 1905: 2.
Worker, 28 January 1905: 5.
