Women's Suffrage Petition 1891

Saturday, December 28, 2024

Women's Suffrage Petition 1891

The first Federal election in Australia took place in March 1901, and was conducted according to the voting legislation in each State. This Parliament enacted the Commonwealth Franchise Act of 1902, which gave the vote to most adults - both males and females - who were British subjects over the age of 21. The first election under this Act took place on Wednesday, December 16, 1903.

However, women in Victoria could not vote in State elections until 1908 and Victoria was the last State to give them this right – South Australia was 1894, Western Australia 1899, New South Wales 1902, Tasmania 1903 and Queensland 1905. New Zealand can claim to be the first country in the world where women were allowed to vote in a General election and this was in 1893. The United States didn't allow women to vote until 1920 and the United Kingdom had introduced limited female suffrage in 1918, when women over 30 got the right to vote and this was to all women over the age of 21 in 1928. (1)

In 1891, women in Victoria established a petition, presented to the Victorian Parliament, to advocate for the vote for women - https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/about/history-and-heritage/people-who-shaped-parliament/women/womens-suffrage-petition/

The petition of nearly 30,000 signatures was tabled in Parliament in September 1891. The petition read -
To the Hon. the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Colony of Victoria in Parliament assembled. - The humble petition of the undersigned women of Victoria respectfully sheweth : - That your petitioners believe - That Government of the people, by thy people, and for the people, should mean all the people, and not one half. That taxation and representation should go together without regard to the sex of the taxed. That all adult persons should have a voice in making the laws which they are required to obey, That, in short, women should vote on equal terms with men. Your petitioners, therefore, humbly pray your honorable House to pass a measure for conferring the Parliamentary franchise upon women, regarding this as a right, which they most earnestly desire. And your petitioners will ever pray." (2)

Not everyone supported the notion that women should be able to vote and this editorial from the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of October 1891, represents this view -
The subject has resolved itself into a question whether the women really want the franchise. We are of opinion that if the question was put to the vote, a substantial majority of the 120,000 women in Victoria eligible to vote would decide against the clause. It has been proved in America that the less women unsex and thrust themselves forward in public affairs the better. The petition signed by 30,000 women - just one-fourth of the number eligible to vote - did not carry much weight, as members have a pretty correct idea of how these affairs are managed. Notwithstanding the threat that the women intend to bring great influence in support of their hobby it is to be hoped that their better sense will prevail, and that they will not submit to be dictated to by members of their sex who ought to have been born men. (3)

The petition - 260 metres long, which is made of paper pasted onto cotton.

https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/about/history-and-heritage/people-who-shaped-parliament/women/womens-suffrage-petition/

Ultimately the petition was not successful, but it remains today as a wonderful resource. The Women's Suffrage petition has been digitised and is fully searchable by name or address. The indexing was undertaken by volunteers from the Genealogical Society of Victoria and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. If you are lucky you might find your Grandmother's name and signature.

I have found the names of every woman from the old Shire of Berwick and Shire of Cranbourne who signed the petition, there were 62 all up - 41 from Pakenham, 13 from Gembrook South, 3 from Officer and one each from Cranbourne, Nar Nar Goon, Beaconsfield, Berwick/Harkaway and one from Eumemmerring. The signatures were collected by women who went door to door all over Victoria and thus it does appear that the petition needed a person in the town to act as a catalyst, such as what appears to have happened at Pakenham as otherwise I would have thought that there would be greater numbers from Berwick and Cranbourne. Dandenong, which would have been larger in population than Pakenham, Berwick and Cranbourne at the time, had only two people sign the petition, however Drouin had 43 women sign the petition and Warragul, 121 women.

Here are the names -

ABLETHORP, Emma - Gembrook South.

ALLEN,Jessie - Pakenham

BONE, Josephine - Dandenong

BRUNTS, J - Cranbourne - this should be BRUNT. Mrs Brunt may have been away on holidays when she signed as the other women who signed the petition above and below her came from Kyabram.

CHURCH, Anna - Pakenham

CIBICK, Elizabeth - Beaconsfield

CLANCY, Elizabeth - Pakenham

COLVIN, Cassie - Pakenham

COLWELL, Julia - Pakenham

DOWD, Emma - Pakenham

DWYER, Mary - Pakenham

DYSON, S.A. - Dandenong

ELLIS, Emma - Pakenham

EYART, Margaret M.J. - Pakenham

FAHEY, Margaret - Pakenham

FERGUSON, Elizabeth - Pakenham

GIBSON, Margaret - Pakenham

GILLMASTIN, Fanny - Pakenham

GOODALL, Bessie - Pakenham

HALLORAN, Joanna - Pakenham

HICKS, Elizabeth - Officer

HILLMAN, Adeline - Pakenham

HILLMAN,Eliza - Pakenham

HILLMAN, Julia A.- Pakenham

HITCHINS, Annie H. - Gembrook South

LEWIS, Amelia J. H. - Pakenham

LEWIS, Elizabeth - Gembrook South

MACKIE, Helen A. - Harkaway, Berwick. I am not sure if the Mackie property was called Harkaway but I think more likely that they lived at Harkaway and she added Berwick to help identify her location. Helen was amongst women from Malvern and Armadale on the petition, so was presumably visiting.

MARGENGARK, Lizzie - Pakenham

MARTIN, Nye - Pakenham

MASON, Elizabeth - Pakenham

McGOWAN, Annie - Gembrook South

McGOWAN, Henrietta C. - Gembrook South

McRAE, Mary - Pakenham

MURPHY, Ellen Agnes - Officer.

NEILSEN, Margaret - Pakenham

NUGENT , E - Pakenham

PATERNOSTER, Maisie - Pakenham;

PEARSON, Agnes - Pakenham

REECE, Ellen Elizabeth - Officer

ROBERTS, Mary - Pakenham;

ROBERTSON, Mary - Pakenham

SASKER, Mrs - Nar Nar Goon. Mrs Sasker was in Maryborough when she signed the petition.

SHORT, Margaret - Eumemmerring. Margaret was amongst women from Malvern and Windsor on the petition, so once again she must have been visiting.

SMARTT, Bertha E - Gembrook South

SMITH, Elizabeth - Pakenham

SMITH, Ellen - Gembrook South

SMITH, Margaret - Pakenham

SMITH, Minnie - Gembrook South

STANFORD, Jessie - Pakenham

SWANSON, Maria - Pakenham

UNWIN, Jane - Pakenham

URE, Jane, Mrs - Gembrook South.

WADSWORTH, Constance - Gembrook South

WADSWORTH, Flora - Gembrook South

WADSWORTH, J.L. - Gembrook South

WALTON, Lily - Pakenham;

WARNER, Sarah -Gembrook South

WATERS, Jane - Pakenham

WATSON, A. M., Mrs - Pakenham

WATSON, Cecily E. - Pakenham

WATSON, Mary E. - Pakenham

WHUSTONE, Eugenie - Pakenham

WILSON, Emily - Pakenham.