Mechanics’ Institutes have been the heart of their communities for social, educational and cultural activities since they were established in suburbs and country towns throughout Victoria; in fact nearly 1,000 were erected in Victoria. The term mechanic refers to an artisan or working man and the Institutes were established to provide an education through lectures and libraries for these men. The first Victorian Mechanics' Institute was the Melbourne Mechanics' Institute established in 1839 and renamed the Melbourne Athenaeum in 1873 (1). Mechanics' Institutes would generally have a public hall, meeting rooms and the library and ranged from small weatherboard buildings to grand double storey edifices.
Mechanics’ Institutes have have also been part of the political process. Some Councils met in Mechanics’ Institutes before Council Offices were built; they have been used (and still are) over the years as polling places and political candidates have held meetings in the buildings. However, I thought we will look at Mechanics’ Institutes and their connection to the Women’s Suffrage movement.
Women in South Australia gained the right to vote and stand for Parliament in 1894. In 1902, women Australia wide were granted the right to vote and stand for election in Federal elections; the first election they voted in was the 1903 one. Victoria was the last State to give women the right to vote, this was in 1908 and they couldn’t stand for election until 1923. As a matter of interest, the United States didn't allow women to vote until 1920 and the United Kingdom had introduced limited female suffrage in 1918 and extended the vote to all women in 1928 (2).
The Suffrage movement began in Victoria on May 7, 1884 a group of women met in South Yarra to form the Victorian Women's Suffrage Society (3). The next meeting was held at the South Melbourne Mechanics’ Institute on October 28, 1884 and it was very sparsely attended not fifty persons being present. The following motion was passed That in the opinion of this meeting, it is desirable that the Victorian legislators should pass an act legalising woman's suffrage. (4).
Many other meetings and debates took place around Victoria after this, often held in the local Mechanics' Institutes. The events were either a traditional debate on the merits of the issue or meetings advocating for or against women’s suffrage.
In May 1889, a debate was held at the Balmoral Mechanics’ Institute (5); in August 1894 at the Upper Maffra (Newry) Mechanics' Institute (6) and in July 1895 the Myrniong Mutual Improvement Association debated the issue at their local Mechanics’ Institute. (7). Also in 1895 at Longwood two gentleman debated the issue in the well filled Mechanics’ Institute. (8). In all these instances the vote at the end of the night was against women’s suffrage, at Longwood, it lost by a large majority (9).
At Myrniong, the issue was debated again in August 1898 by the local Debating Society, in conjunction with Bacchus Marsh Debating Society. The audience was still was not convinced of the merits of the argument and upon a vote being take the champions for the ladies found themselves in a minority of 2, the numbers being - for, 12; against, 14 (10). Debates were still being held two years later; in September 1900 the Gisborne Mechanics' Institute hosted the local Debating Club and the topic was Women's Suffrage, however, once again the majority was against the idea (11).
In April 1897, the Narre Warren Literary and Debating Society was formed at the Mechanics' Institute and Women's Suffrage was the subject of their very first debate and a vote taken was strongly in favour of the affirmative. This is the only reference I can find where a debate produced a positive vote (12).
Alongside debates, many meetings were held in country towns with speakers advocating the extension of suffrage to women. In February 1892, the Reverend David O'Donnell spoke in favour of the matter at the Geelong Mechanics' Institute. He was a Congregational Minister at the time, though he began and ended his career as a Methodist Minister. He was also an advocate of the Temperance movement (13). In June the same year John Vale lectured on Womanhood Suffrage at the Horsham Mechanics' Institute. John Vale was Secretary of the Victorian Alliance, a group formed in 1880 to co-ordinate Temperance objectives, as well as being the Secretary of the Independent Order of Rechabites (14).
It was no coincidence that Women's Suffrage advocates and other social reformers were also involved in the Temperance movement, as they believed that they could achieve their goals of restricting alcohol through political representation and that women would be more likely to vote for these measures. In April 1894, Mrs Christopher (15), President of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, chaired a meeting on Women's Suffrage at the Geelong Mechanics' Institute, attended by 400 women. One of the speakers, Mr E. Tennyson Smith clearly stated the nexus between Temperance and the Suffrage question; he was reported thus - that he advocated the enfranchisement of women, because he believed that it would put an end to the evils of drink and gambling and other social vices. "Women would begin the exercise of their political rights by sweeping away the liquor traffic, and the gambling evil would follow, in its train." (16). E. Tennyson Smith was an English Temperance advocate who toured Australia in 1893/1894 (17).
In June 1894, at the Nagambie Mechanics' Institute, Annette Bear-Crawford addressed the audience on Women's Suffrage. She was the founder of the Victorian Women's Suffrage League and the United Council for Woman Suffrage which co-ordinated groups advocating for the cause. She also organised the Queen's Willing Shilling appeal that led to the establishment of the Victoria Hospital for Woman and Children in 1896 (later called the Queen Victoria Hospital). Sadly, she didn't live to see either the opening of the Hospital or women receiving the vote as she died at the age of 46 in 1899 (18). In November 1898, the Attorney General, Isaac Isaacs, who later became the Governor General, spoke at a well attended meeting at the Castlemaine Mechanics' Institute (19).
There were, of course, many other meetings to promote Women's Suffrage held with local speakers. For instance in June 1895 a panel of twelve speakers, six men and six women spoke on the issue at the Castlemaine Mechanics' Institute (20); in October 1895 a Women's Franchise League meeting was held at the Ballarat Mechanics' Institute (21) and in December 1897 a public meeting was held at the Broadford Mechanics' Institute (22).
We will look at one more high profile speaker, Vida Goldstein. Vida, whose mother, Isabella, was a suffragist, tea-totaller and social reformer, was also an organiser of the Willing Shilling appeal. She was the first woman to stand for Parliament in the 1903 elections (23). Vida spoke at the Cheltenham and the Kyneton Mechanics' Institute in October 1900; at the latter it was reported that she gave cogent reasons why women should be enfranchised. She also answered satisfactorily questions from the anti-suffragists. (24).
Because of course, there were many who objected to women being able to vote and one notable member of the Women's Anti-Suffrage League was Lieutenant-Colonel Goldstein, the father of Vida. Apparently although they lived in the same house he was estranged from his wife Isabella; but there must have been some interesting discussions on family occasions (25). Jacob Goldstein delivered an anti-suffrage lecture at the Beulah Mechanics' Institute in September 1900, in front of an audience of a 100 people, including forty women (26).
It was the work of these supporters of Women's Suffrage that led to it being enacted in Australia on a Federal level and later in Victoria and gave women the right to visit their local polling booth on election days, more often than not at the local Mechanics' Institute, and cast their vote.
Trove - I have created a list of articles on Women's Suffrage events held in Mechanics' Institutes, access it here.
Footnotes(1) History of Mechanics' Institutes http://www.mivic.org.au/history-of-mechanics-institutes.html
(2) https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/about/Pages/Women-in-Parliament.aspx
(3) The Age, March 8, 1884, see here.
(4) Emerald Hill Record, October 31, 1884, see here.
(5) Hamilton Spectator, May 16 1889, see here.
(6) Gippsland Times, August 9, 1894, see here.
(7) Ballan Times, July 25, 1895, see here.
(8) Euroa Advertiser, September 6, 1895, see here.
(9) Euroa Advertiser, September 13, 1895, see here.
(10) Bacchus Marsh Express, August 13, 1898, see here.
(12) South Bourke and Mornington Journal, April 7 1897, see here.
(13) Geelong Advertiser, February 16, 1892, see here. Read his obituary in the Spectator, July 24, 1914, here.
(14) The Horsham Times, June 14, 1892, see here. Victoria Alliance https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/publications/research-papers/download/36-research-papers/13740-2016-2-liquorlaws-hn Obituary of John Vale - Weekly Times, July 17, 1926, see here.
(15) Mrs Christopher - this was, I believe, Mary Christopher. She was listed in the 1903 Electoral Rolls at 19 Clarence Street, Geelong West, with her husband, Henry, who was a carpenter. Next door at No. 17 was her son Henry Frederick, a blacksmith, and his wife Mariam. Henry Junior was the Mayor of the Borough of Geelong West in 1907 (The Herald, August 26, 1907, see here). Mrs Christopher died in January 1921, aged 74.
(16) Geelong Advertiser, April 26, 1894, see here.
(18) Nagambie Times, June 29, 1894, see here. Annette Bear Crawford - Australian Dictionary of Biography entry https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bearcrawford-annette-ellen-5168
(23) Australian Dictionary of Biography entry https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/goldstein-vida-jane-6418
(24) Brighton Southern Cross, October 20, 1900, see here; The Age, October 26, 1900, see here.
