What did Mary Lee do in Australia?
- became a writer and public speaker
- tried to get women and men on her side by focusing on their terrible working lives
- Visited many worshops and factories to get women on her side about womens voting rights
- went to wealthy women to get them to think of the poor
What year did Mary Lee support votes for women?
- 1891 - supported votes for women
How did Mary Lee help get voting rights for women?
December 1894:
- gathered over 11,000 signatures which were presented to parliament
- the parilament passed the bill not just to let women vote, but also to let them stand for parliament
A quote from Mary Lee
- “My aim is to leave the world better than I found it”
SA Women and Aboriginals
Helped let South Australian women, including aboriginal women, to have full political equality and power making them the only group in the world to have these rights
Her goal
To grant women the right to vote
Protecting young girls
Pushed for and forced a law to be made to protect young women by not allowing them to get pregnant of they were under 16 years of age
Where did Mary Lee work in 1887?
- Worked at the Womens Trade Union in 1887
Mary Lee birth and death
Born:
Ireland 1821
Died:
South Australia 1909
Facts about Mary Lee
- In 1879, she came by boat to Australia
- She was a single mother of 7 as she was a widow
Why did Mary Lee come to Australia?
- To take care of her son
- He son died just after she arrived in Australia and she didn’t have enough money to go back to Ireland
Know when the suffragette movement happened
Around gold rush which was when women didn’t have the right to vote yet (in the 1850’s)
The difference between Australia women and those in the US and the UK
- US and UK suffragettes were violent - this is because they got their rights very late (in 1928)
- Australian Suffragists were not violent
What were some of the messages about women voting at the time?
- Women had little to no voting rights
- women needed to make a difference using their voice
- nobody thought that women and men were on the same level
- Queen Victoria was against womens rights
What to look for when analysing the images?
- Colour
- Image used
- Written on poster
