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Achievements and milestones for Queensland women

2000s

• 2000: Queensland born Cathy Freeman lit the Olympic flame and won gold in the 400m track event at the Sydney Olympics.
• 2001: Queensland Parliament attained the highest proportion of women representatives of any Australian parliament and one of the highest proportions in the world with 33 of the 89 elected members being women.
• 2002: Queensland architect Brit Anderson was the first woman to receive the annual Gold Medal from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.
• 2003: Queensland Government released the State's first 5-year plan for Queensland women, the Women in Smart State Directions Statement 2003–2008.
• 2004: Ms Loris Williams became Queensland's first Indigenous archivist.
• 2007:
• Gardasil—immunisation against cervical cancer—was made available for young women and girls.
• Anna Bligh was appointed as the first female Premier of Queensland.
• 2008: Her Excellency Quentin Bryce AM was sworn in as Australia's 25th Governor-General and was the first woman to take up the office.
• 2009:
• Anna Bligh became the first female Premier in Australia to be popularly elected.
• The Queensland Government's Strategy to Reduce Domestic and Family Violence was released.
• 2010:
• Australia's first female Prime Minister, the Honourable Julia Gillard MP was elected.
• Queensland-born Megan Davis was the first Indigenous woman to be elected to a UN body (United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues).
• 2011: Australia's first national Paid Parental Leave scheme commenced.
• 2015:
• Annastacia Palaszczuk was sworn in as the second female Premier of Queensland.
• Queensland Government set gender diversity targets: 50% of all appointments to government bodies to be women and 50% of appointees to government bodies to be women by 2020.
• Catherine Holmes was appointed as Queensland’s first female Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland, having served as a judge of the Queensland Court of Appeal from 2006.
• Leeanne Enoch, Member for Algester, became the first Aboriginal woman elected to the Queensland Parliament.
• Cynthia Liu, Member for Cook in far North Queensland, was the first Torres Strait Islander elected to any Australian parliament.
• 2016:
• First Queensland Women’s Week held to celebrate Queensland women’s achievements, as an expansion of International Women’s Day.
• Queensland Government released the Queensland Women’s Strategy 2016–21 and its Community Implementation Plan.
• Women’s Budget Statement for 2016/2017 produced (produced each year since).
• The annual Queensland Women in STEM Prize was introduced to recognise achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as part of the World Science Festival Brisbane.
• Jane Pires became the first female appointed as the Energy and Water Ombudsman Queensland.
• Linda Burney was the first Indigenous woman to be elected into the Australian House of Representatives.
• Kate du Preez, a mining engineer, was the first woman appointed as Queensland’s Commissioner for Mine Safety and Health.
• Karen Norton, cadastral surveyor, was the first woman appointed to the Surveyors’ Board of Queensland.
• 2017:
• Susan Kiefel, Queensland’s first female Queen’s Counsel, became Australia’s first female Chief Justice of High Court.
• Queensland born Ashleigh Barty won the Newcombe Medal and was named Australia’s outstanding tennis player of 2017.
• Seven of the 19 new Queensland electorates were named after exceptional Queensland women: Oodgeroo (an Indigenous poet, artist and activist), Bonney (the first Australian woman to hold a commercial pilot's licence), Cooper (the first female doctor in Queensland), McConnel (founded Brisbane’s first and Australia’s second children’s hospital, the Royal Children’s Hospital), Miller (a trade union organiser and suffragette), Hill (Australia’s first female professor) and Jordan (the first woman elected to Ipswich City Council).
• The Women’s Australian Football League was launched in Melbourne with 8 teams including Brisbane Lions.
• 2018:
• Premier of Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk made history as the first woman in Australia to be elected for 2 terms as premier of a state.
• The Termination of Pregnancy Act 2018 was passed by the Queensland Parliament to ensure termination of pregnancy is treated as a health issue rather than a criminal issue, bringing Queensland in line with other Australian jurisdictions.
• The Inaugural Australian Women in Music Awards were held in Brisbane, recognising the value, contribution and ongoing participation of women in the Australian music industry.
• Jackie Huggins, a proud Bidjara Central Queensland and Birri-Gubba Jura North Queensland woman, activist, author and historian was appointed as co-chair of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples.
• The Australian Parliament voted to end gender-based role restrictions (such as combat roles) on women in the Australian Defence Force with the removal of the Defence exemption in the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth).
• Leanne Kemp, the founder and chief executive officer of Everledger, was appointed Queensland’s first female Chief Entrepreneur.
• The Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games were the most diverse Games of all time, with an equal number of women’s and men’s medal events for the first time in the history of a major multi-sport games.

1900s

• 1905: Queensland women achieved the right to vote in State elections.
• 1907: Queensland women voted in their first state election.
• 1915: Women won the right to be elected into Queensland Parliament.
• 1922:
• The Maternity Act of 1922 (Queensland) was introduced and provided for the establishment of maternity services including hospitals, clinics and other pre- and post-natal care services in Queensland. The Act also established specialised training for midwives and nursing staff and extended the focus of these services to encompass the treatment of diseases specific to women.
• Equal divorce rights were instituted so that women were able to be granted a divorce on the same grounds as men.
• 1923: As a result of amendments to the Queensland Jury Act, the state initiated the introduction of jury service for women, becoming the first Australian state to do so.
• 1929: Irene Longman, Queensland's first woman parliamentarian was elected.
• 1931: Women were accepted into the Queensland police force however were not sworn in as police officers until 1965.
• 1938: Brisbane Women's Hospital was opened.
• 1942: The Australian Women's Land Army was formed in Queensland.
• 1950: The female rate of pay was set at 75% of the male rate in the Commonwealth Basic Wage Case.
• 1955: Deirdre Mary Vance was the first female in Queensland to be awarded a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil). It was awarded by the University of Queensland.
• 1961: Oral contraceptive pills became available in Australia.
• 1965: All Indigenous Queenslanders, women and men gained the right to vote in State elections.
• 1966:
• Indigenous Queenslanders voted in their first state election.
• Naida Haxton admitted as a Barrister and becomes the first woman to practise as a barrister in Queensland.
• Dr Margaret Valadian AD MBC was the first recognised Indigenous woman to graduate from university.
• 1967: Australians voted 'Yes' in a referendum to alter sections of the Constitution that discriminated against Indigenous Australians meaning that all Indigenous women and men hold the same citizenship rights as all other Australians.
• 1969:
• The Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission determined the principle of 'equal pay for work of equal value'.
• The ban on married women as permanent employees in the Queensland State public sector was abolished. However, women required departmental approval to continue to work after marriage until 1973.
• 1970: Women were no longer excluded from drinking in public bars in Queensland.
• 1980: The federal government signed the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women which was ratified in 1983. There are 30 articles to the Convention, which sets an agenda for national action to end discrimination against women, and promotes equality.
• 1984: The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 was passed by the federal government, making it unlawful to discriminate against a person on the grounds of sex, marital status, family responsibility and pregnancy, and established dismissal of an employee on the basis of their family responsibilities as being unlawful.
• 1985: Sallyanne Atkinson AO became Queensland's first female Lord Mayor (1985 to 1991) when elected to the Brisbane City Council.
• 1987: Justice Mary Gaudron became the first woman appointed to the High Court.
• 1989: The Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 1989 was proclaimed in Queensland, aiming to provide safety and protection for people in domestic relationships who are victims of domestic and family violence.
• 1990:
• Grace Kruger became the first woman appointed as a Stipendiary Magistrate.
• A women's policy unit was established in the Queensland Government.
• The first women police officers were promoted to inspector level in the Queensland Police Service.
• 1991: The Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 was proclaimed in Queensland, promoting equal opportunity for all members of the community by protecting them from unfair discrimination and sexual harassment in certain areas of life.
• 1992:
• Leneen Forde AC was commissioned as the first female Governor of Queensland.
• The Queensland Government passed the Equal Opportunity in Public Employment Act 1992 providing equal employment opportunities in the public sector.
• 1996: Joan Sheldon AM became the first female Deputy Premier and Treasurer of Queensland.
• 1999: The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 was introduced into parliament on 22 September, replacing the Affirmative Action Act 1986 to target discrimination in the private sector by promoting merit in employment and equal employment opportunity, and by encouraging consultation between employers and employees on these issues.

1800s

• 1889: The first suffrage group, the Queensland Women's Suffrage League was formed.
• 1891:
• Dr Lilian Cooper arrived in Brisbane from England and, for 10 years, was the only woman practicing medicine in Queensland.
• The Married Women's Property Act, 1890 came into effect in Queensland on 1 Jan 1891, allowing married women to both acquire and dispose of property and other investments independent of their husbands. Under the Act, women who acquired property and/or investments prior to a marriage were entitled to retain sole ownership of that property after marriage and to administer and execute upon it.