18 December 2024 marks 130-years since the Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Bill granting women the right to vote and stand for parliament was passed in South Australian Parliament. In the first of four Talking History panels, we reflect upon this important 130-year anniversary by celebrating the life of Mary Lee, the Irish woman pivotal to the passing of this legislation, as well as other more infamous South Australian Irish women who challenged power in less orthodox ways.
Among the many who fought for the Legislation, Mary Lee was a prominent advocate. As a nineteenth-century woman and Irish migrant, she suffered intense public ridicule for expressing her convictions.
Chair: Dr Kiera Lindsey, South Australia’s History Advocate
Speakers: Dr Susan Arthure (Flinders University), Dr Stephanie James (Flinders University), Dr Denise George (University of Adelaide).
Date: 18 June 2024
Time: 5:45pm for a 6:00pm start
The Talking History program is delivered in partnership with the University of South Australia.
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Speakers
Dr Susan Arthure has a PhD in archaeology from Flinders University. Her main research interests are the nature of Irishness and the Irish diaspora, with a focus on the Irish Australian experience. Her research into the Irish community of Baker’s Flat, near Kapunda in South Australia, identified and analysed the first complete exemplar of a clachan-and-rundale traditional Irish settlement system to be found outside of Ireland so far. Susan was born and raised in Ireland but has lived mostly in South Australia since 1987.
Dr Stephanie James has a PhD in history from Flinders University and has adjunct status. Her strong Irish background has helped propel her interest in Irish South Australia. Her MA focused on the Clare Valley Irish – that area emerged as the colony’s most Irish region in the 1861 census. Exploring aspects of Irish Australian responses to imperial crises provided the platform for her PhD. Stephanie’s contribution on the Irish will appear in the second edition of The Wakefield Companion to South Australian History. The challenges of locating the female Irish voice and experience remains a crucial factor in Stephanie’s research.
Dr Denise George studied Professional Writing and Communication and has a PhD in English and Creative Writing from the University of Adelaide. She has a passion for the extraordinary stories of seemingly ordinary South Australian characters, with a focus on historical narrative nonfiction. She is the author of Mary Lee: The life and times of a ‘turbulent anarchist’ and her battle for women’s rights, Wakefield Press, 2019. Denise undertook research in Adelaide, Ireland, and England, to reveal the compelling story of how Mary Lee took on the South Australian establishment and won.