The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was established in New South Wales.

The WCTU and the Victorian Women’s Suffrage Society (VWSS est. 1884) were both very active in the lead up to Federation.

In 1891 the WCTU, the VWSS and other women’s suffrage groups collected signatures from women throughout Victoria requesting the right to vote for women in the colony.

The Women’s Suffrage Petition stated that government of the People, by the People and for the People should mean all the People, not half Nearly 30,000 signatures were recorded on sheets of paper, pasted onto cotton or linen fabric and then glued together and rolled onto a cardboard spindle. Measuring 260 metres long and 200 mm wide, the petition was presented to the Parliament of Victoria in November 1891. It became known as the ‘Monster Petition’.

While it would be many years before women in Victoria received the right to vote (1908), the petition of 1891 laid a strong foundation for the women’s suffrage movement throughout Australia.

In 1894 South Australian women were granted the right to vote followed by Western Australia in 1899, New South Wales in 1902 and Victoria in 1908. Australian women (excluding Aboriginal women) were enfranchised for the new Commonwealth Parliament in 1901 and voted in the second Federal election of 1903.

Image: ‘A question of propriety’, The Critic 26 August 1899: The Vic. Woman – “We demand our votes. We will have ‘em.” The Conservative Party – “I assure you they’re very unbecoming, ma’am. Just look at Miss South Australia there!”