Honouring exceptionally great women

THROUGH their Great Women awards, the Zonta Club of Ballarat acknowledges and celebrates those who have made outstanding contributions to city life.

While the process is paused for 2022 and Club members prepare to seek the next set of nominees, they’re encouraging members of the community to take a look at the Ballarat’s Great Women Honour Roll.

Zonta Ballarat’s Val Sarah AM said the list dating back to 2008 includes 196 exceptional but humble local people who all have their own unique stories of service.

“The Honour Roll is a story of women of all ages and backgrounds, also women who lived and died before many of us were born, in different times and circumstances,” she said.

“It’s interesting that women are notoriously shy about their own achievements, and some do not wish to accept any accolades for their contribution to the life of our city.”

Names on the list include fashion icon, philanthropist, and co-founder of the Gold Museum, Jessica Simon, and her friend, Nina Valentine OAM, one of Sovereign Hill’s first board members, and the first-ever female president of the Queen Elizabeth Centre.

Eady Hart, the innovator behind Hart’s Australian Dyes, Amalie Feild-Colquhoun, a stained-glass window designer and leader of the Melbourne women’s art movement, and Mother Mary Gonzaga Barry, the founder of the Loreto Abbey at Mary’s Mount are also honourees.

The teenager who inspired the city’s own cancer research institute, Fiona Elsey, is one of the Great Women, as are more recent community leaders of today.

Wadawurrung emerging elder and artist Deanne Gilson, Our Watch CEO Patty Kinnersly, former Austmine chair, Gekko Systems co-founder, and Australian Businesswomen’s Hall of Famer Elizabeth Lewis-Gray, outgoing UFS Dispensaries CEO Lynne McLennan, and former mayor Judy Verlin AM have also been recognised.

“The honour roll began with an initial collaboration between Women’s Health Grampians and Zonta in 2006 which resulted in… a book titled, Amongst Ballarat’s Finest,” Ms Sarah said.

The publication profiled 113 local women who had been nominated by their peers and community members.

Nominations for Ballarat’s Great Women 2023 will open in October. Nominees must have been born or educated in Ballarat, or have worked in the city. Visit zontaballarat.com.

Ballarat’s Great Women Honour Roll

2008 honourees – Janice Allitt OAM, Patricia Anderson, Sandy Anderson, Fayth Andrews, Mother Mary Gonzaga Barry, Brenda Beck, Desley Beechey, Anne Beggs Sunter, Linda Brumley, Angela Carey, Rhonda Cator, Joan Chambers, Wanda Chapman, Eleanor Chisholm, Gerardine Christou, Litsa Chung, Martha Clendinning, Barbara Cole, Marianne Collins, Elsie Coutts OAM, Constance Coward-Lemke, Sulaika Dhanapala, Isabel Dowling, Barb Dunlop, Emily Eeles, Ira Effrett, Kathryn Elliott, Fiona Elsey, Amalie Feild-Colquhuon, Breta Fraser, Heather George, Clare Gervasoni, Wendy Gray, Guillian Gregor, Lisa Harris, Trudy Harris, Eady Hart, Sister Rita Hayes RSM, Karen Heap, Barbara Hughes, Belinda Jakiel, Laurel Johnson, Sister Margaret Kelly RSM, Catherine King, Sharon Knight, Genevieve Lacey, Dominique Lemon, Janet Low, Gladys Mackenzie, Sister Beverley Malcolm RSM, Emily Martin, Mary Lilian McArdle, Bonnie McDonald, Dr (Hon) Margaret McIver, Colleen McKay, Lynne McLennan, Margaret McManamny, Monica Miller, Deepika Monga, Monica Morgan, Elsie Morison, Anne Morrish AM, Myrtle Muir, Mother Mary Stanislaus Mulhall, (Ivy) May Nelson, Dianne Nikkelson, Marjorie Oddie OAM, Susie O’Neill, Karen Overington, Anna Owczarenko, Marion Parsonage, Tara Pearson, Paula Pither-Mills AM, Sister Rachel Pratt MM, Molly Reynolds, Margaret Rich OAM, Dr Patti Rogers, Alison Rucco, Karma Rumbelow, Jodie Ryan, Charlotte Sapwell, Val Sarah AM, Jessie Scott MBE, Alwyn Searle, Liz Sheedy, Emily Elsie Simper, Anne Smail, Nola Squire, Julie Stafford, Standish, Anne E. Stewart, Madame Lija Svalbe, Deborah Sykes, Amanda Marise Taylor, Dr Caroline Taylor, Keryl Thomas, Florence Towl, Lena Trevenen MBE, Edith Heather Turner, Lillian Turner, Nina Valentine OAM, Judy Verlin, Pamela Waghorn, Sister Valda Ward, Anne Watson, Leeanne White, Dorothy Wickham, Merle Widmer, Wavie Williams, Virginia Wise, Judith Yates, Lorraine Yoemans, Amy M. Young OAM. 2009 honourees – Veronica Kelly, Kylie Kennedy, Anne Lynch, Alexandra Tascas. 2010 honourees – Maureen Christie, Judith Coull, Janet Dale, Wendy Holgate, Alice Knight OAM, Elizabeth Lewis-Gray, Kay Macaulay, Voi Williams. 2011 honourees – Sadie Adaway, Sari Baird, Kirstie Clark, Sister Marie Davey, Dianne Gow, Joanne Guerts, Jemma Mathers, Carole Oliver, Matron Annie Roberts, Sister Marie Vagg, Shirley Viner, Elsie Walsh, Marge Welsh. 2012 honourees – Deb Bain, Emma Barrance, Tamara Boyd, Mary Campbell, Val D’Angri, Rosemary Garth, Elizabeth Green, Jessie Harman, Samantha McIntosh, Thelma Rungkat, Lee Squire, Kate Torney. 2014 honourees – Sue Anderson, Prof. Patrice Braun, Pam Davies, Pat Fraser, Karen McCraw, Kim Quinlan. 2015 honouree – Jessica Simon BEM. 2016 honourees – Ruth Bollard, Jane Cowles, Fiona Henderson, Dianne McGrath. 2017 honourees – Lidia Aitken, Gorgi Coghlan, Melissa Cunningham, Janet Dore, Auntie Marlene Gilson, Judith Pickford. 2018 honourees – Lisa Hayden, Patty Kinnersly, Mary-Rose McLaren, Claire Rasmussen, Joyce Ryall, Amy Tsilemanis. 2019 honourees – Heather Browning, Dr Shantini Deutscher, Sheilagh Kentish, Dr Joan Hunt (posthumous), Paula Nicholson, Robyn Reeves, Geraldine Roberts, Janet Rundell, Leading Senior Constable Janine Walker, 2020 honourees – Donna Campbell (posthumous), Judith Bailey, Melissa Buckingham, Jodie Gillett, Deanne Gilson, Dianne Hadden, Lorraine Harvey  , Bev Horwood. 2021 honourees – Kim Anderson, Helen Eyres, Wendy Jacobs, Shiree Pilkinton, Judith Potter, Georgina Vagg.