AN exhibition at Federation University\u2019s SMB Campus\u2019 Tippet Library is focusing on the achievements of girls and women who studied and worked at the university.<\/p>\n
Trailblazing Women of Ballarat<\/em> is open now and celebrates the women who have followed the footsteps of Bella Guerin, who was the first women to graduate university in Australia in 1883.<\/p>\n Women recognised in the exhibition include the head of the dressmaking department from 1945 to 1960 Sylvia Williams, pioneer photographer Effie Baker, and a craft teacher and conserver of the Eureka Flag Val D\u2019Angri.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to highlight some of the great women who have made achievements that have worked at Federation University or the organisations beforehand,\u201d said Clare Gervasoni, co-curator of the exhibition.<\/p>\n \u201cThe opportunities for women back in history weren\u2019t great as they were expected to be home with children, so they weren\u2019t really in positions of power.\u201d<\/p>\n The first female Premier of Victoria Joan Kirner, who was known as Joan Hood during her time as a teacher at the Ballarat Girls\u2019 Technical College is also recognised in the exhibition.<\/p>\n \u201cSomeone asked some questions of her husband after she died and my memory of that conversation is that Joan thought they should have a magazine for the girls\u2019 school,\u201d said Ms Gervasoni.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thought was, why would you ever have a student magazine for girls? But Joan wanted a magazine and she got one.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Kirner was the Premier from 1990 to 1992 and introduced the Victorian Certificate of Education.<\/p>\n One of the reasons women\u2019s histories can be hard to follow is because traditionally, when women married, they changed their names.<\/p>\n \u201cYou lost your own name back in those days so it\u2019s really hard to determine who someone is,\u201d said Ms Gervasoni.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we think about great women, we don\u2019t necessarily have any evidence of them or any items.<\/p>\n \u201cThe really interesting thing is when you go looking for them, they are not well identified because in the collection when I put women in, we get about 300 results when we have about 10,000 items.\u201d<\/p>\n If anyone in the community knows any trailblazing women which were missed, Ms Gervasoni welcomes suggestions for future exhibitions.<\/p>\n