Title: Amazing Australian Women: Twelve Women Who Shaped History

Author: Pamela Freeman and Sophie Beer

Genre: Children’s Non-Fiction

Publisher: Hachette/Lothian

Published: 28th August 2018

Format: Hardback

Pages: 32

Price: $26.99

Synopsis: A bright and colourful look at twelve incredible Australian women who helped shape our country, from politics and the arts to Indigenous culture, science and more.

Meet twelve amazing Australian women who have changed the world, in small ways and large.

Some of them are world famous, like Annette Kellerman and Nellie Melba.

Some of them are famous in Australia, like Mary Reibey and Edith Cowan.

All of them deserve to be famous and admired.

These women are the warriors who paved the way for the artists, business owners, scientists, singers, politicians, actors, sports champions, adventurers, activists and innovators of Australia today.

The featured women are:
Mary Reibey, convict and businesswoman
Tarenore, Indigenous resistance fighter
Mary Lee, suffragist
Nellie Melba, opera singer
Edith Cowan, politician
Tilly Aston, teacher, writer and disability activist
Rose Quong, actress, lecturer and writer
Elizabeth Kenny, nurse and medical innovator
Annette Kellerman, swimmer and movie star
Lores Bonney, aviation pioneer
Emily Kame Kngwarreye, artist
Ruby Payne-Scott, scientist

~*~

History is filled with amazing people and stories that for some reason, we’ve never heard of, never read, and never seen. Whatever the reason, many of these previously unknown or hidden stories and figures are being revealed now, and it is making the study of history that much more interesting – though I have always loved it, knowing some of the stories coming out now would definitely have made things more interesting to dig into and discover. As part of this movement, especially in promoting the histories of women in all walks of life, Hachette have released this picture book today by Pamela Freeman and Sophie Beer, Amazing Australian Women: Twelve Women Who Shaped History.

 

The women included in this new book cover each state and territory in Australia and come from various backgrounds, and occupations, covering recorded Australian history from 1788 onwards. Mary Reiby, a convict and businesswoman opens the book, and from their it moves onto Indigenous women like Tarenore, an Indigenous resistance fighter – a story I would like to know more about and that should be taught in history because it is a part of our history as well as the usual facts and events we learn about. There suffragists such as Mary Lee – not as well-known as other suffragettes such as Edith Cowan or Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, but no less important, and many other lesser known women whose stories might not have been shared before. In fact, of the twelve in the book, the only two I had learnt about through my own reading and studies were opera singer Dame Nellie Melba, and Sister Elizabeth Kenny -nurse and medical innovator. So, finding out a little bit about these other women was refreshing, and any of these women – had I known a bit more about them – would have made for excellent research projects in history courses and classes where topics and questions for essays were not pre-determined.

This book runs the spectrum of scientists, artists, political activists and businesswomen who all had a role to play in shaping our country into what it is today. It is these stories that need to be told in history class alongside what we are already taught about the ANZACs, the world wars, Federation and other aspects of Australia’s history from 1788 onwards. It tells unknown and known stories, sparking an early interest in history, but also, acting as a starting point for research so anyone wishing to read more has a starting point for names and dates to track down more on people they might not have heard about otherwise.

Adding lesser known stories to history – especially when it comes to groups often ignored by the official records or at least, marginalised by them – allows history to become richer, and more complex and much more interesting, diverse and more of a shared history, because it allows us to explore a world beyond what we have been taught. Pamela Freeman writes historical fiction for adults as Pamela Hart, with strong female characters who do not let the confines of what is expected of them define who they are, and they forge their own paths through their lives – yet still have to work within some of the confines imposed upon them, they manage to break out of some. Exposing children early – whatever their gender – to these sorts of stories about people who weren’t what society expected of them not only shows that the stereotypes are not real, but that history is actually diverse and interesting.

A great picture book and introduction to significant women who contributed to Australian history and society.