
Vida Goldstein Portrait by
Phyl Waterhouse oil on composition
board; 45.5 x 37.6 cm PIC
R3606 National Library of
Australia |
THE NATIONAL
LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA'S FEDERATION
GATEWAY
GOLDSTEIN, VIDA (1869-1949)
Born in Portland, Victoria of
Polish, Jewish and Irish heritage, Vida Goldstein came from a family with
strong social views. After attending Presbyterian Ladies College she conducted,
with her sisters, a co-educational preparatory school in St Kilda.
Together with Annette Bear-Crawford she campaigned for social issues
including women's franchise and the Queen Victoria Hospital for women. After
the death of Annette Bear-Crawford (1899), Vida took on a greater public
speaking career for suffrage, addressing the United States Congress in 1902 and
running for the Australian Senate in 1903 with the support of the Women's
Federal Political Association. Her continuing political activism included four
more attempts for a seat in Federal Parliament, leadership of the Women's
Political Association and editing the Women's Sphere between 1900 and
1908.
She contributed to the foundation of many womens organisations
including the National Council of Women. She developed an international
presence as a feminist, perhaps the only Australian of this period to be
recognised around the world. Vida campaigned for peace and disarmament, as well
as birth control and equal naturalisation laws. Vida Goldstein died, an
almost forgotten figure, on 15 August 1949.
Books of
interest Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol.
9.
Henderson, L. M. (1973).The Goldstein Story, Melbourne:
Stockland Press.
Oldfield, Audrey. (1992). Woman Suffrage in
Australia: A Gift or a Struggle? Cambridge; Melbourne: Cambridge
University Press.
Women's Political Association. [ca. 1913]. The
Life and Work of Miss Vida Goldstein. Melbourne: Australasian Authors'
Agency. |