Women Archives

Hidden women of history: Maria Sibylla Merian, 17th-century entomologist and scientific adventurer

by History Guild | Mar 8, 2023 | Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 8 minutes
Most school kids can describe in detail the life cycle of butterflies: eggs hatch into caterpillars, caterpillars turn into cocoons and cocoons hatch. This seemingly basic bit of biology was once hotly debated. It was a pioneering naturalist, Maria Sibylla Merian, whose meticulous observations conclusively linked caterpillars to butterflies, laying the groundwork for the fields of entomology, animal behaviour and ecology.

Women in the Second World War: Military service in East Africa

by History Guild | Dec 8, 2022 | Military History | 0

Reading time: 8 minutes
Hundreds of women served with the British Army in East Africa, and their role in the conflict goes largely untold.

Australian politics explainer: how women gained the right to vote

by History Guild | Nov 24, 2022 | Political and Economic History | 0

Reading time: 5 minutes
Between 1894 and 1908 a wave of women’s enfranchisement swept across Australia. Beginning in South Australia in 1894 and ending 14 years later in Victoria, Australia’s six colonies allowed women to vote.

The Woman King is more than an action movie – it shines a light on the women warriors of Benin

by History Guild | Nov 22, 2022 | Military History | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes
The Woman King is a big-budget Hollywood movie that has been anticipated since 2018, when US star Viola Davis was announced as the lead in the story of the “amazons” of Dahomey. Rising South African star Thuso Mbedu also takes a key role in the film, which has premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and is heading to cinemas worldwide.

Women in the Second World War: The Palestinian Auxiliary Territorial Service

by History Guild | Sep 21, 2022 | Military History | 0

Reading time: 8 minutes
As the women’s branch of the British Army during the Second World War, the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) was formed in 1938. Women serving in the ATS were tasked with the ultimate aim of ‘freeing up’ men for combatant roles on the front line.

Women in the Second World War: The sinking of SS Khedive Ismail

by History Guild | Jul 14, 2022 | Military History | 0

Reading time: 7 minutes
On the afternoon of 12 February 1944, travelling in a convoy from Mombasa to Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka), troopship SS Khedive Ismail was struck by two Japanese torpedoes just south-west of the Maldives. Hit directly in the vicinity of its engine and boiler rooms, the ship sank within just two minutes of the attack. Of the 1,506 passengers and crew on board, mostly military personnel, there were little more than 200 survivors.

On the money: Kate Sheppard and the making of a New Zealand feminist icon

by History Guild | Jan 17, 2022 | Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 7 minutes
In 1992 four New Zealand icons (and the queen) appeared on new banknotes. Part of creating national identity, these notable citizens were chosen to represent the pinnacles of achievement.

How the Australian Women’s Weekly spoke to ‘50s housewives about the Cold War

by History Guild | Nov 28, 2021 | Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 5 minutes
Esmé Fenston, by the end of the 1950s, the Australian Women’s Weekly was selling over 805,000 copies a week. More than half of all Australian women read the magazine.