Changemakers: an exhibition for our times

Dame Quentin Bryce AD, CVO; Virginia Haussegger AM, Guest Curator, at the launch of Changemakers, 21 June 2022.

On 21 June, 2022, Dame Quentin Bryce launched the Australian Women Changemakers exhibition, at the Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD), Old Parliament House, Canberra. Since the exhibition opened I’ve often been asked, as Guest Curator, why I chose to highlight the women featured in Changemakers and why this exhibition is so important right now. In the next few blog posts, I will attempt to explain some of the thinking behind these decisions, starting with the question ‘Why is Changemakers an important exhibition and what makes it pertinent to our times right now?’

Perhaps the most striking thing about the Australian Women Changemakers exhibition is to learn how the issues and reform agendas that some of our key women Changemakers were working on 40 and 50 years ago, haven’t actually changed much from the very issues we’re still battling today!

Yes, the numbers of women in leadership and public life have changed significantly and continue to show a healthy upward trajectory, as the outstanding success of women at the recent 2022 federal election demonstrated, but the fundamental issues central to the inequality between men and women that our older Changemakers were fighting decades ago are still pertinent in 2022. 

This really hit me when we managed to track down the only surviving copy of a report about an IWD women’s conference held in Mt Isa, run by the Queensland Women’s Information Service in 1986. Quentin Bryce was Director of the organisation and the detailed report, which included a beautiful hand drawn map of all the far-flung regional towns from which rural women travelled to attend the conference, outlined a two day agenda that included discussion on such things as women’s economic empowerment and fair pay; leadership and how to access power (rather quaintly referred to as “getting clout”); the inequity faced by Aboriginal women: the special needs of migrant women; access to sexual and reproductive health services; tax policy discrimination against women; universal, affordable childcare; housing affordability and discrimination experienced by single mothers and Aboriginal women; and the lack of women in political representation.

There was even a resolution at the conference demanding the appointment of a female Governor General. Ironically, Quentin Bryce, who 17 years later become our first and only female Governor General, was not mentioned in that particular discussion, or news articles about it. Rather, in her role as Director of the WIS, Bryce was already turning her focus towards what she sensed was an emerging epidemic of domestic violence in Australia. An issue she began tackling head on when she became the Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner two years later in 1988. 

I was delighted to include in the exhibition a fading old telegram about that appointment from Susan Ryan, who was the only woman in Federal Cabinet and the architect of the Sex Discrimination Act. It was a congratulatory note to Bryce on her appointment, noting that that particular Act of parliament was Susan’s “proudest achievement”.  

One of my favourite items in the exhibition, along with Anne Summer’s manual typewriter, and Natasha Stott Despoja’s Doc Martin shoes, is a tee-shirt worn by Quentin Bryce to the Mt Isa women’s conference. Not only does the slogan emblazed across the front still resonate: ‘Giving women a say… a choice … a fair go!’, but the fact this conference tee-shirt was designed by her husband, the late Michael Bryce, makes it particularly poignant. Clearly, he was a feminist partner from the outset!

Woven though the Changemaker exhibition are six key themes that link the advocacy and activism of women from mid last century, right through to today. With input from that great Australian feminist historian, Professor Marilyn Lake, each of the themes have been beautifully articulated by Changemaker’s chief curator Jennifer Forest, one of the calmest, most patient women I’ve ever worked with! 

The first of those themes, ‘Hear us speak’, highlights women’s ongoing demand to have a voice in parliament, in workplaces, on sport’s fields and in the community: clearly a theme that has a powerful resonance right now.

The theme, ‘ Because of her we can’, acknowledges that over time, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have always had a different experience of feminism and a unique set of intersecting challenges. Visitors to the exhibition will see there is a beautiful textile banner with this theme emblazoned across it at the entrance to Changemakers. At its centre is a carefully reproduced photo of ‘Queenie’, a proud Wadawurrung woman known as Queen Mary of Ballarat, who is the great, great, great grandmother of the young artist, Kait James, who produced this gorgeous piece. Like all the banner art in the exhibition, it is infused with deep sentiment and pride, passed on to a young generation of artists and craftivists who are transforming the echoes of history in exquisitely unique and powerful ways.

With strong contemporary resonance, the theme ‘Believe me’ echoes recent campaigns by young women such as Grace Tame, Brittney Higgins and Saxon Mullins. But, importantly, it also serves to connect these voices to the same angry demand by women throughout Australia’s history, such as feminist publisher and suffragist Louisa Lawson, whose radical publications took on the patriarchy one hundred years ago. 

The theme ‘Biology is not destiny’, highlights the specific work of second wave feminists to expand women’s roles beyond childbirth and childcare. Sadly, the recent overturning of Roe v Wade in the United States and the shocking reversal of a woman’s right to take control of her own body, again highlights how the themes underpinning our Changemaker exhibition are universal, ongoing, and far from resolved. 

‘Fair Play’ is a theme focusing on fairness in access and participation across all areas of a woman’s life, be it on the sports field, in the board room, in the parliament. And the final theme of ‘Pay Up’ focuses on women’s economic independence, which has seen significant strides in law reform around issues such as access to home loans and finance: but sadly, frustratingly, the vexed issue of the gender pay gap, along with women’s very low levels of superannuation and rising levels of female aged poverty, are stark reminders of ongoing gender discrimination in our nation.

I believe MoAD’s Changemaker exhibition is critically important, particularly at this point in our democratic progress, to remind us that women’s rights in this country have been hard won as a result of generations of gutsy, bold and determined women taking action and refusing to be silenced. What we’ve seen during the 2021 March4Justice, and heard recently in the voices of young women demanding policy and political reform around sexual violence and harassment, echo a strong and proud Australian history of women speaking up.

It is a reminder that we stand on the shoulders of many other women who have come before us. This exhibition focuses specifically on recent, modern-day battles in the latter half of last century, which clearly still have resounding resonance today. However, underpinning the activism represented in Changemakers, is a proud and very strong Australian tradition of female courage, determination and willingness to be outspoken in the face of inequity and outright misogyny. This tradition harks right back to those fabulous, law-breaking suffragettes, and the generations that preceded them.

Dame Quentin Bryce AC, CIVC and Director of MoAD, Daryl Karp AM, at the launch of Changemakers, 21 June 2022

The women reshaping our nation: Australian Women Changemakers

“It’s important to remember that this happened by accident”. Chanel Contos stares into space, as she tries to explain what thrust her into the national spotlight last year, and led to the most profound change in Australian schools’ sex education program imaginable.

In spearheading the ‘Teach Us Consent’ campaign, 24 year old Contos has not just changed the national curriculum, she is fundamentally changing our culture. The ramifications of embedding physical and emotional respect into the sex lives of our young sons and daughters cannot be overestimated.

And she calls it an ‘accident’.

Unlike many of the women whose lives I’ve been picking apart, trying to x-ray the events and challenges they’ve faced in order to understand what turns an ordinary Aussie girl into a formidable ‘changemaker’, Contos can point to a pivotal ‘moment’. When her social media post asking about incidents of sexual assault in private boy’s schools immediately drew thousands of explicit, shocking testimonials, she was overwhelmed. Then, a gut-wrenching moment of furious realisation kicked her into action.

But for many Australian women who have, one way or another, forced significant change on our cultural, social, political and policy landscape, that is not the case. For many their advocacy and activism doesn’t kick off with the sound of a siren. Rather, it’s a slow build. Or, as Mary Crooks puts it, “a dawning realisation”.

For over two and half decades Crooks has led the Victorian Women’s Trust, a powerhouse of policy innovations and experimentation in democratic participatory processes to advance gender equity. Under Crooks stewardship the VWT developed a powerful model of ‘Kitchen Table Conversations’, that has been adopted by numerous political candidates, and is now a central feature of the ‘Voices for’ campaigns.

But unlike some of Australia’s younger women changemakers, whose personal profile is central to their campaign of change, Crooks is old school. For her it’s all about the collective. And that changemaker mantra – ‘collaboration’. Crooks insists she never stops at consultation: “it’s not just about listening to the views of others”, she says, “it’s about working together, collaboratively” to design solutions to complex social and community problems.

As for why her? Why has Crooks taken up the mantle, dedicating her life to changemaking, while the rest of us stand back? Well, as with many Australian women changemakers, the reason seems to be buried in their DNA. They are just born to change the world.

Or, as Jane Caro puts it, “destroy the joint”.

Some years ago, after copping rounds of social media abuse for being outspoken about sexism, misogyny, agism, private school privilege and social inequity, Jane took to the stage at the Sydney Opera House to set the naysayers straight. “Tragically, I couldn’t give a shit whether you think I have a right to speak up or not,” she told the audience, “I am constitutionally incapable of not speaking up… if I see injustice, if I see something wrong, I can’t shut up about it.”

But why are some women infused with a passion to set wrongs right and fix the world? Particularly when it gets a mouthy girl into trouble?

“I don’t know” says a baffled Jane. “Maybe there’s a gene for it. Maybe I’ve got some crazy ‘speak up about it’ mental illness.”

Far from a ‘mental illness’, the seething anger at injustice and inequity that Australian women have displayed, throughout our history, demonstrates a palpable sense of hope.

Underneath the expression of anger and the myriad and creative ways women push back against cultural, social, political and policy injustice, are the roots of hope: a belief that things can be better. It’s a profound show of faith in a world that is kinder, fairer and more equitable – for all.

In my long study of Australian Women Changemakers, as guest curator of a timely new exhibition to open this week at the Museum of Australian Democracy, I initially went in search of some kind of feminist holy grail. I was looking for that special ‘thing’ that imbues some women with more steely courage, determination and changemaking chutzpah … than the rest of us. I desperately wanted to know what it was. Because, if I’m to be perfectly honest, I want a piece of it!

Who doesn’t want a sliver of that steely spine Australian women have demonstrated over and over: that tough nut resilience against pervasive and entrenched misogyny and the sexist and racist culture imposed on this nation since the bullies and bulldozers first arrived over two hundred years ago?

Right now, with Australian women still reeling from a particularly shameful period in our political history, in which females were not only marginalised but brutalised by government contempt and gender ignorance, it’s often forgotten that Australia was once a world leader in gender equity.

Under Gough Whitlam in 1973, Australia appointed the world’s first government advisor on women’s affairs, Elizabeth Reid. In 1984 the first woman in a Labor Cabinet, Susan Ryan, changed the course of history by pushing through the world’s first Sex Discrimination Act, which expanded the Human Rights Commission to include a Sex Discrimination Commissioner. A role later filled by Quentin Bryce, one of our star changemakers.

Australian ‘femocrats’ were the envy of their US sisters. Beyond lobbying from the sidelines and making headlines with noisy Women’s Liberation protest marches, the Aussie shielas were infiltrating government bureaucracy and altering policy from within.

By focusing on our living examples of leading Australian Women Changemakers, this exhibition, albeit small in space but big in spirit, hopes to nudge every woman and young girl who visits to know that they too can be a changemaker.

As young women such as Grace Tame, Brittney Higgins, Saxon Mullins and Tayla Harris have shown the nation, you don’t have to occupy a privileged seat among the patriarchal elites to shakeup the system. Indeed, the stories of our diverse collection of changemakers, young and old, are testament to that. These are all ordinary women who looked injustice or a personal challenge in the eye, and rose up to do extraordinary things.

Central to my choice of Australian Women Changemakers are women whose work has found its way into my journalism over the past three decades and shaped my thinking about the role, status and power of women in our nation. As such, my list will no doubt be different from yours. But here is something I have found to be universal: changmakers are shaped by an emotion, not a plan. There is no roadmap. Changemakers fail and fall over. But they get up again. And again.

Among my leading changemakers Dame Quentin Bryce is a standout: a feminist giant, with an enduring passion for social justice and women’s rights. Her unyielding faith in the courage and strength of Australian women is awe inspiring and serves as a powerful lesson in hope.

Germaine Greer also takes a top spot. A serious ‘bad-ass’ woman, who doesn’t apologise for the ferocity of her feminism and seems unbothered by criticism, Greer forces us to think.

Another giant of the second wave feminist movement, Anne Summers’ meticulous journalism and tireless dedication to improving women’s lives has never faulted, as she continues to collect evidence and forge new pathways. Similarly, Natasha Stott Despoja has devoted a career to fighting the good fight for women’s rights, innately attuned to where feminist energies are best deployed.

Grace Tame too is glorious as a changemaker role model: powered by unwavering conviction and sisterhood connection. As is refugee advocate Nyadol Nyuon, whose bold call to reimagine Australia is one of the most inspired speeches I’ve ever heard.

But its indigenous leaders such as Megan Davis and national treasure Lowitja O’Donoghue, whose changemakers journeys leave me breathless. The intersecting challenges and injustices these women have navigated to forge new chapters in Australia’s history takes us beyond political and policy changemaking. It’s soul shifting.

Chanel Contos - one of the many significant Australian Women Changemakers featured in the new exhibition guest curated by Virginia Haussegger at the Museum of Australian Democracy in Canberra.