Australian Women in Religion Archive

40th Anniversary

Movement for the Ordination of Women: History, Origins and Key Figures - Article by Rev Marian Free in Anglican Focus on Thursday 28 September 2023

'Grit, grace and spirit': Women priests move on without Sydney - Article by Trinity Taylor in Newsworthy  on 22 September 2023.

Women's ordination champions to celebrate 40 years of activism - Article by Jenan Tayor in The Melbourne Anglican on 16 August 2023.

Kay Goldsworthy is flying to Sydney. She won't be an archbishop when she lands. Argh, men. Article by Julia Baird in the Sydney Morning Herald on 16 September 2023. (requires subscription to access)

MOW in Sydney: 40 Years of Activism - Ruth Champion and Elaine Lindsay

30th Anniversary

On 16-18 September 2022 a conference was held in Sydney to mark the 30th Anniversary of the Ordination of Women in Australia.
MOW's Unfinished Business Conference website provides access to the conference program booklet and video presentations.
The conference program booklet includes a list of the 92 women who were ordained priest in 1992.

Celebrating 30 years of women priests in Australian -  Article in The Guardian: a publication of the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide - 17 February 2022

Women's Ordination in the Anglican Church of Australia - article by Dorothy Lee FAHA - Published by the Australian Academy of the Humanities

The Gippsland Anglican Newsletter - November 2022 - Includes article by Elaine Lindsay on the Unfinished Business Conference and an article by Keren Terpstra on women clergy in Gippsland. 

Timelines

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement_for_the_Ordination_of_Women   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_women%27s_religious_ordination

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordination_of_women

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordination_of_women_in_the_Anglican_Communion

Papers

The Movement for the Ordination of Women in the Anglican Church in Australia

Several MOW branches and people involved in the ‘early days’ have put their papers in State Libraries for future researchers.

• Under Australian MOW History - some of the papers listed have extensive finding aids which illustrate what rich collections they are.
• Janet Scarfe, former national president of MOW, following Patricia Brennan, worked on the papers for Reverend Caroline Pearce and they went to the State Library of South Australia. They comprise: correspondence; papers for the Movement for the Ordination of Women for which Rev. Caroline Pearson was a founding member; and material relating to her study in the United States at the General Theological in New York and her ordination.
• The archives of the Western Australian branch of the Movement for the Ordination of Women are located in the State Library of Western Australia. See the list of items in this collection.
• Mavis Rose has her records in the State Library of Queensland.
• Alison Gent's papers are in the State Library of South Australia and the University of Adelaide.
• Janet Scarfe's Papers are located in the State Library of South Australia.

Exhibition

From Biscuits to Bishops A celebration of Anglican women’s history in the Diocese of Brisbane. This exhibition was part of a women's history project compiled by Gwenneth Roberts on the St John's Cathedral (Brisbane) site.

One part of the online exhibition, The late 20th century – The Path to Ordination - includes MOW biographies and videos.