Australian Women in Religion Archive

The women listed below are included in the Australian Women in Religion Project list and have had a new Wikipedia page created since this project commenced in late 2019. Many other women on the list have had their Wikipedia pages updated and improved. Our goal was to create at least 100 new Wikipedia pages in 2021 and to reach 200 new articles by the end of 2023.

Wikipedia has a grading scale for articles. Most articles that this project will deal with will be in the range Stub - Start - C-class - B-class. The articles highlighted as C or B-class in the list below are therefore examples of high quality articles.

DYK refers to that article also appearing on Wikipedia's main page in the Did You Know? section.

1. Alice Mofflin - Australian philanthropist and Methodist lay leader - New in 2022
2. Alison Taylor (bishop) - Australian Anglican bishop
3. Alphia Possamai-Inesedy -  Sociology of religion academic
4. Angela Coco - Sociologist and academic - New in 2022
5. Anita Monro - academic, feminist theologian and minister in the Uniting Church in Australia - New in 2022
6. Anna Halafoff - Sociologist and academic - C-class article
7. Anne Daly - Mother Mary Berchmans, superior general of the Sisters of Charity
8. Anne Elvey - Australian academic and poet
9. Anne Pattel-Gray - an Aboriginal Australian theologian and author - C-class article
10. Anne Philomena O'Brien - historian, author and professor at the University of New South Wales
11. Anne Syrett Green - welfare worker and evangelist - New in 2022
12. Annie Bright - Australian journalist and spiritualist
13. Annie Lynch - religious sister and nurse who was the first provincial of the Little Company of Mary in Australasia - B-class article
14. Annie Mackenzie Golding - teacher, suffragette and feminist activist
15. Aunty Jean Phillips - Australian Indigenous Christian leader - New in 2022
16. Ayya Nirodha - Australian Buddhist nun
17. Barbara Bell - Catholic educationalist who later became a religious sister and joined the Religious of the Sacred Heart
18. Bernadette Tobin - Catholic ethicist and professor of philosophy
19. Bernice Moore - educator and former Sister of the Good Samaritan - New in 2022
20. Bertha Chatto St George Smith - Australian author and philanthropist notable for her work as national president of the Country Women's Association of Australia
21. Bertha Porush - Jewish community leader
22. Bessie Anstice Baker - writer, philanthropist and social reformer - B-class article + DYK
23. Bridget Doyle - Mary of St Joseph Doyle, member of Sisters of the Good Shepherd and first Prioress of the Abbotsford Convent
24. Bridget Partridge - Presentation Sister, whose flight from her convent in 1920 led to a sectarian scandal - B-class article + DYK
25. Brigid Arthur - Australian Brigidine sister, co-founder of the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project
26. Brigid McGuigan - school teacher and principal who became superior general of the Sisters of Charity - C-class article
27. Brooke Prentis - Australian Aboriginal Christian leader
28. Camille Agnes Becker Paul - feminist, moral theologian and activist
29. Carol Schwartz - Australian business executive and philanthropist - New in 2022
30. Carol Wagner - South-African born Australian Anglican bishop - C-class article
31. Caroline Ann Rowland - Ursuline nun, religious leader and teacher
32. Catherine Cecily O'Brien - Dominican sister and educationist
33. Catherine Coffey - Teacher of Catholic catechism in colonial Australia - New in 2022
34. Catherine Fitzpatrick - founder and first conductor of St Mary's Cathedral Choir in Sydney
35. Cathy Ross (missiologist) - New Zealand-born academic
36. Cecilia Downing - Baptist temperance and women's rights activist and leader
37. Cecily Maude O'Connell - trade unionist and religious social worker - C-class article
38. Charissa Suli - President-elect of the Uniting Church in Australia
39. Chi Kwang Sunim - Zen Buddhist nun
40. Chiara Porro - Australian diplomat
41. Claire Renkin - art historian and academic - C-class article
42. Clara Dunn - Teacher of the Baháʼí Faith in Australia and New Zealand in the first half of the 20th century - New in 2022
43. Clara Jane McLaughlin - Mary Berchmans, became superior general for the Sisters of the Good Samaritan
44. Clara Weekes - Australian suffragist, teacher, pacifist and trade unionist - New in 2023
45. Colleen O'Reilly - Anglican priest and Member of the Order of Australia
46. Constance Le Plastrier - Australian Catholic schoolteacher, botanist and writer who received the Cross of Pope Leo XIII (pro Ecclesia et Pontifice)
47. Constance Mary Ternent Cooke - Indigenous rights activist
48. Coralie Ling - first Methodist woman ordained in the state of Victoria
49. Cristina Rocha - anthropologist working at the intersection between globalisation, marginalisation and religion.
50. Denise A. Austin - Pentecostal historian
51. Denise Ferguson - New Zealand-born Anglican bishop in Australia
52. Denise Mary Champion - first Aboriginal woman from South Australia to be ordained in any Christian denomination - C-class article
53. Di Nicolios - Anglican priest - New in 2022
54. Dorothy Edna Genders - charity worker and a deaconess in the Anglican Church of Australia - C-class article
55. Edith Amelia Kerr - teacher, headmistress and Presbyterian missionary
56. Eileen Healy - Sister (later Mother) Bonaventure, Sister of Mercy, school principal and educationalist - C class article
57. Elaine Lindsay -  Australian academic instrumental in the development of the Women-Church journal
58. Eleanor Sanderson - New Zealand Anglican bishop
59. Eliza Pottie - social reformer, and a leader in temperance and suffrage activities in New South Wales - C-class article + DYK
60. Elizabeth Brentnall - Australian suffragist and temperance activist
61. Elizabeth Galloway Bell - president of the Buddhist Society of Victoria for twenty years
62. Elizabeth Hindson - The first Aboriginal person elected as a member of the national Bahá'í governing body for Australia - New in 2022
63. Elizabeth Joyce Smith - Australian hymnist and Anglican priest - C-class article
64. Elizabeth Julia Reid - journalist and a lay leader in the Grail movement for Catholic women - C-class article
65. Elizabeth Laurie Rees - Australian WCTU organizer
66. Elizabeth (LIz) Boase - Old Testament biblical scholar - C-class article
67. Ella (Mary Dunstan Wilson) - educator and member of the Sisters of Charity of Australia
68. Ellen Arnold - Baptist missionary
69. Ellen Atkinson - Aboriginal community leader - B-class article
70. Ellen (Sister Mary Alphonsus) O'Doherty - religious who became the superior general of the Sisters of Charity of Australia - C-class article
71. Elsie Heiss - Australian indigenous elder and Catholic religious leader - C-class article
72. Emma Caroline Silcock - Sister (later Mother) Esther, Anglican religious sister and community worker 
73. Erin White - Feminist philosopher and theologian - New in 2022
74. Frances Barkman - Jewish community leader
75. Frances Margaret McGuire - New in 2022
76. Frances Perry - Philanthropist and community worker
77. Freer Helen Latham - schoolteacher and leader in the global Methodist women's movement - C-class article
78. Geraldine Scholastica Gibbons - founder and first superior of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan
79. Gertrude Amy Roseby - Congregationalist lay leader, school teacher, principal and school owner
80. Gertrude Healy - Musician and Sister of Mercy
81. Glenys Livingstone - Independent scholar and goddess practitioner - New in 2022
82. Gloria Shipp - Australia's first Indigenous woman Anglican priest - New in 2024
83. Grace Emily Munro - Founder of the Country Women's Association of Australia
84. Helen Plummer Phillips - Australian educator, missionary and philanthropist - New in 2022 -  B-class article
85. Hilary Carey - Australian religious historian
86. Hilda May Abba - Australian Congregationalist minister and academic
87. Isabel McCorkindale - Australian temperance, suffrage and women's rights activist
88. Isabella Goldstein - Australian suffragist, temperance advocate and social reformer - C-class article
89. Isabelle E Merry - Congregational minister and chaplain at Queen Victoria Hospital in Melbourne
90. Jane Macartney - Australian philanthropist, religious worker and teacher - C-class article
91. Janet Khan - Researcher, author and member of the Australian Bahá'í Community - C-class article - New in 2023
92. Janet Scarfe - Australian academic and historian involved with the Movement for the Ordination of Women - New in 2022
93. Janette Gray - Sister of Mercy theologian - C-class article
94. Janina Hiebel - academic and Biblical scholar - C-class article
95. Jean Gledhill - Australian feminist church leader - New in 2023
96. Jean Skuse - Methodist church official, also held leadership positions with Australian Council of Churches and World Council of Churches 
97. Jo Inkpin - Australia’s first openly transgender Anglican priest - C-class article + DYK
98. Joan Nowotny - professor of philosophy and first woman to lead a theological institution in Australia
99. Julia Kindt - academic and author specialising in ancient Greek history and religion
100. Kate Prowd - Anglican bishop
101. Katharine Massam - Church historian
102. Kathleen Kemarre Wallace - Eastern Arrernte artist, author, custodian and cultural leader
103. Kathleen Mary Burrow - Australian physiotherapist, businesswoman and Catholic lay leader - New in 2022
104. Kathleen McPhillips - Sociologist of religion and gender - C-class article
105. Kathleen Williams (theologian) - Sister of Mercy and academic - C-class article
106. Kim Power - Academic, church historian and feminist theologian - New in 2022
107. Laura Francis (missionary) - Australian Methodist church worker
108. Lilian 'Alá'í - Australian Bahá’í woman with the title of Knight of Baháʼu'lláh - New in 2024
109. Lilian Scholes - Australian Methodist preacher and theologian - C-class article
110. Lilian Wells - First moderator of the New South Wales Uniting Church Synod - C-class article - New in 2022
111. Linda Cassell - Former professional Australian tennis player, now member of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan - New in 2022
112. Louisa Angelina (Lena) Santospirito - community worker who aided Italian immigrants during and after World War II - C-class article
113. Louise Grimes - Australian musician and teacher, first woman organist at St John's Cathedral - C-class article
114. Lynne Hume - anthropologist of religion - New in 2022
115. Majella Franzmann - Professor at University of Sydney and Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities - New in 2022
116. Margaret Dixson - Early follower of the Bahá'í Faith in Australia - New in 2022
117. Margaret Holmes - Australian ecumenist and NGO leader, known for refugee resettlement
118. Marie Louise Uhr -  biochemist and leader in the movement advocating for the ordination of women in the Catholic Church
119. Marion Knowles - journalist, poet, writer and Catholic charity worker
120. Marion Macfarlane - first woman to be ordained in the Anglican Church in Australia - C-class article + DYK
121. Marita Munro - Church historian and first woman to be ordained in the Baptist Church in Australia
122. Marjorie Liddy - Catholic Indigenous elder and artist - New in 2022
123. Martha Mary O'Neill - Mother Patricia, became superior general for the Australian Union of the Sisters of Mercy - C-class article
124. Martha Turner - Unitarian minister, and the first woman to work as a Christian minister in Australia - C-class article
125. Mary Baptist De Lacy - Irish-born Sister of Charity, and one of the first religious sisters to come to Australia - C-class article
126. Mary Catherine Bruton - Australian Sister of Charity
127. Mary Cover Lawry - Pioneer missionary to Tonga - New in 2022
128. Mary Dunne - Sister Regis Mary Dunne, Sister of Mercy nun and biochemist
129. Mary Gertrude - born Anne Greene, nurse, provincial superior, and member of the Sisters of St John of God
130. Mary Healy - Mother Gertrude, Sister of Charity & hospital administrator
131. Mary Kate Barlow - Catholic lay leader, philanthropist, editor, and women's advocate - C-class article + DYK
132. Mary L. Coloe - religious sister and New Testament biblical scholar who specializes in the Gospel of John - C-class article
133. Mary Maria Andrews - Anglican Deaconess, missionary and church leader
134. Mary May Scollen - religious Sister of Mercy who was notable for her nursing and hospital administration - C-class article
135. Mary Paul Mulquin - Irish-born Roman Catholic nun and educationist
136. Mary Schleicher - first deaconess in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney
137. Mary Ursula Grachan - Presentation Sister
138. Maryanne Confoy - Sister of Charity and academic - C-class article
139. Maureen Flood - Australian religious sister from Servants of the Blessed Sacrament order - New in 2022
140. Melissa Brickell - Indigenous Australian welfare worker - New in 2022
141. Meredith Lake - Australian author, historian of religion and broadcaster - C-class article
142. Minnie Lindsay Carpenter - Australian writer and an officer in The Salvation Army in Australia - C-class article + DYK
143. Miriam Fink - Jewish community worker - New in 2023
144. Mother Mary Xavier Dooley - Presentation Sister
145. Muriel Stanley - an Indigenous Australian Anglican home missionary
146. Norah Martin - later known by her religious name Mother Mary Bernard, superior general of the Little Company of Mary for 12 years - C-class article
147. Patricia Fox - member of the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion
148. Patricia Madigan - Australian religious academic and Dominican sister
149. Penny Magee - scholar of religion specialising in feminist studies and Eastern Religions - New in 2022
150. Peta Sherlock - Anglican priest ordained in 1992 and the first woman Dean of an Anglican diocese in Australia - New in 2023
151. Phyllis Le Cappelaine Burke - English-born Australian market researcher, social reformer and housing commissioner - B-class article + DYK
152. Robina Fordyce Cowper - women's rights activist, magistrate and temperance advocate
153. Rosa MacGinley - Australian Presentation sister, academic and historian of women religious - New in 2022
154. Rose Hanigan - Mercy sister and hospital administrator - C-class article
155. Rosemary Crumlin -  Sister of Mercy, art historian, educator and exhibition curator - C-class article + DYK
156. Ruby Sophia Rich - Jewish community leader, feminist and pianist - New in 2023
157. Sandra Levy - Jewish television producer
158. Sarah Jane Lancaster - Australian Pentecostal leader - C-class article
159. Sister Irene O'Connor - Australian Roman Catholic nun from the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary order and a musician
160. Sister Mary Vincent Shelverton - teacher and Sister of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
161. Sonia Roulston - Australian Anglican bishop
162. Sophie McGrath - historian and religious Sister of Mercy - New in 2022
163. Subhana Barzaghi - First female Zen Roshi teacher in Australia
164. Susanna Pain - Australian Anglican priest - New in 2023
165. Thea Gaia - first female ordained within the Congregational Church of Australia in Queensland - New in 2022
166. Theresa (Cissie) McLaughlin - Catholic religious sister and leader of Our Lady's Nurses for the Poor
167. Tracey Rowland - Roman Catholic theologian and professor  - C-class article
168. Una Porter - Australian psychiatrist and philanthropist, active in the YWCA - New in 2022
169. Veronica Willaway - Indigenous Australian and Benedictine religious sister - C class article
170. Wendy Solling - a sculptor and Anglican Franciscan nun- C-class article + DYK
171. Yeshe Khadro - Ordained Buddhist nun
172. Magdalene (newsletter) - Australian Christian feminist magazine (1973-1987) - New in 2022
173. Women-Church journal - Australian feminist theology journal (1987-2007) - New in 2022
174. Movement for the Ordination of Women (newsletter) - New in 2023
175. Preachers, Prophets and Heretics (book) - New in 2023
176. Towards a Feminist Theology - publication based on first national ecumenical feminist theology conference held in Australia - New in 2023
177. Women Authoring Theology - publication based on national ecumenical feminist theology conference held in 1991 - New in 2023
178. Dangerous Memory - publication based on national ecumenical feminist theology conference held in 1995 - New in 2023
179. Women and the Australian Church - ecumenical religious organisation founded in 1984 - New in 2023
180. List of the first women ordained as priests in the Anglican Church of Australia in 1992 - New in 2023
181. List of women bishops in the Anglican Church of Australia - New in 2024