2018 marks the centenary of the Women’s Legal Status Act 1918 (NSW), which paved the way for women to become lawyers for the first time in NSW, as well as allowing women to stand for the NSW Parliament.
The First 100 Years project started in England, to celebrate the 2019 centenary of women practising law in that jurisdiction. However, various Australian States granted women this right long before it was granted in England. Victoria was the first state to allow women to practise law in 1903, Tasmania in 1904, Queensland in 1905, South Australia in 1911, and the final centenary will occur in Western Australia in 2023.
The First 100 Years Project was launched in 2017, and hosted a gala event at State Parliament on the evening of 26 November 2018. Former Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick was the keynote speaker.
Read more: https://first100years.com.au
Jennifer Batrouney QC, President, Australian Bar Association, and Dominique Hogan-Doran SC at the First 100 Years Gala Dinner at NSW Parliament House, 26 November 2018.
Australian Law Reform Commission President, Rosalind Croucher, Dominique Hogan-Doran SC and barrister Ingrid King, at the launch of the First 100 Years Project on 15 November 2017.