About this exhibition
Tracing Her Steps: Women in Boroondara Local Government celebrates the women leaders who have served as mayors in the City of Boroondara and former cities of Camberwell, Hawthorn and Kew between 1954 and 2020.
To acknowledge 100 years since the first woman was elected to local government in Victoria, Tracing Her Steps details the contribution of women in our local government area, by highlighting the 17 women who served in the highest position of governance within our municipality.
The first female candidate, Mrs E B Blagdon, stood for Council in the Power Ward for the City of Hawthorn in 1930 but was not elected. In 1948, Marie Dalley became the first female elected to Council in the City of Kew. Marie made history once again in 1954 when she also became the first female Mayor of the Kew municipality.
In the years since these pioneering women ran their electoral campaigns, 53 women have served as Councillors and 17 have served as Mayors in the City of Boroondara and the former cities of Camberwell, Hawthorn and Kew.
Tracing Her Steps commemorates the trailblazing women whose passion, determination and perseverance helped shape our community.
Featuring Mayoral portraits, historic objects and ephemera from the Town Hall Gallery Collection and Boroondara Library Service, this exhibition was postponed due to closures forced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tracing Her Steps: Women in Boroondara Local Government was on display at Hawthorn Arts Centre from 3 March to 2 August 2020.
This black and white photograph shows Mayor Councillor Marie Dalley chairing the City of Kew Council meeting in the Council Chamber of the Walpole Street, Kew Town Hall on 23 August 1955. Mayor Councillor Marie Dalley is wearing the Kew mayoral jabot and robe.
Artist Clifton Pugh painted Betty Marginson in his Dunmoochin studio in 1976. Pugh was a family friend of Betty and Ray Marginson and offered to paint Betty in recognition of being the first woman mayor in the City of Hawthorn. Marginson is depicted wearing the Hawthorn mayoral jabot, robe and chains.
Clifton Pugh was an Australian artist best known for his landscapes and portraiture. Pugh studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School and set up an artist colony at Dunmoochin, which became the Dunmoochin Artists Society in 1953. Pugh was noted for his portraits of politicians, artists, writers and academics and was equally acclaimed for depicting the Australian bush. Pugh was awarded the Archibald Prize three times, in 1954, 1965 and 1972 and his works are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, National Portrait Gallery and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, among others.
Artist and Kew resident Donald Cameron painted Kaye Cole during the first half of her year as Mayor of Kew. Cole is depicted wearing the City of Kew mayoral robe, jabot, cuffs, and chains.
Donald Cameron was an Australian painter and teacher who attended Scotch College before beginning work as an engraver for the Commonwealth Bank in 1943. He studied portraiture under William Dargie at the Victorian Art School, National Gallery of Victoria, and was a finalist in the Archibald Prize thirteen times.
The Mayor’s Hat is a black felt Edwardian hat, with feather decorative trim and a velvet covered button and rosette. The Mayor’s Hat was worn as part of the extended mayoral regalia for the City of Kew. Interested in heritage conservation, Councillor Jill O’Brien commissioned the restoration of the Kew Mayoral Robe and hat when she was Mayor in 1984. The maker of the Mayor’s Hat was Zita.
Mayor Councillor Jane Nathan is pictured within the foundations for one of the office blocks intended to become the Hawthorn Council municipal office extension. This photo was taken at the Hawthorn Town Hall to promote the Council’s planning strategy. Brochures were also distributed to the community with a request for feedback from residents on the kind of city they wanted Hawthorn to be in the future.
This red mayoral robe with brown lapin fur trim and white satin lining was commissioned in 1979 by Kaye Cole, and was worn by the Mayors of the former City of Kew including Cole, Jill O’Brien and Phyllis Hore. The maker of the Kew Mayoral Robe is Raymond W Bredin & Son, robe makers based in Chelsea, Victoria.
During her time as Mayor from 1983-84, Jill O’Brien was the first Mayor of Kew to abandon wearing the robes during Council meetings.
This photograph, published in the Progress Press captures Mayor Councillor Barbara van Ernst inspecting the Guard of Honour at the Australia Day Celebrations at Hawthorn Town Hall on 26 January 1992.
The jabot and matching cuffs are made from cream coloured cotton lace attached in a tier design to a cotton band with elastic fastener. The jabot and cuffs were worn by the Mayors of the former City of Hawthorn, including Betty Marginson and Dr Rosalind McMillan. The jabot and cuffs were traditionally worn with the mayoral regalia including robe and chains, for ceremonial or formal events and were worn for the official mayoral portrait. The maker of the Hawthorn jabot and cuffs was Riddel.
