Henrietta Augusta Dugdale was a pioneering figure in the Australian women’s suffrage movement, recognised for her tireless advocacy for women’s rights. Born in London, she relocated to Melbourne in 1852 and quickly became a prominent voice for gender equality in Australia. Dugdale’s activism began to gain significant attention with her public letter in The Argus on 13 April 1869, in which she criticised a bill that provided only limited property rights for women, calling it a “piece of the grossest injustice.”

Dugdale’s leadership extended to her role as the president of the Victorian Women’s Suffrage Society, the first of its kind in Australia, which she established alongside Annie Lowe, friend and suffragette campaigner. In this capacity, she fought for women’s equal political, legal, and social rights. Her contributions to feminist literature include her 1883 book A Few Hours in a Far-off Age, a utopian allegory that critiques male ignorance and envisions a society with gender equality.

Henrietta Dugdale established the Victorian Women’s Suffrage Society in 1884.

She also outspokenly criticised the legal system for its failure to protect women from violence, highlighting the injustice of laws made by those who perpetuated such violence. Her efforts were instrumental in Australia becoming the second country in the world to grant women the right to vote in 1902.

In 2013, the Victorian Women’s Trust created a third entity to widen the scope and reach of our advocacy and harm prevention work. We named this entity after Henrietta Dugdale — The Dugdale Trust for Women & Girls. We are proud to help enshrine her legacy, creating tangible gender equality outcomes that improve the lives of women and girls across Australia.

Some of our recent projects within the Dugdale Trust for Women and Girls include:

• Rosie: a youth platform that breaks down key concepts like consent, respectful relationships, bullying, and feminism. Rosie exists to answer teens’ most pressing questions and point them in the direction of targeted support services. Learn more: rosie.org.au
  

• Club Respect: all about respect in community sports, Club Respect offers manuals, workshops, podcasts, blogs and more to help people in local sporting clubs embed a culture of respect from the ground up. Visit: clubrespect.org.au
  

• The Trap: hosted by Jess Hill, author of See What You Made Me Do, The Trap is about love, violence and control, exploring the critical blockers to women’s safety in Australia. Listen: www.vwt.org.au/thetrap
  

• About Bloody Time: a pioneering research publication and ongoing policy work unpacking the oppressive and harmful menstrual taboo, and showing a way forward to developing positive menstrual culture. Pick up a copy: vwt.org.au/shop
  
  
• WorkCycle: a direct outcome of our years of research on menstruation and menopause, WorkCycle is a professional workplace program, supporting workers to establish and maintain policies that support a positive menopause culture. Find out more: https://chalicefoundation.org/workcycle/

Henrietta Dugdale passed away on 17 June 1918. She had made a profound impact in fighting for gender equality in Australia. In 2017, in recognition of her contribution, Google honoured Dugdale with a ‘doodle’ on their homepage, celebrating her legacy and impact.

The Google Doodle honors Henrietta Augusta Dugdale, the first Australian woman to publicly advocate for women’s equality with a letter published in Melbourne’s Argus newspaper 148 years ago. Photograph: Google (2017).