Women and Work

Readers will remember Anne Riggs’ accounts of the foundation of Geelong’s woollen mills. In this article she pursues a topic which derives from her earlier work, the employment of women – in particular the employment of women in Geelong, especially in the mills.

---

Women and work, 1860-1914: The Background

The dominant ideology in the nineteenth century was that a respectable woman’s place was in the home. Women’s work roles were based on two assumptions: the natural division of labour between the sexes and, secondly, that the main reason for working was pecuniary. Both assumptions reflect the social attitudes of the time when work outside the home was thought to be unladylike and therefore had no prestige. Work was identified with poverty and necessity. This ideology demanded that a male support the female members of his family and his prestige as a male depended upon his ability to do so. Therefore married women were not expected to work outside their homes. For young single women, work was seen as an interlude before marriage at which time they were expected to leave the workforce. Consequently, single women whether deserted wives, spinsters or widows were an anomaly, who were neither provided for within the ideology nor within the workforce.

From the 1860s the variety and number of employment opportunities for both men and women increased. As can be seen in Table 1 manufacturing industries began absorbing the surplus labour of the colony, influencing both wages and employment.¹

Table 1: Employment in manufacturing industries: NSW and Victoria

Investigator	1861	1871
New South Wales	12,220	13,580
Victoria	6,400	19,570

Source: Coghlan, op. cit. p. 1199

Coghlan also estimates that in 1871, of the 19,570 persons employed in the Victorian manufacturing industry, 2,630 (or 13.44 per cent.) were women.²

Technological advances, like the typewriter, telegraph and telephone, also provided employment opportunities for women, as did an increasing number of professions. Despite these changes, women’s workforce participation was proscribed by the “suitability” of the job, and whether it came within the perceived female role of “the carer” in society. According to the census, domestic duties included “those engaged in domestic offices or duties of wives, mothers, mistresses of families, children and relatives not otherwise returned”.³ Domestic duties, which occupied by far the greater proportion of females, rose on a par with the total rise in the female population. The following section is a general survey of the occupations in which women were employed between 1860 and 1914, concentrating on those areas where women predominated, and including the changes which took place within those occupations. Graph 1 shows the total numbers of females in selected occupations for the years between 1871 and 1901.

In 1881 census figures show agriculture to be the second most important occupation for women behind domestic duties and overtaking domestic service for a short time. However, an important change in census tabulation was initiated in 1891, when the wives and grown-up daughters of farmers were no longer counted in agriculture pursuits, unless expressly stated. This accounts for the sudden decline in the female agricultural workforce between 1881 and 1891.

Domestic service, the main occupation for females from the time of first settlement and throughout the nineteenth century was considered a suitable occupation for the daughters of working class families. The low female population, the high marriage rate, and the reluctance of many girls to become servants resulted in a scarcity of domestic staff and relatively high wages. In spite of the bad conditions and the low wages of factory work, domestic service was considered less congenial and more arduous because a servant was on duty the whole time, working hours were long with little free time while the servant was subject to the whims of her employer. It was considered that domestic service training provided an excellent grounding for future wives and mothers; conversely, factory work was thought to make women “puny, anaemic, dyspeptic” with “disastrous results to their offspring”.⁴ Daily household help, for example laundry work and charring, was often undertaken by married women.

Women entered the factory workforce as early as 1801 when convict women were employed in spinning and weaving at Parramatta jail.⁵ As manufacturing industry developed, women became an integral part of the workforce, especially in those industries which were an extension of their work in the home; clothing, textile, food, tobacco and footwear. It was in the manufacture of clothing that a whole industry depended upon female labour, but, unlike textiles in Britain, it was not a key to economic development. Whilst it has been frequently suggested that girls preferred factory work to domestic service, there was also the view that “there was something essentially ungallant and unchivalrous about women working in factories”.⁶ Women were a subsidiary and unusual workforce whose presence was economically necessary but socially and morally regrettable. This dichotomy of views influenced social attitudes towards women and work and was reflected in future legislation.

During this period female participation in commerce increased considerably, starting from a low base in 1871 and just overtaking the professional category by 1891.⁷ The most rapid rise occurred between 1881 and 1891; this increase can be explained by the greater number of women included in the shopkeeper and sales class, involving all types of retail establishments. Shop work, which was considered a more respectable occupation than factory work, entailed longer hours but usually for the same pay. The sexual division of labour among shop assistants and their proportion in the workforce remained relatively constant between 1880 and 1900.⁸ Most shop assistants worked twelve hours a day. Early Closing Acts which were introduced during the 1890s limited hours, regulated conditions and set wages for shop assistants.

By the 1880s certain occupations had become accepted as respectable and genteel enough for middle-class women to enter. These occupations, for example, nursing and teaching, continued the woman’s caring role into the workplace. The middle-class woman’s experience of the workplace was no different from that of her working-class sister, in fact the very “respectability” of the job often made conditions and pay worse, and the alleviation of her problems more difficult. The perception that all women’s work was a supplement to the family income, affected the status, working conditions, income and type of work allocated to them.⁹ Nursing and teaching account for the steady increase in the professional category. In 1891 there were 611 in the nursing profession, by 1901 this figure had risen to 2469. Similarly with teachers, in 1891 there were 3940 female teachers, while by 1901 this figure had risen to 8132.

During the 1880s and 1890s nursing as a vocation for middle-class women gained in popularity. As an occupation, nursing was thought to convey several benefits; social mobility for working-class women, a sense of purpose when compared with middle-class home life, and an alternative to the drudgery of life as a governess or lady’s companion. Furthermore, nursing embodies all the attributes society expected of the “ideal woman”.¹⁰

Nursing, in fact, was one of the most arduous and exacting occupations open to women.¹¹ Long hours were spent chiefly in menial domestic work for very low pay. Poor working conditions, overwork and a lack of sustaining food and rest often resulted in bad health. Nurses, who were employed at much cheaper rates than servants, were made to work a lot harder. The ability to improve nurses’ conditions was limited by the “ladylike” image of the job and because it was seen as a profession. The professional status of nursing depended on recognition of the skill, responsibility and selfless dedication of its practitioners.¹²

Many jobs, which later became professional occupations for women, were reserved, in the early colonial period, for the wives of men employed by the government. Teaching is a good example of this, where the wives of schoolmasters were expected to teach for a number of hours per week.¹³ British governesses were assisted to emigrate by various organisations but the demand for their services was not great. They were often the female members of impoverished middle-class families with a very basic education and some “genteel” accomplishments. Colonial situations required the women to be willing to adapt to any job teaching, housework or outside chores. Later, better educated, trained teachers obtained the posts which further reduced the number of choices for the traditional governess. Professional teacher-training for women originated in the pupil-teacher system. The notion that women’s work was different, a care-giving role, meant that women teachers’ wages were well below those of their male colleagues. Women had moved into teaching in a manner totally consistent with the prevailing views of womanhood.¹⁴

The position of women in the Post and Telegraph Department deteriorated over the period, from one where there were good prospects of advancement to one in which they were legally debarred from equal opportunity of employment. Women were employed by the department from its inception as a compensation to the widows or daughters of deceased public servants, and because women’s wages were, on the whole, half of a man’s.¹⁵ Women were employed as postmistresses, telegraph operators, sorters and minor clerks. A postmistress’s position was ideal for women with dependants as it provided a yearly salary and a permanent residence. It was also a “respectable” position in which a middle-class woman could maintain her status. Civil Service Acts and Department rules gradually whittled away career prospects for women in the service until, eventually, all avenues for promotion were closed when the right to sit for the Public Service entrance examination was removed.¹⁶

Today shorthand and typing are almost exclusively practiced by women but in the early stages of their development they were predominantly used by men. Between 1851 and 1891 Pitman’s shorthand was widely taught; also during this period the typewriter developed to a commercial reality.¹⁷ The first students of the business colleges were mainly men but women student numbers increased, especially in the typing classes. Selected subjects such as book-keeping, banking and commercial law were considered masculine careers. In 1886 the Bank of Australasia purchased a Remington typewriter and a desk for £31. “A lady”, Miss M. E. Swifte, was employed at a weekly wage of 25s. to operate it.¹⁸ Miss Swifte was employed as the “superintendent’s typist” for 34 years. Much later, in 1898, the Bank of N.S.W. employed two female typists in its Sydney head office.¹⁹ They were placed on twelve months probation at a salary of £80 per year. A separate office was provided for them, and the only contact they had with other staff members was with their supervisor. In addition they were requested to arrive at 9.30 a.m. and depart at 4.30 p.m. in order to avoid contact with the public and the male staff. The Melbourne branch did not employ female staff until 1915.

During the early part of this period women’s employment had been hedged around with ideological and social constraints, but there were no regulations or legal restraints to deprive them of equal opportunities or equal wage rates. Progressive legislation, although aimed at protecting women from exploitation also effectively barred them from equality with male workers.

Between 1860 and 1914 there was little change in the variety of work opportunities for working-class women, they continued to be employed in factories, as outworkers and as domestic servants. Some, those with a little education, may have become shop assistants. For middle-class women the scope was wider as it became more acceptable for them, especially single women, to enter paid employment outside the home. Occupations increased which were considered “respectable” enough for them to pursue but always they were linked to woman’s “natural role”.

---

Women and work, 1860-1914: Geelong

Between 1854 and 1907 the population of Geelong only rose by 8000; despite this small increase, more employment opportunities became available for women during this period. There are some concrete examples of the type of employment available to women and also some statistical evidence. Although most of the information in this article relates to Geelong occasionally inferences have cautiously been drawn from developments in Melbourne.

Domestic service provided the earliest and most usual employment opportunities for women. It is likely that there were positions available in the large homes built by successful Geelong businessmen, graziers and gold diggers. Among these homes were “Corio Villa”, “The Hermitage” and “Barwon Grange”. Many middle-class families employed one or sometimes two live-in servants. There were also women who worked on a daily basis, as cleaners, cooks or washerwomen. Obviously in a town of Geelong’s size, where inhabited houses numbered around 5000 during the whole period, the scope for domestic service was not large.

It is difficult to enumerate the total number of shop assistants, as many of them were employed in small family retail businesses. There were some retail establishments which grew to be fairly large emporiums, notably Bright and Hitchcock and Morris Jacobs. Evidence to the Royal Commission on Employees in Shops taken in 1885, shows that conditions in the many clothing firms were fairly uniform. The minimum age of female employees was 15 years, apprentices were on probation and unpaid for the first twelve months, receiving 5s. per week in their second year and thereafter paid according to ability. A working day started at 9 a.m. and continued until 6 p.m., with an hour for lunch. The average number of employees in a firm was about twenty; forty comprised a large shop. Bright and Hitchcock employed 100 shop assistants and 45 hands downstairs, most of whom were female. No overtime was paid but they were paid when on sick leave. This policy was later changed to paid overtime with no sick pay.²⁰

Prosecutions under the Factories Act for 1899 included “employing a girl without wages”, for which Bright and Hitchcock were fined £1, while other firms were fined 2s. 6d. for the same offence. Fines were also imposed on shops for employing an excessive number of apprentices.²¹ An Early Closing Association was first formed in Geelong in 1859, when shops were open until 11 p.m., but it was not until 1890s, when the Early Closing Act came into force, that shop hours and conditions were regulated.

The Geelong Infirmary and Benevolent Asylum opened its doors on April 23, 1852. Wardsmen played a major role in patient care until the number of female nurses increased, as a result of the influence of Florence Nightingale. In 1873, the female members of the hospital staff comprised a matron, two nurses, a maid and two laundresses.²² In May, 1887, the hospital committee of management decided that wardsmen were to be replaced by nurses wherever practicable, as a cost-saving measure. During the 1890s night nurses were used for the first time and nurses were also despatched to private homes to nurse paying patients.²³ Nursing trainees were admitted from applicants of good character and recommendation, in the 20 to 25 year age group, who were prepared to take the three-year course.²⁴ There were seven in the first class, while 150 women applied for training between 1901 and 1903. In 1890 the two laundry hands were dismissed, to be replaced by washing machines. A female dispenser and a theatre nurse were given three months sick leave, a situation which would have led to dismissal twenty years earlier. In spite of the low wages, the Geelong House Committee considered trainees expensive, therefore in August, 1898, it rescinded an agreement to provide full trainees with uniforms twice a year; they were then required to provide their own. The Royal Victorian Nursing Association set a syllabus for nurse training. This move was not welcomed by the hospital committee as it resented any outside interference or influence which could challenge their autonomy.²⁵ The Hospitals’ and Asylums’ Employees Union and Wages Board did not come into operation until 1915.

Teaching was one of the earliest professions to be opened up to women. By 1860 many private, denominational and national schools had been established as Geelong and its suburbs developed. In the 1860s, when common schools were introduced, most national schools became common schools. Many of the teachers in these schools were women, for example, Miss Holdsworth at Flinders School and Mrs. Parsons at Highton School. In 1881 Miss Norman opened the first kindergarten in her home at Skene Street, Newtown.²⁶ The early Grammar Schools and Colleges catered exclusively for boys with predominantly male staffs, but in 1887 a High School for girls was established at Plym House by Madame Conradi and Miss Clara Davis. The Geelong Advertiser contains many advertisements promoting educational establishments for girls, run by women, which taught the necessary accomplishments. The Hermitage, Church of England Girls’ Grammar School was established in 1906.²⁷

The Public Service employed increasing numbers of women, especially in the latter half of this period when new technology came to the fore, including the telegraph, the telephone and typewriters. In 1840, Geelong’s first Post Office was established, followed by the first telegraph office in 1854. By 1868, the post office had a staff of fifteen under a postmaster. In 1891, of the fifty-five staff there was one female clerk.²⁸ Geelong West and Portarlington had postmistresses. When the telephone exchange opened in 1888 it was worked by employees of the telegraph office.

Typing was included in the range of positions open to unmarried women in the Public Service Department. Gradually the business world accepted women as typists and later as stenographers. The larger Geelong businesses, factories and banks may have employed women as typists, especially after 1900, but it was not until World War I that women really became established as office staff.

During this period the manufacturing sector in Geelong continued to develop. Overall the number of manufactories in the region increased, with two slight downturns but, surprisingly, held during the depression years of the 1890s. Male employment rates increased sevenfold overall during the period but reflected the downturns in the number of factories. Female factory employment increased dramatically, from the six who were employed by coach builders in 1861 to 883, or 5.7 per cent. of the female population, in 1914. The initial surge in female employment coincides with the establishment of the woollen mills.

While the woollen mills were the largest and most notable of the establishments, there were other manufacturing industries in Geelong which employed some women. Among them were Donaghy’s Rope Works, with between 8 and 10 female workers, and the Barwon Paper Mill, which employed 23 females in 1884.²⁹ In the 1890s the butter factories in Corio were using machine-operated separators and employed a manager and an engineer, but there is no mention of female employees.³⁰ William Murray opened a hosiery factory in 1887 in which girls were employed but it closed after a year.

Although there was some increase in employment opportunities for women in Geelong, they were not great and came generally at the end of the period under discussion. Whilst work in factories increased considerably the total number of jobs was not large when compared with the total female population. In 1874 there was talk of a scarcity of labour and the necessity for the renewal of immigration. This was refuted by Mr. Squire Ward, of the Victoria Mill, who was:

“turning away young women who are absolutely begging for the means of disposing of their labour to advantage. The demands constantly made on him in this way are described as sickening.“³¹

There were few opportunities for female employment in Geelong. Domestic work broke up families by taking young girls away from home. The other alternatives were drapery establishments or factories. Women returned to the workforce after the depression of the 1890s seemingly refuting the theory that women did not seek paid work in more affluent times, or it could be that these were women who really needed to work and had not been able to obtain any during the depression. The available data does not give the total numbers of women in the Geelong workforce nor is it broken down into various occupations. It is unlikely that female workers comprised 30 per cent. of the total female population of Geelong as they did in other areas. The main reason for this low workforce participation would seem to be the limited opportunities. It is probable that ideological constraints played some part, as it was still considered more socially acceptable for women, especially married women, not to enter the paid workforce.

---

Women and work, 1860-1914: The woollen mills

In this section the focus shifts to women workers in the Geelong textile mills, the type of occupation, hours, wages and conditions. It must be understood that relevant data is limited and some assumptions have to be made. Geelong, including Newtown and Chilwell, was the only centre in the colony to have more than one mill during the period. Graph 2 shows the total number of woollen mills in Victoria and male and female employment figures for selected years. The years were chosen to show the fluctuations in mill numbers.

As was to be expected the pattern shows a sharp rise in employment as the number of mills in Victoria increased. The figures first peaked in the 1880s, then steadily declined to 1892, the worst of the depression years, thereafter they improved and eventually overtook the 1880 peak. Female employment in the woollen mills overtook that of males between 1900 and 1907. The high figures after 1910 are a result of government orders for military equipment which really boosted the industry. Tables 2 and 3 give a breakdown of the types of jobs undertaken by males and females in the Victorian woollen mills.

Table 2: Woollen mills employees: Victoria 1910

Number of Mills: 9

Category	Males	Females
Working proprietors	9	–
Managers, Overseers	26	–
Accountants, Clerks	25	4
Engine-drivers, Firemen	20	–
Factory workers	647	917
Carter, Messenger	8	–
Other	2	–

Source: VPP (LC) 1911

Table 3: Woollen mills employees: Victoria 1914

Number of mills: 8

Category	Males	Females
Working proprietors	9	–
Managers, Overseers	23	–
Accountants, Clerks	28	3
Engine-drivers, Firemen	21	–
Factory workers	723	991
Carter, Messenger	7	–
Other	3	–

Source: VPP (LC) 1914

As can be seen women were confined to the clerical and factory sections of the industry, although their representation in the clerical section was nominal, with less than one female clerk per mill.

Table 4, which shows employment figures for the Geelong woollen mills, is incomplete. From 1886 separate figures were given for the two mills in Newtown/Chilwell, that is the Albion and the Union, but the Geelong mills, the Victorian and later Godfrey Hirst, were included with all other mills in Victoria. Therefore it is impossible to give exact employment figures for the Geelong mills.

Table 4: Geelong Woollen Mills

Year	No.	Male	Female	Total
1872	3	131	66	197
1881	4	242	200	442
Newtown/Chilwell only
1886	2	71	65	136
1890	2	78	71	149
1895	2	76	94	170

Source: VPP (LC) 1872-1895

When the Victorian Woollen Mill was first promoted, one of the prime considerations was the need to provide jobs for the men and youths of Geelong. However, it was not mentioned that women might be in need of employment. It is probable that women were employed from the beginning and that some may have been experienced in the textile industry. In the years between 1854 and 1866, 290 female migrants to Victoria listed their previous occupation as textile workers.³² It is not known how many of these were in Geelong when the Victorian opened but judging by the reports of the lack of experienced hands it is probable that there were few. It is possible that they were experienced in cotton textile work rather than in the woollen mills. In 1870, at the Victorian, boys were earning 7s. per week, girls at the looms 25s. or even more, and the skilled men £2-10-0.³³ By 1883 the Victorian employed 250 hands, one hundred of them women. Women were usually employed as spinners and on the power looms, the hand looms being too heavy and requiring more skill. The Union mill employed women on the winding and weaving processes. In the early 1900s the mill had 140 looms, with one girl to either one or two looms, depending on her skill. In 1868 the Geelong Advertiser suggested that the two woollen mills then in production start manufacturing blanket webs to enable married women to weave blankets on hand looms at home, thus making it possible for them to look after their families at the same time.³⁴

The first Victorian Factory Act of 1873 limited hours of work for females to eight hours per day. Female operatives of the Geelong and Ballarat mills objected to the shorter hours, arguing that as they were paid by the piece their wages would be cut, causing hardship to many. In January, 1874, the Chief Secretary acceded to their request, granting them a sixty-hour week at ten hours a day. This decision upset their routine of a shorter day on Saturdays. One hundred and eight operatives from four mills signed a petition against the ruling and were finally allowed to continue as before:

The most important effect for women of the Factories and Shops Acts was its segregation of male and female workers. Females were singled out to be subject to special protective laws. Separation became entrenched and work was renumerated not only on quality but also according to the sex of the worker.³⁵

On Wednesday, February 17, 1886, about 200 factory workers met at South Geelong to support an increase of the duties on woollen piece goods.³⁶ They established a Woollen Factories Protection Union to lobby parliamentary candidates for their support. The three candidates returned for Geelong all pledged their support for higher duties. The Union then seems to have gone into abeyance, its role fulfilled.

The YWCA was active among the “mill girls” from 1887, supporting weekly meetings, arranging social evenings and organising other activities. By 1911 the YWCA had begun “Dinner Hour Singing Services” in the Excelsior Mill and, after a donation of £5 for “cab hire”, in the other mills. The South Geelong Square Club was started in 1912 to provide physical education, calisthenics and singing practice:

The national YWCA was producing study books to enable members to understand the problems of the industrial section of the community.³⁷

In 1890 the eight hour day was introduced by the woollen mill employers. In the same year the Victorian United Woollen Mill Operatives Union (VUWMOU) was formed in Geelong. Each of the three mills then operating, the Victorian, the Albion and the Union, had one female member on the committee. Records of the union for this period seem to be missing, a situation which can be explained by the chaos of the 1890s depression which seriously affected the unions, or by the fact that union representatives were voluntary, part-time officers and therefore probably held the records at home.³⁸ The VUWMOU virtually disbanded in the late 1890s, with most mills having separate unions under the umbrella of the Victorian Woollen Mills Operatives Union, with little or no central co-ordination.³⁹ On September 2, 1910, the Federated Woollen Mills Operatives Union of Australasia was officially registered with its headquarters at Geelong. By 1913, when this union had also failed, a new union was formed, the General Textile Workers Federation of Australia (GTWFA), which continued to be restricted to employees of woollen mills. The inaugural meeting which was held in Geelong on December 26, 1914, included other textile industry employees.⁴⁰ Little information is available on membership but it is probable that there were some female members, especially given that female employees eventually outnumbered males in the industry.

A Woollen Trade Board was appointed on December 21, 1900, to decide on “the lowest prices or rates which may be paid to any person or persons employed in the process, trade or business carried on in a woollen mill”.⁴¹ The Board’s determination came into effect on April 22, 1902. Hours were set at 48 per week for all persons working in a woollen mill. Only in the warping section are female rates specifically set down to be different from the male rate. Male warpers were to be paid a minimum of 30s. per week whilst female wages were graded until, after four years experience, they were to receive 25s. per week. Boys and girls from the ages of 13 to 21 were to receive equal pay. Apprentices and improvers had a separate wage scale. Overtime was to be paid at a rate of time and a quarter to any MALE employee over the age of sixteen who worked more than 48 hours. Presumably women were not allowed to work overtime. Employees of the Geelong woollen mills complained that the rates fixed were “disastrous on workmen”.⁴² The power loom weavers’ wages were fixed at 22s. 6d. per week when previously they had been paid 30s. per week.⁴³ The Anti-Sweating League took up the grievance and the determination was amended to suit all concerned. Wages for female workers were fixed to meet the living expenses for one woman, no account was taken of the number of women who were bread-winners.⁴⁴ By 1903 the Wages Board members were concerned by the changing proportion of women in the workforce in comparison to men. The fear of seeing males ousted by women led to the call for equal pay for equal work. Unequal wages were justified by asserting that women were always single, with no responsibilities.⁴⁵

Although there is little specific data about women in the Geelong textile industry I think it safe to assume that their experience would follow the general trends indicated. Geelong, with four mills, was the largest of the Victorian wool textile industry centres and consequently employment opportunities for women would have been greater than in the other mill towns.

Geelong’s wool mills were a valuable source of employment for women throughout the period when more women than men were eventually employed in the industry. Limited employment opportunities in other occupations in Geelong emphasised the importance of the mills. The years between 1860 and 1914 were a transition period when women were breaking new ground in employment opportunities, and becoming more firmly entrenched in a greater variety of occupations. Despite these increased opportunities, women continued to be hampered by protective legislation, low wage rates, and the formalisation of “men’s” and “women’s” work. Nevertheless, women played an active role in the first attempts to organise mill labour into protest groups and unions. However, they continued to be circumscribed by the ideology of a “woman’s role” in society and the legislation it inspired.

---

Footnotes

1. S. Encel, N. Mackenzie, M. Tebbutt, Women and Society an Australian Study, Cheshire Publishing Pty Ltd., Melbourne, 1974, p. 70.
2. Ibid., p. 70.
3. T. A. Coghlan, Labour and Industry in Australia, Vol. 2, Macmillan of Australia, Melbourne, 1969, p. 1044.
4. VPP (LC), 1874.
5. C. Bacchi, “Evolution, Eugenics and Women; the Impact of Scientific Theories on Attitudes towards Women, 1870-1920” in E. Windschuttle, Women, Class and History, Fontana Books, Sydney, 1980, p. 141.
6. R. S. Mathieson, Patterns of Industries, 2nd edition, Nelson, Melbourne, 1971, p. 166.
7. E. C. Fry, The Condition of the Urban Wage Earning Class in Australia in the 1880s, unpublished PhD Thesis, A.N.U. 1956, p. 40.
8. A. M. Lynzaat, “Respectability and the Outworker. The Victorian Factory Acts 1885-1903” in J Mackinolty, H. Radi (eds) In Pursuit of Justice, Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1979, p. 85.
9. R. Markey, “Women and Labour, 1880-1900”, in E. Windschuttle, Women, Class and History, Fontana Books, Sydney, 1980, p. 87.
10. C. C. Garner, “Educated and White-Collar Women in the 1880s” in E Windschuttle, Women, Class and History, Fontana Books, Sydney, 1980, p. 112.
11. M. Mackay, “Marie Magill, Nurse: Not such a brilliant career”, in J. Mackinolty, H. Radi (eds.) In Pursuit of Justice, Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1979, p. 133.
12. Ibid., p. 133.
13. Ibid., p. 138.
14. K. Daniels, M. Murnane, Uphill all the Way, University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia, Queensland, 1980, p 242.
15. A. Mackinnon, “Educating the mothers of the nation”, in M. Bevege et. al., Worth her Salt, Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1982, p. 53.
16. C. McCuskey, “Women in the Victorian Post Office”, in M. Bevege et. al., Worth her Salt, Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1982, p. 53.
17. Ibid., p. 60.
18. J. Clarke, Z. O’Leary, Girl Fridays in Revolt, Alpha Books, Sydney, 1969, p. 9.
19. S. J. Butlin, Australia and New Zealand Bank, Longmans, London, 1961, p. 257.
20. “Women in Banking”, The Etruscan, Vol. 2, No. 3, December, 1952, p. 34.
21. Royal Commission on Employes in Shops. Report on the operation of the Victorian Factory Act of 1874, VPP, Session 1884.
22. Prosecution during 1899 by the Chief Inspector of Factories, Workrooms and shops, VPP (LA) 1900 Vol. 2.
23. W. R. Lang, Visions and realities: a history of the Geelong Infirmary and benevolent Asylum, Neptune Press, Belmont, Vic., 1980, p. 52.
24. Ibid., p. 93.
25. Ibid., p. 93.
26. Ibid., p. 102.
27. D. J. Davies, Geelong. Events in History: 1802-1972, Highton, Victoria, 1973
28. I. Wynd, Geelong the Pivot, Cypress Books, Melbourne, 1971, p. 37.
29. The Victorian Government Gazette, 1891.
30. Wynd, So Fine a Country, Shire of Corio, 1981, p. 84.
31. W. R. Brownhill, The History of Geelong and Corio Bay, Brownhill, Geelong, p. 321.
32. Geelong Advertiser, Thursday, May 14, 1874.
33. G. Cope, “Victorian Textile Industry to 1880”, Melbourne University unpublished PhD thesis, p. 321.
34. W. R. Brownhill, op cit, p 321.
35. Geelong Advertiser, September 16, 1868.
36. A. M. Lynzaat, “Respectability and the Outworker. Victorian Factory Acts 1885-1903”, in J. Mackinolty, H. Radi (eds) In Pursuit of Justice, Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1979, p. 85.
37. Geelong Advertiser, February 18, 1886.
38. M. Jones, M. Walkowski, YWCA, YWCA Geelong, 1987, p. 16
39. M. Pappos, The Formation of the Australian Textile Workers’ Union, unpublished preliminary paper, November, 1982, p. 4.
40. Ibid., p. 10.
41. Ibid., p. 11.
42. Ibid., p. 6.
43. Argus, April 29, 1902.
44. Pappos, op. cit., p. 7.
45. Lynzaat, op. cit., p. 91.

---

Bibliography

• Bevege, M., James, M. and Shute, C., Worth her Salt: Women at Work in Australia. Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1982.
• Brownhill, W. R., The History of Geelong and Corio Bay, Photo-copy. Geelong Historical Records Centre.
• Butlin, S. J., Australia and New Zealand Bank. Longmans, London, 1961.
• Clarke, J. and O’Leary, Z., Girl Fridays in Revolt. Alpha Books, Sydney, 1969.
• Coghlan, T. A., Labour and Industry in Australia From the First Settlement in 1788 to the Establishment of the Commonwealth in 1901. Four vols. Macmillan of Australia, Melbourne, 1969.
• Cope, G., “Victorian Textile Industry to 1880”, unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. Melbourne University, 1980.
• Daniels, K. and Murnane, M., Uphill all the way. University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia, Queensland, 1980.
• Davies, D. J., Geelong: Events in History 1802-1972. Highton, Victoria, 1973.
• Encel, S., Mackenzie, N., Tebbutt, M., Women and Society: an Australian Study. Cheshire Publishing Pty. Ltd., Melbourne, 1974.
• Fry, E. C., The Condition of the Urban Wage Earning Class in Australia in the 1880s. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, ANU, 1956.
• Geelong Advertiser, Thursday, May 14, 1874, September 16, 1868, February 18, 1886.
• Jones, Marion and Walkowski, Marjory, YWCA, “Without a blaze of trumpets”: A History of Geelong YWCA, 1886-1986. YWCA Geelong, 1987.
• Lang, W. R., Visions and realities a history of the Geelong Infirmary and Benevolent Asylum. Neptune Press, Belmont, Victoria, 1980.
• Linge, G. J. R., Industrial Awakening. Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1979.
• Mackinolty, J. and Radi, H. (eds.), In Pursuit of Justice. Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1979.
• Mathieson, R. S., Patterns of Industry. 2nd edition. Nelson, Melbourne, 1971.
• Pappos, M., The Formation of the Australian Textile Workers Union. Unpublished preliminary paper. November, 1982.
• Prosecution during 1899 by the Chief Inspector of Factories, Workrooms and Shops. Victorian Parliamentary Papers (LA). 1900. Vol. 2.
• Royal Commission on Employees in Shops. Report on the operation of the Victorian Factory Act of 1874. Victorian Parliamentary Papers. Session 1884. pp. 17-20.
• Southall, Ivan, The Weaver From Meltham. The Story of Godfrey Hirst. 1857-1917. Whitcomb and Tombs Pty. Ltd., Melbourne, 1950.
• The Argus, Monday, April 29, 1902.
• Victorian Government Gazette, 1891.
• Victorian Parliamentary Papers. Legislative Council. VPP (LC), 1867, 1872, 1874, 1875, 1883, 1884 Vol. 1, 1888, 1892, 1894, 1897, 1900 no. 2, 1906, 1910, 1911, 1916.
• Windschuttle, E. (ed.), Women, Class and History, Feminist Perspectives on Australia, 1788-1978. Fontana Books, Sydney, 1980.
• “Women in Banking”, The Etruscan, staff magazine of the Bank of New South Wales, Vol. 2 No. 3, December, 1952.
• Wynd, I., Geelong The Pivot. Cypress Books, Melbourne, 1971.
• Wynd, I., So Fine a Country, Shire of Corio, 1981.