Ballarat's Great Women

The Celebration of  Ballarat’s Great Women is back for 2023 !
 
 
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     The 2023 Honourees are from the left: Cricket Without Boundaries founder Natarsha Williams, dementia advocate Anne Tudor, OAM, Maureen Hatcher, Founder of the Loud Fence movement, and compassion advocate Dr. Lynne Reeder.
                                                                                          
 
The Titheridge Room at the Ballarat Golf Club hummed with the lively chatter of 45 guests on Thursday March 23rd, as we celebrated the induction of 4 new Honourees into the Honour Roll of Ballarat’s Great Women. This was a special occasion, as it marked the 200th Honouree. Several past Honourees were present, and a message was received from Patty Kinnersly, former CEO of Women’s Health Grampians who authorised the initial project in 2006 to honour women whose contribution to the fabric of our city was worthy of nomination by their peers.
 
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President Caroline referred to our close connection with Honouree Natarsha and members of the Wendouree Cricket Club whose generous support had enabled our Club to conduct two very successful Assembly Days for the Birthing Kit Foundation Australia.  It was the perfect opportunity to present our Assembly Day Organiser, Sharelle Knight, with her BKFA Club Champion badge, as one of the many hardworking Organisers being recognised since the first kits were assembled in 1999.
 
We welcomed the addition of two new sponsors of raffle prizes from Raven Collective and Hattie and the Wolf; and proceeds from the raffle could be divided between the Zonta Foundation for Women’s project to provide quality support to women survivors of gender-based violence in Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste and the pink Sleep Bus mooted for homeless women in Ballarat. A possible overall profit of $1000 from the event and our archive will be enriched by the articles which appeared in weekly issues of The Ballarat Times with profiles and photos supplied by senior journalist Edwina Williams, and photos and video taken on the night of the event by Sarah Morey
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                                                                                                 Past Honourees (photo: Sarah Morey)
 
Past Honourees who were also present were
 
  • Barb Dunlop, the first woman to serve as President of the Royal South Street Society, one of the original Honourees in 2008;
  • Dianne Gow, Interior designer and devotee of the National Trust honoured in 2011;
  • Dianne McGrath, President of the Ryder-Cheshire Foundation in Ballarat honoured in 2016;
  • Geraldine Roberts, artist, and longtime guide at the Art Gallery of Ballarat and
  • her sister Honouree Janet Rundell, an outstanding fundraiser and community volunteer, both honoured in 2019;
  • our own Helen Eyres, retired pharmacist and philanthropist, and
  • Wendy Jacobs, architect and heritage consultant, both honoured in 2021
                                                                                                                    Val Sarah  Photos: Sarah Morey