A true inspiration...
When pitted against someone as tenacious as Mary Lee, women’s suffrage never stood a chance.
Born in County Monaghan in 1821, this Women would go on to play a vital role in Women obtaining the vote, as well as the right to run for parliament.
We speak of Mary Lee.
A native of the Emerald Isle, who changed the rules of the game for Women on the other side of the globe and set a precedent for the rest of the world to follow.
‘’Could Women ever have descended to such depths of misery and degradation, if Women had a place in the making of laws for Women?’’ – Mary Lee
Mary Lee was born at Kilknock Estate, and to be honest there isn’t a lot of documentation of the first part of her life.
All that’s known is that she married a man by the name of George Lee in 1844 and together they raised a casual Seven-Children, nothing major...
And one of those Seven children, Ben, moved to Adelaide, South Australia.
However he fell ill in 1879, so Mary and her daughter Evelyn also made the move to Adelaide to care for him.
Sadly though, Ben passed away on November 2nd 1880.
However, having become quite attached to the area while caring for Ben, Mary and Evelyn decided to stay put in Adelaide.
It was now that her inspiring, outspoken and legendary story begun to unfold.
Here are Four of her massive achievements during her time down under:
1. Age of consent
Mary saw living in a land still new to European settlement as an oppurtunity. The time was now to the reset the ‘old world’ laws which had always held women back, and usher in an age of equality.
So Mary got down to business. She signed up as the secretary for J. C. Kirby’s Social Purity Society, a group who brought about major legal changes for women.
One such change was the raising the legal age of sexual consent to 16-years of age.
The age it still currently sits at in Australia today.
Achievement number-One, unlocked.
2.Working Women’s Trade Union
Boyd on by her first massive achievement, Mary and some of her fellow Social Purity Society members founded the South Australian Women’s Suffrage League in 1888.
Taking lead of the group, Mary quickly became renowned for delivering many powerful-moving public speeches.
She spoke honestly about the every day struggles faced by women, including having no political voice, and concerning working conditions.
So what was Mary’s solution for this?
The creation of the Working Women’s Trade Union, who examined working conditions and distributed clothes and food to those in need during the economic depression of the 1890s.
Providing great relief for repressed South Australian Women.
Achievement number-Two unlocked.
A state is dedicated to Mary Lee in Prince Henry Gardens, Adelaide, Australia.3. Right to vote
Perhaps the biggest of Mary’s achievements was her incredible commitment in winning the vote for Women in South Australia.
In 1894 our hero spear-headed a petition calling for women’s right to vote. This wasn’t just any old petition mind you... No, this document consisted of an enormous 11,600 signatures (S.A’s population was just 341,000 at the time). And it was an unbelievable 122 metres in length!
The call could not be ignored, and in 1894 South Australian women became the first in Australia to receive a parliamentary vote.
Twenty-Four years before Women in her native Ireland received the same right.
Achievement number-Three, unlocked.
4. Right to stand for Parliament
But the Mary inspired revolution didn’t stop at just the vote!
This locomotive couldn’t be stopped.
By the time she was done campaigning for Women’s rights in South Australia they could also run to become members of parliament.
In turn, becoming the first place in the entire world where women had this right.
And finally, achievement number-Four... unlocked.
Mary Lee, the tenacious woman from Monaghan.
Who wouldn’t accept the way things were, and stood up for change.
