Journalist/Commentator
When reflecting on powerful figures, I’m interested in the ones that aren’t always obvious.
Women like Catherine Helen Spence and Mary Lee, obviously, have a permanent place in my heart; their persistence is what made South Australia the first place in the world where women could vote AND run for office. But also, I’m fascinated by people who practice inadvertent power.
Like Ebenezer Ward, the passionate Upper House opponent of female suffrage, who amended the Bill to add the right for women to run for office in the belief that this radical addition would kill the Bill for good. And was horrendously mistaken. I love that guy. I think of him often.