Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives
Capturing the contribution of Victorian women since Federation

'All noble things we do and dare must be fruitful, sometime, somewhere'

These insightful words are from Tilly Aston, one of the 263 women proudly displayed in the Trust's Centenary of Federation exhibition, Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives.

During the year of the Centenary of Federation, the Trust wanted to celebrate women's contribution to Victorian community life over the past century and do so in a way that was unique and memorable.

Women have performed much important work in the shaping of Victoria, yet much of this work remains unrecognised. The exhibition presented an array of compelling portraits, featuring women from a diverse range of backgrounds. It illustrated the many different ways women have contributed to the shaping of our society, both in traditional terms - in public life, successful in their careers, having achieved some level of public regard, and also in quiet everyday ways, that are rarely recognised

A public nomination process occurred in September/October 2000. Over 260 responses rolled in. Our original intention was to filter these down to approximately twenty women and build the exhibition around their lives. Once the nominations were processed, however, it was glaringly obvious that we could not, and should not, proceed down this path. Tilly Aston's words captured the essence of all the women who had been nominated!

Taken in their entirety, the nominations tapped a rich lead and that the collective picture demonstrated superbly the extraordinary contribution women make to their communities and society - even if this is not yet properly acknowledged on the public record.

After an intense five months, the Trust's exhibition was officially launched at the Melbourne Museum on 1 May 2001. Since that time it has embarked on an extensive tour of regional Victoria, and has been the subject of accolades all along the way.

Many people made Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives possible. Financial support came from the Centenary of Federation Fund (Victoria), the Felton Bequests Committee, the WCF Thomas Trust, the Sidney Myer Fund, Jo Baevski, and the City of Melbourne.

As Major Partner, Australia Post made possible the tour of regional Victoria. The regional tour also enjoyed the support of Moreland City Council, East Gippsland Shire Council, Mildura Rural City Council, Maroondah City Council, Rural City of Wangaratta, Glenelg Shire Council, Latrobe City Council and the City of Greater Bendigo. The Geelong Wool Museum, Gold Museum of Ballarat and Melbourne Museum also provided assistance.

The success of the exhibition, and the high praise it has won all over, stems from the fact that its planning and design was a highly collaborative exercise. Ian Bracegirdle and his staff at Mothers Art produced the design genius. Ponch Hawkes produced a stunning set of documentary digital portraits. Staff and volunteers at the Trust largely handled the challenges of text, photographs, memorabilia, and research for the accompanying book - designed for us by Social Change Media. We enjoyed great support also from our Steering Committee and from the many nominators and family connections that helped us on finer details.

Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives was officially launched on the 1st May at the Melbourne Museum. Over 500 people attended the opening, many of whom were the nominators and nominees who had made this exhibition possible. They came for the official opening, and for their first look at an exhibition of which they were an integral part.

The exhibition was introduced by Mary Crooks, Executive Director of the Victorian Women's Trust, who was followed by prominent historian Dr Marilyn Lake. Marilyn struck a chord with many as she spoke of the importance of this exhibition as a wonderfully creative and different treatment of women's history.

Kavisha Mazzella, who features in the exhibition, was last in the official proceedings and had the crowd singing along within minutes. Surrounding her were members of the Italian Women's Choir, La Voce Della Luna - their voices, passion and enthusiasm were infectious.

As people wandered through the exhibition, there was great pride evident on family faces. The images created by photographer Ponch Hawkes for each of the twelve women in the exhibition who are highlighted, provoked joy, delight and overwhelming emotion for some.