Born in 1942, Geraldine Rimmer-Robertson was a devoted feminist who passed away in June 2025. Before she died, Mary Crooks AO (Executive Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust) encouraged Geraldine to document what it was like to grow up in Melbourne during a time of immense social upheaval, and to share her reflections of the women’s liberation movement in the 1970s.
Rising to the challenge, Geraldine penned a series of candid snapshots from her life. Witty and often funny, Vignettes of a Feminist was published by the Victorian Women’s Trust in a limited run for her friends and family shortly before she died. In this unique collection, Geraldine offers keen observations of a changing society and women who dared to defy expectations. In tribute to her memory, we’ve gathered a selection of our favourite pieces by Geraldine.
Vignettes of a Feminist by Geraldine Rimmer-Robertson (a selection):
#4.
Nana and her Women’s Christian Temperance Union friends were fixing everything for the post war reconstruction. I was curious so I learnt to eavesdrop, finding that when the phrase ‘little pitchers have big ears’ was followed by door closing, then something interesting was coming.
This day, though, it wasn’t interesting, it was frightening. They had a young woman there talking about her returned soldier husband, and their faces were white. There was total silence when they closed the door. ‘It happened last time, too’, Nana whispered.
Last time, I knew, meant the First World War.
#14.
My Auntie Rona was a tall, straight intellectual. Not a housewife at all, I thought, not a real aunt. She took me to the beach for no other reason than I wanted to go.
Also she, like my cuddly housewife Auntie Marg, stood up for me when I needed it.
Loving both my very different aunts with a passion, I told everyone who would listen about my glorious aunts. Mum didn’t seem too happy about it, though.
#15.
Then there was the day I, once again, found belonging. I loved books. Auntie Rona loved books.
She gave me Zelda D’Aprano’s original edition of her book Zelda so I looked up Women’s Liberation, was at the building the next day to join, never looking back as was asserted in Judy Small’s eloquent song, ‘We’re gonna keep on moving forward…Never turning back’.
#30.
Another International Women’s Day march, I noticed a young man with a large space around him whenever he walked. ‘That is sexism, people ignoring him because he is a lone male’ I thought, so I approached him and struck up a conversation.
The space grew and grew around us, then people hissed at me, ‘that is ASIO’.
#22.
We have other precedents for galvanising ourselves and each other.
Edith Morgan explained ‘I have a strong belief that unless you look politically at what you are doing and understand the power structures you are not going to get anywhere really’.*
Then I heard the slogan ‘the personal is political’ and wow, my world has never been the same.
About the author
Born in Melbourne, Geraldine Rimmer-Robertson (1942-2025) grew up in the shadow of World War 2. Later in life, she was heavily involved in the women’s liberation and environmental movements which began to take shape in the 1970s. Closely linked to groups like Friends of the Earth (FOE) and the Food Justice Centre, Geraldine was a firm supporter of community activism.
Geraldine called the inner Melbourne suburb of Clifton Hill home for over 40 years. She had three children, three grandchildren, and a great-child due in August, 2025. Over the course of her life, she maintained a firm curiosity about equality and feminist activism. In 2002, she started the Women’s Web, an online platform for sharing women’s stories, activism and accomplishments, and compiled such publications as Women Working Together (2009), Prejudice and Reason (2013), Making Peace (2017) and Changing the World (2022).
Limited copies of Vignettes of a Feminist are available from the Victorian Women’s Trust, free of charge (excluding postage). To obtain a copy, please get in touch with our team directly: women@vwt.org.au or (03) 9642 0422.
