ABSTRACT

The landscape of Australia today is resonant with memorials to the people and events of the colonial past in forms as varied as plaques, stone cairns, statues, commemorative buildings, heritage sites and monuments. The majority of these mark the historical presence of European men and their imperial contributions as explorers, entrepreneurs, judges, politicians, soldiers and social reformers, with the occasional writer or artist. War memorials to men who were killed or served in the First World War and subsequent conflicts are to be found in every Australian country town and city suburb, the ‘sacred places’ of imperial and national mythmaking and modern Australian identity (Inglis 2008). The incidence of colonial white women in public memorials is comparatively muted. The notable exceptions are the numerous public statues of an imperial Queen Victoria, and a scattering of twentieth-century tributes in the form of monuments, fountains or gardens to the collective achievements of ‘pioneer women’.