Each completed paper page was pasted to one, long linen fabric
and rolled onto a spindle.
260 metres long and very heavy
Victoria’s Constitution of 1855 did not give women the right to vote. Women first received the vote in Victoria in 1863, when in a piece of faulty legislative drafting, the Electoral Act allowed all ratepayers listed on local municipal rolls to vote. However the Legislative Assembly quickly changed the “mistake” to restrict the vote for parliamentary elections to male ratepayers only.
Victorian Premier James Munro said he would introduce a bill into parliament granting women the vote, if they demonstrated that ordinary women wanted this right. The Victorian Woman’s Temperance Union and the Victorian Women’s Suffrage Society took up the challenge, joining forces regarding a petition in 1891.
The Women's Suffrage Petition (1891) reflected those women’s dedicated work and was one of the most wonderful documents for women’s history in Australia, especially in Victoria. They stated that half the population should not be without the vote.
The Women's Suffrage Petition (1891) reflected those women’s dedicated work and was one of the most wonderful documents for women’s history in Australia, especially in Victoria. They stated that half the population should not be without the vote.
The Victorian women believed that voting could improve their lives and their children’s. They hoped to influence liquor laws, enable equal pay for women, a higher age of consent for girls, introduce playgrounds and schools, and gain greater equality regarding land ownership and divorce.
It took just 6 weeks going from door to door across Victoria to collect 30,000 signatures for women’s suffrage. They covered the state by travelling via all the railway lines.
The document’s great length earned it the name of the Monster Petition. When completed it was 260 metres in length and the largest known petition of the C19th; each completed page was made of paper pasted to linen fabric backing, rolled onto a cardboard spindle and rested on a Perspex stand. It is now a treasured possession of the Public Records Office of Victoria.
We normally assume that women’s suffrage was a middle and upper-class movement, a challenge taken on by those with the education and the income to turn their passions into political action. Emmeline Pankhurst in Britain, Vida Goldstein in Australia and others all came from educated society. But look at the suburbs in the Monster Petition eg Carlton, Collingwood, Footscray or St Kilda, all working-class then. There were fewer signatures from affluent Armadale, Kew and Toorak.
Collected across Victoria in 1891
A copy of the petition was inserted into the Alliance Record on July 11, 1891
State Library, Victoria
The petition was presented to Parliament in Sept 1891 together with a bill that included a women’s suffrage amendment. The monster petition required several men to carry it into Parliament and present it to Premier James Munro. Tabled with the support of Munro, the petition sought that Women should Vote on Equal terms with Men. Munro, a firm supporter of the temperance movement and women’s franchise, spoke on the floor for the proposal. But Duncan Gillies, Leader of the Opposition, argued against the proposal saying that women should not be given the vote; they couldn’t perform some of the services required by the State eg as soldiers, sailors and police. A contingent of women attending the reading of the bill even departed from the ordinary decorum observed by Strangers and applauded the Premier’s key issues. When Gillies aroused the antagonism of his female critics, they loudly hissed.
Great Petition sculpture, Melbourne
Created 2008
Federation (1901) was important because, in that year, Australia became the first nation in the world to give women the federal vote and the right to stand for Parliament.
In 2014 Eureka's Museum of Australian Democracy in Ballarat publicly displayed the original, giant 1891 Women's Suffrage Petition.
10 comments:
I worked for years at the top end of Collins St and often saw the sculpture en route to the coffee shop. Once I knew what the sculpture represented, it became even more impressive.
Hello Hels, There were a number of obstacles, real or supposed, between the men in power and the women getting the vote. One of these was the idea, possibly only used as an excuse, that many women didn't really want the vote, or would not take a serious interest in political matters. This monster petition effectively removed that doubt. Unfortunately, still standing in the way of women's voting were the ideas that women would take power from the men, or use their new power and numbers to effect "revenge" elections.
--Jim
Joe
Australians are very proud of being (with New Zealand) the first nation in the world to give women the vote. So I wonder why this excellent sculpture is not more famous.
Probably most people viewing the sculpture for the first time may be so taken up with the perfect swirling of the ribbon shape that they don't even look for the plaque at the end of the base. So yes, it does make sense that once the viewer understands what the sculpture represented, it became even more impressive.
Parnassus
I have heard every reason in the world why women shouldn't get the vote - they are not educated enough, they will only vote according to their husbands' demands, women are too busy with their own responsibilities (cooking, child care), they don't pay tax, they don't serve in the army, they are always pregnant and light headed. But I have never heard that women would take power from the men, or use their new power to establish revenge elections ha ha.
However it does goes to show that women's rights are always hard-earned and easily-lost. Consider countries that ban abortion and force women to struggle through hated pregnancies.
Those Australian women were well ahead of the game. It must have been the pioneering spirit!
The sculpture is magnificent and would arrest the attention of any passer-by thus achieving it's purpose.
bazza
Why did Australian and New Zealand women peacefully get the Federal vote in the 1890s, decades before the rest of the civilised world? There always been a sense of She'll Be Right, Mate here. Men would have said "Females voting won't hurt me, it will make women happy and maybe it will give me a good root in bed tonight".
Ditto Federation at the same time (1901). In just about every other nation on earth, Federation came only after battles between neighbouring countries or civil war between states within one country. Here Federation was debated during the 1890s, then peacefully declared on 1/1/1901. Even if one state was uncertain, no blood was shed.
What a treasure the Public Records Office has in its possession but I would like it to be displayed somewhere more accessible to the public. I remember visiting that sculpture soon after it was installed. 30,000 signatures in a much smaller population would surely be the equivalent of a million or millions today.
Andrew
the 30,000 signatures was totally amazing, especially since they came from both working class and middle class suburbs, and from both the Big City and the rural areas.
I was looking at the signatures opposing the destruction of Preston Market, a much loved facility in Melbourne. Yet they have amassed only 4,500 signatures :(
Hi Hels - an amazing document ... and how wonderful it has a sculpture to remind everyone interested in its history. I'd never heard of it - however the Suffragette movement was taking shape in England from the 1840s onwards ... slow and perhaps not very sure - but it was there ... spurred on by the Match Girls. Thanks - Hilary
Hilary
I think the suffragette movement in Australia and New Zealand was so special because the women achieved their goals quietly, without battles and horrible gaol sentences, and very often with the support of male politicians etc. The Monster Petition is a fine reminder of how women's rights were achieved with dignity in the 1890s until 1906.
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