The Lyceum Club and the Making of the Modern Woman

Abstract

In 1934, the editor of the Courier-Mail's women's page, Winifred Moore, reflected on the growth and importance of women's clubs in Queensland in the early decades of the twentieth century. Moore herself had been involved in community organisations since she took up her career in journalism during World War I. She was a foundation member of the National Parks Association, a member of the Press Association, the Queensland Women's Electoral league (QWEL) and the Lyceum Club. Many of her contemporaries shared what she called 'the club habit', a habit that had enabled women to 'find their tongues in public assemblies' in the decades after they achieved the vote (Courier-Mail, 8 February 1934, 16). As she wrote her column, Moore may have been thinking of a particular woman: her friend Irene Longman (1877-1964), who had been elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1929, only to lose her seat at the next election.