Mary Tenison Woods

She became a notary after parliament passed the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act in 1921, and her 1944 newspaper articles helped lead to a separate Department of Child Welfare.

Tenison Woods was the first woman admitted to practice law in South Australia, on 20 October 1917. In 1921 she applied to become a public notary, a role restricted to men, and the judge hearing the application read the word person in the relevant Act as meaning man. Supporters urged parliament to pass the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act in 1921, which allowed her appointment. Later, as Chair of the Children's Advisory Council in New South Wales, she wrote two articles for the Sydney Morning Herald in 1944 on problems at the Parramatta Girls Home and the Gosford Farm Home for Boys, which were influential in leading to a separate Department of Child Welfare.