People Australia

Jessie Street, Fairfax Corporation, 1931

National Library of Australia, 51893682

Jessie Mary Grey Street, née Lillingston (1899-1970) feminist 

Birth: 18 April 1889 at Ranchi, Bihar, India, daughter of Charles Alfred Gordon Lillingston (1857-1934), a civil servant, and Mabel Harriet, née Ogilvie (1866-1925). Marriage: 10 February 1916 at St John’s Anglican Church, Darlinghurst, to Sydney-born (Sir) Kenneth Whistler Street (1890-1972), barrister. They had two daughters and two sons. Death: 2 July 1970 in the Scottish Hospital, Paddington; usual residence Greenoaks Avenue, Darling Point. Religion: buried with Anglican rites. 

• Arrived with her family in New South Wales in 1896 after her mother inherited ‘Yulgilbar’ station on the Clarence River. She was educated by governesses and in England.
• Graduated BA from Sydney University in 1910. On overseas visits she developed an active interest in the women’s movement.
• Trained as a social worker in the United States of America. Joined the League of Nations Union 1918. Secretary of the NSW section of the National Council of Women 1920 but resigned the inaction of national leadership. President of Feminist Club in 1926, resigning in December 1929 to become founding president of the United Associations of Women. She retained the presidency until 1950, working closely with Linda Littlejohn and others. In 1929 she was instrumental in the establishment of the Racial Hygiene Association (later Family Planning Association).
• Travelled abroad in 1930, visiting Europe and collecting information for a national social insurance scheme. During the Depression she established support groups for unemployed girls, including a model dairy farm at Doonside and a domestic service employment bureau. With Muriel Heagney she campaigned for equal pay, though the two later fell out over strategy.
• From the mid-1930s she was active in the International Peace Campaign. Visited the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1938; during the 1930s she became increasingly sympathetic to socialism. During World War II she was involved in the Australian Women’s Charter, articulating a range of women’s wartime and post-war needs. During the war, she also went to work in a Melbourne munitions factory.
• Active in the Women for Canberra Movement. Jessie Street was the endorsed ALP candidate for the seat of Wentworth at the 1943 Federal elections, losing narrowly. Became chairman of Russian Medical Aid, was also active in Sheepskins for Russia campaign and Movement for Friendship with the Soviet Union, working closely with Tom Wright. She was a leading figure in Trade Union Equal Pay Committee. In 1944 she was a co-founder of Women’s Charter Movement; founded and contributed to The Australian Women’s Digest (1944-1948).
• In 1945 she was the sole woman member of the delegation to the San Francisco conference which established the United Nations Organisation. Co-founded the UN Status of Women Commission, serving as Australian representative in 1947-1948.
• After the war she was attacked by opponents for alleged Communist sympathies; in 1949 she lost her place on the Status of Women Commission. In the early 1950s worked abroad as UAW liaison officer with women’s organisations.
• Became Lady Street when husband was created KCMG in 1956. In 1957 she attended the foundation meeting of Australian-Aboriginal Fellowship and in 1958 became a constitutional member of Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement, campaigning for constitutional rights for Aboriginal people.
• She was a foundation member of the World Peace Council and was subsequently elected to its bureau; president of NSW Peace Council.
• Cause of death: coronary occlusion (30 minutes) and arteriosclerosis (2 years). 

Sources
Payment For Wives: How It Can Be Achieved (pamphlet, early1930s); Woman As Homemaker (pamphlet, 1940s); Truth or Repose (autobiography, 1966); Our Women (Anniversary Issue) 1963; Tribune (Sydney), 15 July 1970; Heather Radi (ed.), 200 Australian Women; a redress anthology (Sydney,1988); W. Mitchell, 50 Years of Feminist Achievement, (Sydney, 1979?).