Freda Brown

Overview

Freda Yetta Brown (née Lewis) born Sydney, Australia June 9, 1919 (d. 2009). Australian women’s rights leader; Communist. President, International Democratic Women’s Federation, 1975. Led UN celebration of International Women’s Year, 1975. Awarded Lenin Peace Prize, 1977; honored by South Africa for anti-Apartheid protests. Opposed Vietnam War.

Quotations

“If there is a war with America and Russia, I hope that Australia will not send her manpower to help a country little better than the Fascist countries we have been fighting.” (1948, in XYZ, Jul. 22, 2017; photo Sydney Morning Herald)

Cecilia Cruz Bamba

Overview

Cecilia “Chilang” Cruz Bamba born Hagåtña, Guam November 14, 1934 (d. 1986). Pioneering Chamorro women’s leader and feminist. Elected as senator, 1978. After her parents were brutally killed in WWII, she succeeded in winning women’s support for reparation for war damage and postwar military land seizures.

Quotations

“I believe in the capability of women, the value of women in any endeavorI tend to lean on women more to bring them into working with me in whatever work I’m doing.” (Laura Marie Torres Souder-Jaffrey dissertation, “Chamorrro Female Experience”; photo Guampedia)

Eileen Kampakuta Brown

Overview

Eileen Kampakuta Brown born South Australia January 1, 1938. Aboriginal environmental activist. Formed Cooper Pedy Women’s Council to stop dumping nuclear waste at Woomera, 1995. Awarded Goldman Environmental Prize, 2003.

Quotations

“We say NO radioactive waste dump in our ngura in our country. Don’t waste our country. Don’t waste our future.” (Kunga Tjuta, Goldman Prize, 2003; photo Fairfax images)

Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain

Overview

Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain born Edinburgh, Scotland September 5, 1840 (d. 1944). New Zealand pacifist who opposed Boer War; promoted arbitration and disarmament as alternatives to war; she said she "would live, and die, for Peace" (Dict. New Zealand Bio.); opposed conscription 1909; teacher, feminist, suffragist, poet.

Quotations

"[T]he cult of Moloch had widened and strengthened until it appeared to have become the ruling passion of the human race." (May 1900, in Megan Hutching, "'Mothers of the World': Women, Peace and Arbitration." New Zealand Journal of History, p. 176, 1993)

"[I]f any section of humanity has cause to be interested in the prevention of war, that section is womenkind. . . In the wider field of devastated homes and maimed lives, and it is the women who have had to bear the brunt of this suffering." (London, July 1899, in Hutching, p. 176; photo nzhistory.net.nz)

Lagi Ballestrem

Overview

Lagi Ballestrem-Solf (née So'oa'emalelagi Solf) born Vailima, Upolu, Samoa August 31, 1909 (d. 1945). Samoan-born German Countess. Member of Solf Circle, a Nazi resistance group. Helped rescue many Jews. Imprisoned, 1944; died before war ended.

Quotations

“I do not think of the past, since it has lost its meaning. The world has learned nothing from it—neither the butcher, nor the victim or the spectator. Our time is like a dance of death, few understand its uncanny rhythm. All whirl around bewildered, without seeing the abyss.” (Wikipedia; photo ballestrem.de)

Faith Bandler

Overview

Faith Bandler (née Ida Lessing Mussing) born Tumbulgum, New South Wales September 27, 1918 (d. 2015). Australian of Vanuatu heritage; leader in referendum on aboriginal rights, 1967. Opposed Cold War and nuclear weapons; passport confiscated 10 years after visit to Eastern Europe, 1951. Recipient of Sydney Peace Foundation Award, 2000; Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

Quotations

"We can change anything. We can make a just and peaceful world. History has shown that a genuine people's movement can move more than governments. It can move mountains." (1997, quote and photo World People's Blog)

Millicent Baxter

Overview

Millicent Baxter (née Brown) born Christchurch, New Zealand January 8, 1888 (d. 1984). Anti-militarist. Converted to pacifism upon learning of persecution of World War I conscientious objector, whom she later married, 1918. Active in War Resister’s League; opposed conscription for World War II; opposed nuclear weapons.

Quotations

On persecution of conscientious objectors: “It moved me, right out of my shell into the open; and in the open I have remained, looking into things, questioning them.” (photo with son James, Dict. NZ National Biography)

Doris Blackburn

Overview

Doris Blackburn (née Hordern) born Melbourne, Victoria September 18, 1889 (d. 1970). Australian peace activist and politician; opposed World War I as Socialist; founded Aborigines Advancement League; headed Australian WILPF.

Quotations

"[A] rocket bomb testing range in Central Australia is an act of injustice to a weaker people who have no voice in the ordering of their own lives; is a betrayal of our responsibility to guard the human rights of those who cannot defend themselves; and a violation of the various Charters that have sought to bring about world peace." (speech to Parliament, March 6, 1947; photo Wikipedia)

Meredith Burgmann

Overview

Meredith Burgmann born Beecroft, Sydney, Australia July 26, 1947. Professor; UN development consultant. Australian Labor Party politician; 15-year member of New South Wales Senate; Senate President, 1999-2007. Arrested 21 times, including for running on field of Sydney Cricket Ground during the South African rugby team's Australian tour to protest apartheid, 1971; later sentenced to two months in prison. Opposed Vietnam War and nuclear weapons; publicly opposed Iraq War.

Quotations

"Australia, it seems, has learnt nothing from the Vietnam experience. . . The polls clearly show that this is a war that the majority of Australians do not want. . . They are hesitant about unilateral US action. The Federal Government should not push Australia into an unnecessary war." (The Sun-Herald, Sept. 29, 2002; photo smsa.org)

Verity Burgmann

Overview

Verity Burgmann born Sydney, Australia September 17, 1952. Professor of Political Science; socialist. Along with her sister Meredith Burgmann, arrested for running on field of Sydney Cricket Ground during the South African rugby team's Australian tour to protest apartheid, 1971. Opposed nuclear weapons; supported aboriginal rights.

Quotations

Decried World War I as “the most pointless war of all time.” (“Workers against Warfare”; photo unimelb.edu.au)