Christiane Susanne Augustine (Augusta) Zadow (née Hofmeyer) (27 August 1846 - 7 July 1896) was a German-Australian trade unionist.

Early years

She was born in Runkel

Runkel

Runkel is a town on the Lahn River in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany.- Location :Runkel lies in the Lahn Valley on both sides of the river between the Westerwald and the Taunus, some eight kilometres east of Limburg....

 in the Duchy of Nassau

Nassau (state)

Nassau was a German state within the Holy Roman Empire and later in the German Confederation. Its ruling dynasty, now extinct in male line, was the House of Nassau.-Origins:...

, she was educated at the Ladies' Seminary, Biebrich-on-Rhine, and following her studies became a governess

Governess

A governess is a girl or woman employed to teach and train children in a private household. In contrast to a nanny or a babysitter, she concentrates on teaching children, not on meeting their physical needs...

. By 1868 she was working as a tailoress in London. She met her husband Christian Wilhelm Zadow, a tailor and political refugee from Germany, in London and the pair married in 1871 and travelled to Australia with their young son on the Robert Lees, arriving in Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

 in 1877.

Union activities

In Adelaide, Zadow became an advocate for women working in clothing factories. She was a major contributor to the establishment of the Working Women's Trades Union in 1890 and was a delegate to the United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia

United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia

The United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia, also known as SA Unions, is a representative body of trade union organisations, known as a Labour council, in the State of South Australia...

. Mary Lee

Mary Lee

Mary Lee was an Irish-Australian suffragist and social reformer in South Australia....

, David Charleston

David Charleston

David Morley Charleston was an Cornish-born Australian politician. Born in Cornwall, he received a primary education before becoming an apprentice engineer, and later an engineering unionist and marine engineer...

 and Zadow prepared a list of fair wages and prices for use in Adelaide.

She spoke in favor of women's suffrage

Women's suffrage

Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...

 and following the franchise of women in South Australia in 1894, she was appointed a factory inspector by the government of Charles Kingston

Charles Kingston

Charles Cameron Kingston, Australian politician, was an early liberal Premier of South Australia serving from 1893 to 1899 with the support of Labor led by John McPherson from 1893 and Lee Batchelor from 1897 in the House of Assembly, winning the 1893, 1896, and 1899 state elections against the...

. She inspected factories and monitored working conditions for women and minors.

Personal life

She died of haematemesis following an illness from influenza in 1896 while preparing a report on the Factories Act. She was buried at the West Terrace Cemetery

West Terrace Cemetery

The West Terrace Cemetery is South Australia’s oldest cemetery, first appearing on Colonel William Light’s 1837 plan of Adelaide. The 27.6 hectare site is located in the south-west corner of the Adelaide central business district, between West Terrace, Anzac Highway, Sir Donald Bradman Drive and...

. The Augusta Zadow scholarship was formed in her honour in 1994. It is awarded annually to individuals involved in women's health and safety issues.