Jessie Street
Encyclopedia
Jessie Mary Grey Street (née Lillingston; born Chota Nagpur
, Bihar
, India
, 18 April 1889; died 2 July 1970) was an Australia
n suffragette
, feminist and human rights
campaigner.
She was a key figure in Australian political life for over 50 years, from the women's suffrage
struggle in England
to the removal of Australia's constitutional discrimination against Aboriginal people in 1967. She is recognised both in Australia and internationally for her activism in women's rights, social justice
and peace
.
when visiting England in the 1950s, Jessie Street was the initiator of the 1967 "Aboriginal" amendment of the Australian Constitution with fellow activist Faith Bandler
. She "masterminded the formation of the Aboriginal Rights Organisation, which led to the successful" Australian referendum, 1967 (Aboriginals)
and even drafted petitions calling for the Referendum.
Jessie Street published a number of papers relating to Aboriginal people based on her observations during her numerous visits to Aboriginal Settlements. These include a Report on Aborigines in Australia, May 1957, Report of visit to Pindar Camps,'Report of visit to West Australia in connection with Aborigines'; 'Suggestions for Northern Territory' (Between Camooweal and Darwin); Comments on the 'Report from the Select Committee of Voting Rights of Aborigines'; and 'The question of discriminations against Aborigines and the United Nations.
. In 1911 she attended a conference of the International Council for Women in Rome
. She was also co-founder (1928) and President of United Associations of Women. Jessie was the only Australian woman delegate at the founding of the United Nations
in 1945 and established (co-founder of) the UN Commission of the Status of Women and Charter of women's rights.
candidate for the safe conservative seat of Wentworth
in NSW at the 1943 federal election
. The electoral result saw Street achieve a 20 percent primary and 14 percent two-party swing, falling less than two percent short of securing a majority of votes, and subsequently lost to the sitting United Australia Party
member Eric Harrison
. Eric Harrison stood with his back to Jessie whilst she gave her concession speech and refused to shake her hand. (Jessie Street ed Lenore Coltheart).
in 1918. She attended League of Nations Assemblies in Geneva in 1930 and 1938. She was a colleague of Pablo Picasso
on the World Peace Council
Executive. During the Second World War she was chairman of the Russian Medical Aid and Comforts Fund.
during the Cold War
which led to her being depicted as "Red Jessie" by the press. This depiction aroused suspicion and led to her being monitored by four Australian intelligence agencies. This surveillance has ensured her life has left a long trail of documents within the National Archives of Australia
.
, her husband Sir Kenneth Whistler Street and her son Sir Laurence Whistler Street
all attained the position of Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court of New South Wales
. Her cousin Edward Grey was a British politician
and ornithologist. Her high society connections were sometimes seen as being in tension with her social activism.
His daughter Philippa married the Australian Test cricketer and journalist Jack Fingleton
.
Chota Nagpur Division
Chota Nagpur Division, also known as the South-West Frontier, was an administrative division of British India. It included most of the present-day state of Jharkhand as well as adjacent portions of West Bengal, Orissa, and Chhattisgarh....
, Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, 18 April 1889; died 2 July 1970) was an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n suffragette
Suffragette
"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...
, feminist and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
campaigner.
She was a key figure in Australian political life for over 50 years, from the 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...
struggle in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to the removal of Australia's constitutional discrimination against Aboriginal people in 1967. She is recognised both in Australia and internationally for her activism in women's rights, social justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
and peace
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
.
Aboriginal rights
Apparently inspired by the British Anti-Slavery SocietyAnti-Slavery Society
The Anti-Slavery Society or A.S.S. was the everyday name of two different British organizations.The first was founded in 1823 and was committed to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. Its official name was the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the...
when visiting England in the 1950s, Jessie Street was the initiator of the 1967 "Aboriginal" amendment of the Australian Constitution with fellow activist Faith Bandler
Faith Bandler
Faith Bandler, AC also known as Ida Lessing Faith Mussing is an Australian civil rights activist of South Sea Islander heritage. She is a campaigner for the rights of Indigenous Australians and South Sea Islanders. Bandler is best known for her leadership in the campaign for the 1967 referendum on...
. She "masterminded the formation of the Aboriginal Rights Organisation, which led to the successful" Australian referendum, 1967 (Aboriginals)
Australian referendum, 1967 (Aboriginals)
The referendum of 27 May 1967 approved two amendments to the Australian constitution relating to Indigenous Australians. Technically it was a vote on the Constitution Alteration 1967, which became law on 10 August 1967 following the results of the referendum...
and even drafted petitions calling for the Referendum.
Jessie Street published a number of papers relating to Aboriginal people based on her observations during her numerous visits to Aboriginal Settlements. These include a Report on Aborigines in Australia, May 1957, Report of visit to Pindar Camps,'Report of visit to West Australia in connection with Aborigines'; 'Suggestions for Northern Territory' (Between Camooweal and Darwin); Comments on the 'Report from the Select Committee of Voting Rights of Aborigines'; and 'The question of discriminations against Aborigines and the United Nations.
Women's rights
Jessie Street campaigned for equality of status for women, equal pay, appointment by women to public office and their election to parliamentAustralian governments
Australia employs a federal system of government. The national government is the Australian federal government, headed by the Queen, who is represented in Australia by the Governor-General of Australia, though ordinarily actual political power is wielded by the Prime Minister of Australia under the...
. In 1911 she attended a conference of the International Council for Women in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. She was also co-founder (1928) and President of United Associations of Women. Jessie was the only Australian woman delegate at the founding of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
in 1945 and established (co-founder of) the UN Commission of the Status of Women and Charter of women's rights.
Political involvement
Jessie Street stood as the LaborAustralian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
candidate for the safe conservative seat of Wentworth
Division of Wentworth
The Division of Wentworth is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It was proclaimed in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. The Division is named after William Charles Wentworth , a noted Australian explorer and statesman...
in NSW at the 1943 federal election
Australian federal election, 1943
Federal elections were held in Australia on 21 August 1943. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister of Australia John Curtin easily defeated the opposition Country Party led...
. The electoral result saw Street achieve a 20 percent primary and 14 percent two-party swing, falling less than two percent short of securing a majority of votes, and subsequently lost to the sitting United Australia Party
United Australia Party
The United Australia Party was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia and predecessor to the Liberal Party of Australia...
member Eric Harrison
Eric Harrison
Sir Eric John Harrison KCMG KCVO was an Australian politician who became the first Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia....
. Eric Harrison stood with his back to Jessie whilst she gave her concession speech and refused to shake her hand. (Jessie Street ed Lenore Coltheart).
General peace and social justice
She was a co-founder of NSW Social Hygiene Association (1916) and was a foundation member of the Sydney Branch of the League of Nations UnionLeague of Nations Union
The League of Nations Union was an organization formed in the United Kingdom to promote international justice, collective security and a permanent peace between nations based upon the ideals of the League of Nations. The League of Nations was established by the Great Powers as part of the Paris...
in 1918. She attended League of Nations Assemblies in Geneva in 1930 and 1938. She was a colleague of Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
on the World Peace Council
World Peace Council
The World Peace Council is an international organization that advocates universal disarmament, sovereignty and independence and peaceful co-existence, and campaigns against imperialism, weapons of mass destruction and all forms of discrimination...
Executive. During the Second World War she was chairman of the Russian Medical Aid and Comforts Fund.
Controversy
She was friendly towards the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
which led to her being depicted as "Red Jessie" by the press. This depiction aroused suspicion and led to her being monitored by four Australian intelligence agencies. This surveillance has ensured her life has left a long trail of documents within the National Archives of Australia
National Archives of Australia
The National Archives of Australia is a body established by the Government of Australia for the purpose of preserving Commonwealth Government records. It is an Executive Agency of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and reports to the Cabinet Secretary, Senator Joe Ludwig.The national...
.
Eminent relatives
Jessie Street's father-in-law Sir Philip Whistler StreetPhilip Whistler Street
Sir Philip Whistler Street KCMG was the eighth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Street was a distinguished lawyer, patron of many benevolent institutions and also the lieutenant governor of New South Wales. Biographer Percival Serle states "Street had the culture, dignity...
, her husband Sir Kenneth Whistler Street and her son Sir Laurence Whistler Street
Laurence Street
Sir Laurence Whistler Street AC, KCMG, QC is an Australian jurist and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.-Family:...
all attained the position of Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
of the Supreme Court of New South Wales
Supreme Court of New South Wales
The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales...
. Her cousin Edward Grey was a British politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and ornithologist. Her high society connections were sometimes seen as being in tension with her social activism.
His daughter Philippa married the Australian Test cricketer and journalist Jack Fingleton
Jack Fingleton
John "Jack" Henry Webb Fingleton OBE was an Australian cricketer who was trained as a journalist and became a political and cricket commentator after the end of his playing career...
.
Further reading
- Lenore Coltheart, "Jessie Street and the Soviet Union", in Political Tourists: Travellers from Australia to the Soviet Union in the 1920s-1940s. Eds. Sheila FitzpatrickSheila FitzpatrickSheila Fitzpatrick is an Australian-American historian. She teaches Soviet History at the University of Chicago.-Biography:Sheila Fitzpatrick attended the University of Melbourne and received her DPhil from St...
and Carolyn Rasmussen. Melbourne University Press, 2008. ISBN 0-522-85530-X - Heather Radi, Jessie Street, Documents and Essays, Women's Redress Press, 1990. ISBN 1-875274-03-0
- Peter SekulessPeter SekulessPeter Sekuless is an Australian author and lobbyist based in Canberra, Australia.He founded the government relations firm Canberra Liaison with Jonathan Gaul in 1978...
, Jessie Street, a rewarding but unrewarded life, Prentice HallPrentice HallPrentice Hall is a major educational publisher. It is an imprint of Pearson Education, Inc., based in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA. Prentice Hall publishes print and digital content for the 6-12 and higher-education market. Prentice Hall distributes its technical titles through the Safari...
, 1978. ISBN 0-7022-1227-X - Jessie Street, ed Lenore Coltheart, Jessie Street, a Revised Autobiography, Federation Press, 2004. ISBN 1-86287-502-2
- Jessie Street, Truth or Repose, Australasian Book Society, 1966.
- Eric Russell, Woollahra - a History in Pictures, John Ferguson Pty Ltd, 1980. ISBN 0-909134-23-5
External links
- Australian Dictionary of Biographies' Jessie Street entry
- Red Jessie: Jessie Street – biography produced by the National Archives of Australia.
- Jessie Street National Women's Library Official Website
- Jessie Street | University of Sydney | Women's College
- Jessie Street | Australian Women Australian Women's Archives Project.
- Jessie Street Papers | National Library of Australia National Library of Australia.
- Jessie Street | Federation Press Federation Press.
- Jessie Street | Australian Broadcasting Corporation ABC broadcast on Jessie Street.