Tania Brown will make history as the first woman to be Lord Mayor of Wollongong. She forms a trio of Labor Party women who’ve been the first to bust the glass ceiling in local politics – in 2004, Sharon Bird became the first woman MP for the federal district of Cunningham and in 2023 Maryanne Stuart became the first woman to represent the state district of Heathcote.

"It is an achievement," Tania acknowledged this week, with 41.16% of the first preference mayoral votes, and Labor looking to win eight of 13 council seats.

"I reflect back on Norma Wilson who challenged Frank Arkell back in 1983. And the fact that we've had to wait 40 years to get close again…

"I certainly hope that the real difference is that it means we don't have to wait so long for the next one."

Trip through the archives

Women in the political sphere have come a long way, as newspaper articles held in Wollongong Library’s Local Studies section show.

On 18 June 1861, an article on page 2 of the Illawarra Mercury opened with: “Universal Suffrage has few advocates in this colony.” It said women and children had no interest in voting, and men of a similar mindset should also be denied the right.

“To give a vote to anyone who does not want it is very much like giving a musket to a monkey,” the reporter wrote.

On 4 March 1890, legal opinions on the right of married women to vote were interesting enough to warrant a mention in a Borough Council report on page 2 of the Mercury.

Nine years later, on 10 October 1899, a piece titled ‘Public Debate at Brownsville’ also made it to page 2 of the Mercury. It told how four men from Wollongong's St Michael’s Young Men’s Association discussed women’s suffrage with four members of Brownsville’s Bohemian Club.

Should women vote?

The Young Men’s Association argued women were the equal of men. “Her emancipation was slowly being realised, and the time was now opportune for the suffrage to be conceded to her,” they said. But Mr Miller, premier of the Bohemian Club, deplored the growing tendency “to deprive woman of her distinctive functions and duties as the gentle helpmate and trueful companion of man and to exalt her into a false position as his rival and competitor”.

Voting, Mr Miller declared, was too weighty a responsibility for women; only blue stockings, “members of the shrieking sisterhood” were interested.

Mr Cox of Wollongong then called upon the men’s sense of chivalry to see that justice was done and women – who could own property and be taxed on it – could also vote.

The reporter then shared the views of Mr Harris (“woman was not intellectually the equal of man, as the relative weight of her brain clearly showed”) and Mr Foster, who pointed out they weren’t asking for much, just for women to have the chance to vote for “male legislators” at the ballot box.

The Local Studies team couldn’t find definitive evidence of first local government election that Wollongong women could vote in, but in 1902 the Commonwealth Franchise Act gave women over age 21 (but not First Nations women) permission to vote in elections and stand for the Australian Parliament. Enacted on 12 June 1902, it was adopted also by NSW State Government and presumably by local governments.

Progress marches on

In the Illawarra, by 6 September 1902, things had advanced to the point where a Mercury column titled ‘The Man in Street Says’ praised women as "the best judges of character" who could “not do worse” than some men when voting, even if there was a risk the ladies might be impressed by a candidate’s personal appearance. A "well known public man” observed that most women in favour of suffrage wore “stockings and elastic side boots”.

It was not until 1943 that the first women won seats in the Australian Parliament. It took a little longer for women in Wollongong to win a seat at council, but in 1959 Mary Reuben (Rube) Hargrave became the first woman to be elected to the Council of the City of Greater Wollongong. An independent who stressed her concern for women and girls, this remarkable Bulli resident – also said to be Ford’s first woman driving instructor – was an Alderman from 1959-1971, Deputy Mayor 1969-70 and Deputy Lord Mayor 1970-1971. 

How far have we come?

In 1859, the first municipal council covering Wollongong was created and in 1946 four councils merged to form Greater Wollongong. In the eight decades since then, council has gone from zero women to a majority, with seven women out of 13 councillors in the last term of council. 

While the new council looks to be most remarkable for its Labor majority, following an unprecedented NSW Liberal Party nominations blunder, 2024 nevertheless marks a milestone moment, with Tania Brown set to be sworn in as the first woman Lord Mayor on October 14.

For the young Tania, growing up in a Catholic household in 1960s and 70s Unanderra, politics was part of family life. "One of my earliest memories is of Gough Whitlam's dismissal and my parents being disturbed that we were entering a period of civil war and anarchy was going to reign," she said. "Of course it didn't, but I remember being at my grandmother's house and everyone was glued to the television.

“My father took me to my first Labor party meeting back in 1984 and he had been in Young Labor with Paul Keating – Dad was my political mentor. He was the one who lived the Labor values and he was a plumber and it was all about the workers and their rights, but doing good for everyone.

“Dad was the one that had the biggest impact on my life and I've now been a party member for 40 years.”

Now an experienced politician, having served as a councillor for seven years, including as Deputy Lord Mayor for five of those, Tania counts former national leaders Julia Gillard and Jacinda Ardern among her heroes.

Yet still her role involves encouraging more women candidates.

“I am a member of the Australian Local Government Women’s Association and I go along to that and I try to do my bit to mentor other women, to encourage them to run for politics,” she said.

“This election I went up to Wollondilly and spoke on a panel up there; past elections, I've gone down to Shellharbour and other areas to try and encourage young women to put their name forward – which is not an easy thing to do given the horrible things that [happen], where we get trolled.”

Calling it out

Thanks to today's 'social media', the misogynistic opinions of strangers hit women personally and publicly. 

“It's the reality, and when you're trying to encourage a young mum to get into politics – you have to be resilient and you don't learn resilience,” Tania said. “You live it.”

In the 2024 council elections, women candidates dealt with everything from having posters defaced with silly moustaches, to judgement for wearing the same jacket twice, to hateful social media comments essentially saying ‘go home and menstruate there’.

“What message does that send to other young women about putting their hand up, particularly at local government, when you aren't remunerated very well," Tania asked.

In 2024/25, councillors will be paid $35,620 a year; the Lord Mayor earns a total of $146,590.

Ahead of taking on the city's top job, Tania condemned the trolling of women online. "You're out there, you do so much virtually volunteer work, and to be treated that way," she said.

“They would never say that to your face. And yet they think that it's okay to say that online.

"I think that behaviour has to be called out or it's never going to change.”.

Meanwhile, back in Brownsville

The 10 October 1899 public debate ended with a vote in favour of women’s suffrage – “by a narrow majority”. The Mercury reporter wrote that "the utmost good feeling and humour" had prevailed.