Australian Federation of University Women - South Australian Branch

The Australian Federation of University Women (SA) has existed under that name since 1974, but the association in fact has a much longer history.

In 1914 the Women Graduates' Club was founded, which in 1929 became the Adelaide University Women Graduates' Association, in 1968 the South Australian Women Graduates' Association, and in 1974 affiliated with the national body of the Australian Federation of University Women. In 2009, it was renamed Australian Federation of Graduate Women (AFGW).

In 1923 the Club affiliated with the Australian Federation of University Women. The same year the Club affiliated with the Women Students' Union (as the Women Students' Club had become known), assuming independent status rather than that of a sub-society. It disaffiliated with the Women Students' Union in 1929 and became The Adelaide University Women's Graduates' Association, but affiliated directly with the University Union in 1934.

The objects of the Association as expressed in the 1929 constitution were "to promote understanding and friendship between the women graduates of this and other universities ... and to keep abreast of modern developments in academic subjects of interest to students". A bursary fund was established in 1929 and donations were made to the Australian Federation for scholarships and bursaries, the funds being derived from subscriptions and from the hiring of hoods and gowns (initiated in 1935).

In 1960 a formula was established for the apportionment of funds for bursaries, and the Association began a separate fund to finance its own bursaries while still contributing to A.F.U.W. and I.F.U.W. fellowships. The Jean Gilmore bursary was established in 1969 (initial value $500, open to all Australian women graduates proceding to a higher degree) and the Doreen McCarthy and Barbara Case bursaries in 1979.

Vocations Conferences for female secondary students were initiated in 1933 and held regularly (with the exception of the war years until 1973).

In 1968 the name of the Association was changed to the South Australian University Women Graduates' Association, following the establishment of Flinders University. After the Brisbane Conference of January 1974 all branches altered their consititutions and names in the interest of uniformity and greater unity, and the Association became the AFUW - S.A.

The Association was incorporated in 1981. It was renamed Australian Federation of Graduate Women (AFGW) in 2009.

A brief sketch of the first 50 years of the Association was published in the Graduates' Union Gazette, Volume 3, no. 6 (December 1961), a copy of which is included in Series 0013-0007. These papers were deposited in Special Collections by the Federation in June 1984. Additional papers were received from Mrs. H.S. Dean in 1987, Mrs. B. Nettle in 1988, Dr. J. Barker and Heather Latz in 1992-93, Dr. K. Twidale 1998-2000, and Dr. Daphne Elliott in 2000. The records were transferred to the University Archives in 2008.

Taken from UAA Provenance Record UAR-0593