Bessie Rischbieth is remembered for a symbolic protest against the reclamation of Mounts Bay in 1959 when she entered the river at the age of 85 and prevented the bulldozers from commencing their work.
26 Facts About Bessie Rischbieth
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Bessie Rischbieth returned, along with her sister, to Adelaide to continue her schooling, living with her uncle William Benjamin "Ben" Rounsevell, a politician, of Cornish Australian parentage, who was influential in the formation of his niece's social consciousness.
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Bessie Rischbieth attended the Advanced School for Girls in Adelaide and participated in debate within her home on the topics of the day, including federation and women's emancipation.
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Bessie Rischbieth married a wool merchant, Henry Wills Rischbieth, on 22 October 1898.
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The Rischbieths did not have children which led to Bessie engaging in child welfare and social reform, and eventually to her role in the women's movements of the early 20th century.
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Bessie Rischbieth was the first woman appointed a Justice of the Peace at the Perth Court after a successful campaign to alter remnant legislation forbidding women to be seated at the bench.
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Bessie Rischbieth's WSG challenged the Bill while Edith Cowan, Roberta Jull and the National Council of Women supported it.
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Bessie Rischbieth was an Australian pioneer of the notion that mothers were political subjects who had rights.
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Bessie Rischbieth was vice-president of the British Commonwealth League of Women's from its foundation in 1925 and inaugural secretary of the Western Australian Women Justices' Association.
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Bessie Rischbieth was founder, with M Chauve Collisson of the Women's Non-party Political Association.
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Bessie Rischbieth lobbied for women's representation in, and was appointed to, the Australian delegation to the League of Nations.
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Bessie Rischbieth pointed out to Prime Minister Joseph Lyons in 1934 that Australia was a signatory of the League of Nations Covenant and had acquired a responsibility to the indigenous people.
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The WSGWA published a journal, Dawn, for which Bessie Rischbieth was founder editor and a frequent contributor.
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Bessie Rischbieth was appointed as an OBE at Buckingham Palace on 3 June 1935 for "service with the women's movements".
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The WSG, under Bessie Rischbieth, remained closely linked to the peace movements of the inter-war years.
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Bessie Rischbieth did back Edith Cowan's successful campaign and often directly lobbied regarding civil rights and conservation.
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Bessie Rischbieth's correspondents include Prime Ministers Lyons, Curtin and Menzies.
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Bessie Rischbieth was a member of the Karrakatta Club and exhibited work at the West Australian Society of Arts.
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Bessie Rischbieth was a campaigner for urban planning and natural heritage.
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Bessie Rischbieth was an important member of the Theosophical movement; a group that overlapped with feminist and conservation activism in post-federation Australia.
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Bessie Rischbieth was a Co-Freemason, a movement that was often linked with Theosophy.
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Bessie Rischbieth travelled to parts of Asia and was interested in eastern philosophy and culture, staying once at Gandhi's ashram.
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Bessie Rischbieth promoted a Citizens Committee for the Preservation of Kings Park and the Swan River and successfully prevented an olympic swimming pool being built for the 1962 Empire Games in Kings Park.
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Bessie Rischbieth remained active in social issues until her death at Bethesda Hospital in Claremont, Western Australia on 13 March 1967, aged 92.
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Bessie Rischbieth was posthumously inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.
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An extensive collection of her papers and other material and the items associated with Louie Cullen, an 'original suffragette' whom Bessie Rischbieth encouraged to share her experience and archives, is held by the National Library of Australia, the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library and the State Library of Western Australia.