Jessie Mary Grey, Lady Street (née Lillingston; 18 April 1889 – 2 July 1970) was an Australian diplomat, suffragette and campaigner for

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

rights, dubbed "Red Jessie" by the media. As Australia's only female delegate to the founding of the United Nations in 1945, Jessie was Australia's first female

delegate Delegate or delegates may refer to: * Delegate, New South Wales, a town in Australia * Delegate (CLI), a computer programming technique * Delegate (American politics), a representative in any of various political organizations * Delegate (Unit ...

to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

. She was Lady Street by her husband Sir Kenneth Whistler Street. Street was key to the inclusion of gender as a non-discrimination clause in the

United Nations Charter The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: the ...

Background

Jessie Mary Grey Lillingston was born on 18 April 1889 at Ranchi,

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

, India. Her father Charles Alfred Gordon Lillingston, (great-grandson of

Sir George Grey, 1st Baronet Sir George Grey, 1st Baronet, (10 October 1767 – 3 October 1828) was a British Royal Navy officer and a scion of the noble House of Grey. He served with the Royal Navy from the age of 14 and was on active service from 1781 to 1804, during the ...

) was a member of the Imperial Civil Service in India. Her mother Mabel Harriet Ogilvie was the daughter of Australian politician Edward David Stuart Ogilvie. In 1916, she married

Kenneth Whistler Street Sir Kenneth Whistler Street, (28 January 1890 – 15 February 1972) was the 10th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales. These offices were held before him by his father Sir Philip Whi ...

, giving her the title of Lady Street. Her father-in-law

Sir Philip Whistler Street Sir Philip Whistler Street, (9 August 1863 – 11 September 1938) was the 8th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales. He was the first member of the Street family to attain these vicere ...

served as

Chief Justice of New South Wales The Chief Justice of New South Wales is the senior judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the highest-ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of New South Wales. The Chief Justice is both the judicial head of the Supreme Co ...

, as did her husband Sir Kenneth and their youngest son, Sir Laurence. Their other children were Belinda, Philippa and Roger. She graduated from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

in 1911 as a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

.Australian Women's Archives Project
/ref>

Career and activism

Street was a prominent figure in Australian and international political life for over 50 years, from the

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

movement in England to the

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Isl ...

rights. Street ran in the

1943 Australian federal election The 1943 Australian federal election was 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 Labor Party, led by Prime Minister John Curtin, ...

as a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...

against

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

frontbencher

Eric Harrison Sir Eric John Harrison, (7 September 1892 – 26 September 1974) was an Australian politician and diplomat. He was the inaugural deputy leader of the Liberal Party (1945–1956), and a government minister under four prime ministers. He was lat ...

for the Sydney Eastern Suburbs seat of

Wentworth Wentworth may refer to: People * Wentworth (surname) * Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth (1873–1957), Lady Wentworth, notable Arabian horse breeder * S. Wentworth Horton (1885–1960), New York state senator * Wentworth Miller (born 1 ...

, and nearly defeated him amid that year's massive Labor landslide. She led the field on the first count, and only the preferences of conservative independent

Bill Wentworth William Charles Wentworth (8 September 1907 – 15 June 2003), usually known as Bill Wentworth and sometimes referred to by others as William Charles Wentworth IV, was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party for most of ...

allowed Harrison to survive. Her attempt was the closest a Labor candidate has ever come to winning the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

stronghold of

. At the

San Francisco Conference The United Nations Conference on International Organization (UNCIO), commonly known as the San Francisco Conference, was a convention of delegates from 50 Allied nations that took place from 25 April 1945 to 26 June 1945 in San Francisco, Calif ...

in 1945, Street was Australia's only female delegate to the founding of the United Nations, where she played a key role alongside

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

in ensuring that gender was included with race and religion as a non-discrimination clause in the

. In 1949, Street was made a charter member of the Australian Peace Council. Th
Jessie Street Centre
th
Jessie Street Trust
the Jessie Street National Women's Library and Jessie Street Gardens exist in her honour.Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
/ref>

References

Bibliography

Red Jessie: Jessie Street
– biography produced by the National Archives of Australia.

– ''The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia''

– Australian Women's Archives Project.

– National Library of Australia.

– Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) profile.

External links

Red Jessie: Jessie Street
– biography produced by the National Archives of Australia. * *

National Library of Australia.

ABC broadcast on Jessie Street. {{DEFAULTSORT:Street, Jessie 1889 births 1970 deaths Australian suffragists Australian indigenous rights activists Women human rights activists Australian women's rights activists University of Sydney alumni People from Ranchi Jessie 19th-century Australian women 20th-century Australian women Australian pacifists British people in colonial India British emigrants to Australia

Background

Career and activism

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links