Jessie Street

Jessie Mary Grey Street (née Lillingston, later Lady Street; 18 April 1889 – 2 July 1970) was an Australian suffragette and an extensive campaigner for peace and human rights. As Australia's only female delegate to the founding of the United Nations at the San Francisco Conference in 1945, Jessie was Australia's first female delegate to the United Nations. She was Lady Street by her husband Sir Kenneth Whistler Street.

Jessie Street
Born	Jessie Mary Grey Lillingston (1889-04-18)18 April 1889 Ranchi, Bihar, Bengal Presidency, British Raj (now in Jharkhand, India)
Died	2 July 1970(1970-07-02) (aged 81) Sydney, Australia
Monuments	Jessie Street Gardens Jessie Street National Women's Library
Nationality	Australian
Alma mater	University of Sydney
Spouse(s)	Sir Kenneth Whistler Street
Children	Sir Laurence Whistler Street
Relatives	Street family

She was dubbed "Red Jessie" by her detractors in the right-wing media for her efforts to promote diplomacy with the USSR and ease tensions during the Cold War. Jessie was nevertheless ardent until death in her support for the progressive cause, particularly women's rights and Australian Aboriginal rights.[1] She drove the formation of the Aboriginal Rights Organisation, which led to the successful referendum held in 1967.[2]

Background

A sketch of Jessie age 21 while at the University of Sydney Women's College

Jessie Mary Grey Lillingston was born on 18 April 1889 at Ranchi, Bihar, India, the eldest child of Charles Alfred Gordon Lillingston[3] and his wife Mabel Harriet Ogilvie, daughter of Australian politician and businessman Edward David Stuart Ogilvie, MLC.[4]

By wedding Chief Justice Sir Kenneth Whistler Street, Jessie married into Australia's Street dynasty. Her father-in-law thus became Chief Justice Sir Philip Whistler Street, and she would in turn give birth to the future Chief Justice Sir Laurence Whistler Street.

Activism

Jessie was a key figure in Australian and international 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. Jessie was Australia's first and only female delegate to the establishment of the United Nations, where she played a key role alongside the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt in ensuring that gender was included with race and religion as a non-discrimination clause in the United Nations Charter.[5]

She made two bids to enter the Australian House of Representatives as a member of the Australian Labor Party. In 1943, she ran against United Australia Party frontbencher Eric Harrison in the Eastern Suburbs seat of Wentworth, and nearly defeated him amid that year's massive Labor landslide. She actually led the field on the first count, and only the preferences of conservative independent Bill Wentworth allowed Harrison to survive. Her attempt was the closest a Labor candidate has ever come to winning the Liberal Party stronghold of Wentworth. Jessie sought a rematch against Harrison in 1946, and lost by a wider margin.

Jessie is recognised both in Australia and internationally for her activism in human rights, social justice and peace. The Jessie Street Centre, the Jessie Street Trust, the Jessie Street National Women's Library and Jessie Street Gardens exist in her honour.[6]

References

1. "Dynasties: Street".
2. Papers of Jessie Street (1889–1970), National Library of Australia, 4 December 2006
3. National Archives of Australia
4. Australian Women's Archives Project
5. National Library of Australia
6. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

Bibliography

• Red Jessie: Jessie Street – biography produced by the National Archives of Australia.
• Street, Jessie Mary Grey – The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia
• Jessie Street | Australian Women – Australian Women's Archives Project.
• Jessie Street Papers | National Library of Australia – National Library of Australia.
• Jessie Street | Australian Broadcasting Corporation – Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) profile.

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 Fitzpatrick 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 Sekuless, Jessie Street, a rewarding but unrewarded life, Prentice Hall, 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

• Red Jessie: Jessie Street – biography produced by the National Archives of Australia.
• Street, Jessie Mary Grey in The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia
• Jessie Street | Australian Women Australian Women's Archives Project.
• Jessie Street Papers | National Library of Australia National Library of Australia.
• Jessie Street | Australian Broadcasting Corporation ABC broadcast on Jessie Street.