Mrs A. V. Roberts
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Mrs A.V. Roberts JP, ( – 15 August 1969)[1] was a feminist and social activist in Sydney, New South Wales, best known as a leader, speaker and organiser, active in the 1920s and 1930s.
Anna Maude "Dollie"[a] Draper was born sometime around 1882, daughter of Georgina Draper née Pressnell (often Presnell), and W. H. Draper (c. 1853 – 7 March 1927).[3] She grew up in Brunswick, and later at Shepparton[4] in Victoria. Roberts' maternal grandfather, (William) Henry Pressnell, was locally notable as a centenarian.[5][b] He died 23 May 1911[7] at the Drapers' home 15 Milton Street, Ascot Vale.
On 2 August 1905 she married Albert Victor Roberts[8] (1874 – 24 August 1944),[9] who worked on his father's farm "Riverside" at Murchison, Victoria and with his brother James managed "Moora Park", Rushworth, in the 1890s. For many years they lived on the land; in 1909 he was appointed farm manager at Shepparton Agricultural High School.[10] and around 1910 running sheep at "Shirley Grange",[11] near Cavendish,[12] until at least 1913.[13] He was insolvent in 1913[14] and bankrupt in 1915.[15]
They moved to Sydney sometime before 1920. In 1921 she was appointed,[c] with Millicent Preston-Stanley and Mrs J. A. Wilson,[17] one of New South Wales' first women Justices of the Peace[18] and a charter member of the Women Justices Association. By 1924 they were living at 74 Gerard Street, Cremorne,[19] perhaps purchased in March 1923.[20]
He leased, from Closer Settlement Ltd, land at "Ferrodale", an estate near Raymond Terrace, for subleasing, but lost on the deal.[21] He was declared bankrupt in 1937.[22] No further reports have been found.
Activities
Roberts was one of the Women Justices of the Peace who acted as hostess at the 1922 Country Women's Conference, which attracted delegates from the Women's Reform League, Country Women's Association, Women Farmers' Union and other organisations.[23] She was one of several women Justices, including Miss Preston Stanley, Annie Golding, and Mrs Edwards-Byrne,[d] opposed to capital punishment.[24]
Charitable organisations
In 1920 Roberts was elected secretary of the North Sydney branch of the Housewives Association,[25] in which context she was known as "the woman who brought the prices down".[26] and made a study of the "baby bonus".[26] While involved with the association she became hon. secretary of the Royal North Shore Hospital appeal,[27][28] which led to her involvement in homes for the aged.[29] In 1921 she addressed the Citizens' Association of New South Wales (affiliated with the National Council of Women) on the subject of housing,[30] and was a committee member from 1921 till 1926.[31][32]
She was in 1922 a founder of Cottage Homes for the Aged,[33] became president, Sunset Cottage Homes committee, from its formation in 1923 till 1924.[34][35] She was on the committee of the Hospital Saturday Fund, which ran from 1926 to 1928.[36]
In 1921, Roberts was Secretary to the Lady Mayor's (Mrs A. E. Whatmore) Clothing Appeal Fund,[37] and a member of the executive in 1922.[38]
In 1921, she was secretary of the North Sydney committee of the Blind Institution when her sister Emilie Draper entertained at a charity concert. 1930 she organised fundraising efforts to overcome drop in donations in difficult times.[39]In 1931 she organised Sydney's first "pastoral play" to benefit the Sydney Industrial Blind Association.[40][41] In 1934 she gave a radio talk in aid of the Blind Institution, William Street, Sydney.She was hon. secretary of the Sydney Industrial Blind Institution under presidents Lady Game, and Lady Hore-Ruthven, and social organiser to the organising committee to 1937,[42] succeeded by Mrs Norman Murray.
Domestic issues
The Women's Union of Service (WUS) was founded in 1920,[43] and Mrs Roberts came to the fore, investigating the price of meat and milk.[44] She was elected president in 1922.[45][46] The WUS was largely responsible for the election of Mrs Margaret Dale as delegate to the 1923 League of Nations conference at Geneva.[47] and was welcomed by Roberts on her return.[48] Roberts was the WUS delegate to the 1923 Melbourne convention of the National Council of Women, convened to discuss maternity allowance.[49][50]
Lobby groups
The Women's League of New South Wales was founded in 1902 by Mrs Molyneux Parkes as the Women's Liberal League,[51]
In 1923 the League endorsed Mrs Emily Bennett as delegate to the International Suffrage League Congress in Rome, and Roberts was among the party that welcomed her return.[52] The League, which was supported by the National Party, was reconstituted as the non-party Women's League of New South Wales,[53] a lobby group affiliated with the national National Council of Women of Australia.[54] Roberts was vice-president 1923, and president 1923[54] through 1927[55] to 1929, when she wrote an article on Bogue Luffman.[56]
The Women's League was one of several N.S.W. organisations affiliated with the Australian Equal Citizenship Federation, the others being the Feminist Club, the Women's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.), and the Women's Union of Service.[57] Roberts attended the first of two conferences of the Australian Federation of Women Voters, held in Adelaide in 1924, representing the Women's League of N.S.W.[58]
She was a council member of the Sydney branch of the League of Nations Union as delegate from the Women's League.[citation needed]
Roberts was president of the committee to organise the Australian delegation to the 1928 Pan-Pacific Women's Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, which she attended as delegate from the Women's League of N.S.W.[59][60] In retrospect, she admitted to the Australian contingent being under-prepared and amateurish.[61]
The N.S.W. Women Voters' Association, occasionally referred to as Women Voters' Association of N.S.W., was formed in November 1928 at Beaumont House, Elizabeth Street, Sydney, with Roberts as a vice-president. Mrs Albert Littlejohn was president, and Mrs Hugh Munro, Mrs Earle Page, Mrs Kenneth Street (aka Jessie Street) the other vice-presidents; Miss Elma Kelly, hon. secretary and Mrs M. Liddell, hon. treasurer.[62] An office was secured at 4 Dulley Street, Sydney, below Bridge Street. They created a furor by suggesting a law requiring a secret ballot of wives before workers could go on strike. When they put the proposition at a women-only meeting at Trades Hall, Adela Pankhurst Walsh was pilloried as a class traitor and Roberts was howled down, Littlejohn left the stage, and Page, whose husband was the Federal treasurer had to be shielded from the mob.[63]
A debate in May 1929 centred on the (then) policy on jury duty, which was restricted to adult males and compulsory for those selected. Some felt such duty would be degrading for women, as they would have to deal with all classes of men, others that attendance should be optional for mothers. Roberts, representing the Women's League, held that by the principles of feminism, if men were chosen at random and compelled to serve, then women jurors should be treated in the same way.[64] In June 1929, a year ahead of the retirement of S. H. Smith, the Women's Voters' League, led by Roberts, urged the appointment of a woman Director of Education, on the grounds that women teachers outnumbered males by a factor of three to two.[65] This was to no avail, as his successor was George Ross Thomas.[66]
In late 1929 the Women's League of N.S.W. joined with the Women Voters' Association[e] to form the United Associations.[68] A council was elected,[69][70] They had rooms at Challis House, Martin Place.[citation needed]
Roberts was still connected with the organisation in 1934.[citation needed]
Sex, morality and health
In 1920s Australia, "racial hygiene" was a synonym for practices which combated venereal diseases, and in 1926 a Racial Hygiene Centre was established in Sydney by a combination of feminists and medical practitioners, Ruby Rich and Dr A. Rivett as co-presidents and Lillie Goodisson[71] organising secretary. Roberts spoke on the subject but was not actively involved.
Roberts was president of the Council of Social and Moral Reform which, inter alia, campaigned against immodest bathing costumes.[72][73][74][56] Roberts resigned from the Council in July 1930.[75] Her replacement was Mrs Edmond Gates. In September 1930 Lady Philip Game founded auxiliary for blind association, and Roberts was elected organising secretary.[76] to March 1937.
In 1926 she was invited to a meeting at Beaumont House of the Australian Mothercraft Society, a Sydney charity whose president was Cara, Lady David, and whose aim was the reduction of deaths of infants from gastro-enteritis by the Plunket system[77] Three months later Roberts was a member and, at their General Meeting, was elected vice-president.[78] She was a member of a fundraising committee, chaired by Mrs Philip Street, and supported by Lady de Chair, which raised £900 for its training centre "Karitane", Nelson Street, Woollahra.[79]
She was president of the British Empire Union's social committee.[80]
She was president of the committee of the Ellen Desailly Free Kindergarten of North Sydney.[81]
Other interests
As a young woman in Shepparton, known as Dolly Draper, she was a popular singer,[82] especially in duets with her sister Emily.[83] She was a member of the drama club and the choir, St Paul's church, Rushworth.[84]
While living in Cavendish, Victoria, Mrs Roberts was active in Hamilton church life: in the choir[85] and as a fundraiser.[86]
Roberts was on the Sydney Repertory Society committee in 1922,[87] and may have still been involved when Lucy Bruntnell was farewelled in 1926.[88] She played the matronly Mrs Gardiner in Marguerite Dale's second play, The Mainstay, at King's Hall in Sydney in August 1923.[89]
Roberts was also involved in the City Girls' Amateur Sports Association.[90]
Politics
Mrs A. V. Roberts was briefly interested in municipal politics.[f] She declared herself a candidate at the 1922 North Sydney municipal elections,[93] but failed to register, someone claiming she was late with her nomination papers due to death of a soldier brother, "a widower with four young children",[94] clearly A. A. Draper.
Publications
Roberts is not known to have published a book, but was author of numerous newspaper essays, including: