Street family - Papers of Jessie Street, 1939-1967

MLMSS 1686 ADD-ON 2204/Box 10

series

1939 - 1967

402404

Jessie Mary Grey Street, feminist and social activist, was born in 1889 at Ranchi, Chota Nagpur, India, daughter of Charles Alfred Gordon Lillingston and Mabel Harriet Lillingston, nee Ogilvie. The family moved to Australia in 1896 to take up residence at 'Yulgilbar', Clarence River, NSW. Jessie Street was educated at Wycombe Abbey School, England and the University of Sydney where she graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1912. She married Kenneth Whistler Street in 1916 at Sydney, NSW. Jessie Street attended a conference of the International Council for Women in Rome in 1911 and was a foundation member of the Sydney Branch of the League of Nations Union in 1918. She attended League of Nations Assemblies in Geneva in 1930 and 1938, and was Australia's only female representative at the United Nations founding conference at San Francisco in 1945. Jessie Street represented Australia at the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 1946, and at the United Nations Commission for the Status of Women in 1947. She stood unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives seat of Wentworth in 1943 and 1949. She was an effective lobbyist who was involved in a number of organisations including the United Association of Women. In later years she was outspoken on Aboriginal rights and on peace issues. She died in 1970, survived by her husband and four children.

1942-1963; Correspondence, being mainly letters received from relatives and friends (Call No.: MLMSS 1686 ADD-ON 2204/10)

1939-1967; Miscellaneous papers, including election leaflets for Jessie Street, 1943-1949, and passport and travel documents, 1965 (Call No.: MLMSS 1686 ADD-ON 2204/10)

Private Lives: Families of N.S.W. - State Library of New South Wales (1 January, 2001 - 3 February, 2002)