GOLDSTEIN, Vida Jane Mary

Family Name:

Goldstein

Given Names:

Vida Jane Mary

Gender:

Female

Birth-Date:

13 April 1869

Death-Date:

15 August 1949

Marital Status:

Single

Age Range:

Late 40s and 50s.

Location:

VIC, Portland, Melbourne, South Yarra

Occupation:

Feminist, peace activist and social reformer

Primary Motivation:

Peacemaker – Pacifism

Reason for Court/ Tribunal Appearance:

Court/ Tribunal Name and Location:

Court/ Tribunal Hearing Date:

Court/Tribunal Outcome:

Military Event:

WW1

Further Information:

Vida Goldstein was born at Portland in Victoria on 13 April 1869. She died aged 80 years at South Yarra, an inner suburb of Melbourne. She died from cancer on 15 August 1949. The Goldstein family moved from Portland to Melbourne in 1877. She remained unmarried all her life. Vida and her sisters were educated by a private governess. She attended Presbyterian Ladies College from 1884 and matriculated in 1886. She was very much influenced by her mother, Isabella nee Hawkins, who was a confirmed suffragist and worker for social reform. In religion they were Protestant Christians.

Between 1899 and 1908 Vida’s first priority was suffrage. She attempted a number of times to gain election to the Federal parliament. She was the first women in the British Empire to stand for election. After polling well in previous attempts, she lost her deposit in 1917. One important reason was her uncompromising conscientious pacifist position, during WW1 where the majority of Australian society supported the war.

During the war period she was chairperson of the Australian Peace Alliance, founded during October 1914 in Melbourne consisting of many peace affiliates. Vida founded the Women’s Peace Army in 1915. She was invited to represent Australian woman at the 1919 Women’s Peace Conference in Zurich, Switzerland. During the war dissent was barely tolerated. During September 1914, a small military detachment raided the offers of Vida’s newspaper The Woman Voter, in an attempt to stop its production. The incoming Labor government formalized the censorship by passing its War Precautions Act. The law restricted the freedom of groups and individuals thought to be a threat, including those who were critical of Australia’s involvement in WW1. A week before the first conscription plebiscite, 21 October 1916, a United Women’s No Conscription Demonstration was held in Melbourne. It was a joint protest of the Women’s Peace Army, the Labor Party’s Women’s Anti-conscription committee and the Victorian Socialist Party. The protest march was from Guild Hall, now Storey Hall, to the Yarra Bank. The march was disrupted by a group of returned soldiers in the middle of Melbourne and at the destination. It is reputed that the crowd was 30000 persons. Cecilia John opened the proceedings with several songs including the prohibited, I Didn’t Raise My Boy to be a Soldier. Other speakers included Vida Goldstein and Adela Pankhurst.

Vida was important to the defeat of Billy’s Hughes government conscription plebiscites of 1916 and 1917. After the war she took an increasing interest in international matters. She advocated for disarmament and raising the living standards for the poor and marginalized. The latter working to mitigate the risk of war and conflict, Like, all conscientious men and women who speak to power shewas deserted and shunned by friends and colleagues. She was censored and exposed to violence. Janice Brownfoot describes Vida as a, trail-blazer who provided leadership and inspiration to innumerable peoples…She was humane, kind and sincere, genuinely concerned for the underdog of whatever race or nationality…According to a testimonial from her supporters, she ‘offered to the people the wit and eloquence of an orator, the knowledge and foresight of a statesman, and the devotion and courage of a brave women.

A statue of Vida Goldstein is to be erected on International Women’s Day in 2025 by the Victorian State Government, in belated recognition of this important Australian peacemaker.

Confirmatory Sources:

http://www.livingpeacemuseum.org.au/s/alpm/page/vida-goldstein-overview accessed 13 January 2024.

Janice N Brownfoot, Vida Jane Goldstein (1869-1949), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol, 9, 1983. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/goldstein-vida-jane-6418

Jacqueline Kent, Vida: A Woman For Our Time, Penguin, Random House, 2020

Vida Goldstein

Courtesy: Public Domain