‘Woman wrecker’: A suffragette’s story
Seen the film Suffragette? Meet Charlotte Blacklock, a suffragette who was willing to put her body, her mind, her very existence on the line for women’s rights to participate in public and political life.

The Museum of Australian Democracy acknowledges the traditional owners and custodians of country throughout Australia. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to the people, the cultures and the elders past, present and emerging.
The museum respectfully acknowledges the role that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to play in shaping Australia’s democracy.
xCloseSeen the film Suffragette? Meet Charlotte Blacklock, a suffragette who was willing to put her body, her mind, her very existence on the line for women’s rights to participate in public and political life.
With the fabrication finalised, and all the objects chosen and ready to go, it was time for the last task: installation.
In the second of a series of ‘behind the scenes’ blog posts, Campbell Rhodes shares some of the experiences and challenges of putting this exhibition together.
If you were a woman in England at the beginning of the 20th century it took march after march, demonstration after demonstration, hunger strike after hunger strike.
In 1895, South Australia became the first place in the world to give women both the right to vote and to stand as candidates for election. We are proud to now have on display in our Designing Democracy gallery a section of the petition that helped make history.
In a series of blog posts, the museum’s curatorial team will take visitors on a journey through many of its collection treasures that have not been seen before.
On 8 March the Museum of Australian Democracy celebrates International Women’s Day. This year marks some significant anniversaries for women in the political sphere and there is no better place in Canberra to mark these events than at the museum, located in Old Parliament House.
March is Women’s History Month and the museum is celebrating women’s achievements in a number of ways.
Recently the museum added to its collection of suffragette items a very personal piece of clothing; a pair of black stockings embroidered with the suffragette slogan ‘Votes for Women’.
For two days in the first week of December this year, over ninety delegates listened, debated and argued as the Women, Leadership and Democracy in Australia conference unfolded at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House.
In recent months the museum has acquired a rare and important new suffragette item: a hunger strike medal belonging to British woman Charlotte Blacklock.
The museum has recently acquired an exciting new object which will help us tell the story of how women in Britain acquired the vote.