Barbara Wawn turned up at Old Parliament House with a tray of lamingtons. But she was so ‘bloody busy’ getting packed for the Women and Politics Conference in Canberra that she left baking to the last minute. Disaster: ‘I stuck the fork in one of them and I dropped the bastard on the floor. Bloody cake, chocolate and icing everywhere, when I’m trying to get to the plane.’ Thankfully Barb—a shop steward from Melbourne—and her lamingtons landed safely. Just in time to join a noisy and colourful crowd of 700 women from around the country descending on Parliament House, on the evening of 31 August 1975, for the official opening of the week-long conference.¹

Once inside Kings Hall, Barb could barely hear the prime minister speak. The place was packed and buzzing. As soon as Gough Whitlam stood at the podium, the decibels rose: ‘For most of this country’s history,’ he said with his unique huffing, ‘women have lived without visible political power. They have been excluded from almost all levels of government in our society.’