Moderate and mainstream: Leadership in the National Council of Women of Australia, 1930s to 1970s

A major step in the development of women's activism and civic awareness in Australia was the formation of National Councils of Women in all States between 1896 and 1910, culminating in the emergence of the Federated Councils in 1924-25 and the National Council of Women of Australia (NCWA) in 1931.3 Linked to the International Council of Women (ICW), and through it first to the League of Nations and later the United Nations, the council movement provided, in the words of one of its early leaders, a conduit for mainstream Australian women's organisations and their members to 'accomplish good, useful, humane work in the best interests of the nation'.4 It aimed to 'bring together for discussion [and] the forming of public opinion, the workers who are doing the practical work of social education and improvement'.5 Because the council was conceived as an umbrella structure, existing women's groups of all kinds could gather under its shelter at national and international levels to discuss matters of common interest, to gather information and to learn from each other in order to promote peace and general wellbeing. This structure also ensured that leadership within the council would develop along the lines described by Amanda Sinclair as 'adaptive': 'a process of influence ... aimed at mobilising people towards changes ... in values, attitudes, approaches, behaviours and ideologies.&#039