Vida Goldstein (1869–1949)

Feminist, suffragist

Goldstein's parents gave her a good education and an interest in public affairs. Her father was opposed to women having the vote and her mother was in favour of it. In 1890 Goldstein went house to house with her mother, collecting signatures for a monster petition in support of the vote for women. Soon she was busy with her own campaigns for women's rights and social reform. She had many offers of marriage, but turned them all down.

Goldstein not only wanted men and women to have equal rights; she wanted all people to share equally in the world's wealth and to live in peace. She hoped to be prime minister and in 1903 she stood for election to the federal parliament, the first woman to do so. She was defeated, but tried four more times without success. She did worst on her last attempt in 1917 because she was opposed to Australia's being involved in World War I.

She would not join a party and always ran as the Independent Woman candidate. It was a bad time to be an independent candidate, for the parties were getting stronger.

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