Margaret Press, rsj. Three Women of Faith: Gertrude Abbott, Elizabeth Anstice Baker and Mary Tenison Woods.

MARGARET PRESS, rsj. Three Women of Faith: Gertrude Abbott, Elizabeth Anstice Baker and Mary Tenison Woods. Adelaide, Wakefield Press, 2000; ISBN 1 86254 526 X; 143pp.

Margaret Press makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the role of women in Australian history through her research into the lives of three South Australian women who were inspired by their Catholic faith to minister to others as creative, independent lay women.

Mary Jane O'Brien, known in later life as Mrs Gertrude Abbot, was born in Sydney in 1846 and grew up at Dry Creek Farm north of Adelaide. Withdrawing from the Sisters of St Joseph when Tenison Woods was no longer the director, she founded a community in Sydney dedicated to a life of prayer and without religious vows. In order to save the children of the future, she founded St Margaret's Hospital Darlinghurst for unmarried girls and destitute mothers. The hospital was unique as it was linked to the Church but independent. An insight into the character of the founder may be seen in her name, Gertrude for St Gertrude, the mystic, and Mrs. Abbot for status when managing the legal affairs of the community.

The second section of the book is valuable for the original research on the extraordinary life of Elizabeth Anstice Baker (Bessie). Bessie was born in 1849 at 'Morialta' on Norton Summit in the Adelaide Hills. She belonged to a traditional Anglican family and, in a search for faith, read widely on the Bible, philosophy and science. While living in London, she investigated Buddhism, Theosophy, and Egyptian religion. However, under the guidance of her Dominican friend, Etienne LeVigoureux she became convinced that faith and science were in accord and converted to Catholicism. Bessie financed the establishment of the North Adelaide Catholic Hospital under the management of the Dominican Sisters from Stone, England, and later transferred the hospital to the Little Company of Mary. She founded a house for homeless or unemployed girls, which she handed over to the Sisters of Mercy, and supported a number of charitable activities in Adelaide, such as a counselling service for women. Bessie spent the last years of her life in England, where in 1906 she published the story of her conversion, A Modern Pilgrim's Progress, worked with the Catholic Missionary Society, and in 1907 became a foundation member of the Catholic Women's League. Bessie Baker was the first Australian woman to receive the papal cross and decoration Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice.

Mary Cecil Kitsou, born in Adelaide in 1894, benefited from The Female Practitioner's Act of 1911, becoming the first woman in South Australia to be admitted as a practitioner to the Bar of the Supreme Court. Mary fought to have women included in the word 'person', so that they could be public notaries, and formed the first female legal partnership in Australian law history. Her life changed in 1927 when her husband, Julian Gordon Tenison Woods, was disbarred from practice of the law and her son was born with cerebral palsy. Mary gave up court work for a position as legal adviser with Butterworth & Company, publishers of law books in Sydney. She had a life long interest in child welfare and worked for the reform of the New South Wales Welfare system, receiving an OBE for her part in influencing the government's decision to separate the child welfare administration from the Department of Education. Through her membership of the International St Joan's Social and Political Alliance, Mary Tenison Woods was nominated head of the Section of the Status of Women in the Human Rights division of the United Nations and held the position from 1951 to 1958.

Although Press discusses the inevitable difficulties that these women experienced, she does not adopt a narrow, polarised approach. Instead she stresses their cooperation with the appropriate Church authorities, as well as their networks of supporters, both male and female, religious and lay.

Marilyn Kelleher sgs