Chained to Change: Rosalie Bogner, Merle Thornton, and the Regatta Hotel Protest
Picture this: It’s 1965 in Queensland, Australia.
The Second World War had been a time of relative freedom for Australian women. The war provided the opportunity for employment in roles traditionally reserved for men — in factories and call centres as well as hospitals.
Following the war, however, this employment disappeared and so too did that newfound sense of freedom and agency. Women were sent back into the private domestic world of the home — a world embedded with the principle that men were the head of households, the decision-makers and signers of documents.
The times? They’re a-changing, but not fast enough for women. In this sunny state, the old-world charm might’ve been a bit too ‘old-world’ for comfort. Women at the time could not own a chequebook (without a husband’s permission) or apply for a mortgage and many businesses and government departments required women stop working when they married. This is a world where women must fight to be treated equally in all facets of life.
Pubs, those classic spots for catching up with mates over a cold one, had a baffling rule: women weren’t allowed in the public bars. Nope, they had to sip their drinks in ‘ladies’ lounges’, away from the main action. Sounds bonkers, right?
