This photograph shows Vida Goldstein attending a Suffragette demonstration in London in 1911, accompanied by fellow Australians Mrs. Fisher and Mrs. McGowen.

Vida Jane Mary Goldstein was born in Portland on April 13, 1869. She graduated from Presbyterian Ladies College, becoming a teacher, and later opened a preparatory school with her sister in St Kilda.

Vida soon joined the Prahran Women's Franchise League and in 1900 was appointed general secretary of the United Council for Women's Suffrage, also editing 'The Australian Women's Sphere'.

When the Victorian Legislative Assembly rejected the Women's Suffrage Bill for the 7th time in February 1903, Vida was 33 and Federal suffrage had already been granted the year before. Vida stood for a Federal Senate seat, becoming the first woman candidate and the first woman to register a vote at that booth under the Commonwealth Franchise Act.

She lost, but polled an extraordinary 51,497 votes. She stood for parliament again in 1910, 1913, 1914; and finally in 1917, never gaining a seat.

Vida was brought to the London Great Suffragette demonstration featured in the

photograph by the militant Women’s Social and Political Union and was introduced as “one of the foremost leaders of the Australian women‘s movement, ... now helping her sisters in England to win their freedom”.

This photograph is a testament to the international impact of Australian suffragists, among the most progressive and active in the world.