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Friday, 08 March 2024

Inspirational Western Australian women have been recognised on International  Women's Day.

Last night at a special Ceremony in Government House Ballroom, sixteen inspiring women were inducted to the WA Women’s Hall of Fame, and a further four women in the ‘Roll of Honour’.

Established in 2011 in recognition of the Centenary of International Women’s Day, the purpose of the Hall of Fame is to acknowledge the enormous contributions and achievements women have made to Western Australia’s community, society, history, and culture.

Associate Professor Lorraine Hammond honoured

Associate Professor Lorraine Hammond AM has served the WA community all her life, now the Edith Cowan University (ECU) Associate Professor and Medal of the Order of Australia recipient has been inducted into the WA Women's Hall of Fame.

Recognised, once again, for her work in changing the way reading is taught in schools and universities.

"As a teacher my moral compass was piqued early when I met so many adolescents who could not read, I decided to return to study to complete a Master's and PhD, and that began my mission to change the trajectory for WA children," Associate Professor Lorraine Hammond AM said.

ECU Chancellor Denise Goldsworthy AO, who is also an honorary member of the WA Women's Hall of Fame represented the university at a special awards ceremony held at Government House, where Associate Professor Hammond accepted her award.

"Learning to read is a right, not a privilege and I share this award with the many teachers who have taken up explicit, structured literacy in their classrooms and have changed children’s lives."

Associate Professor Hammond has worked and researched in early literacy, high impact instructional strategies, including explicit teaching and learning difficulties since 1990.

Recognised by the Federal Government with a University Teaching Award, Associate Professor Hammond was instrumental in changing the syllabus of Australian universities to ensure they prepare pre-service students to teach reading according to research.

The first academic to offer a course in the science of reading, and hundreds of teachers from across Australia have completed it to align their instruction with current research.

"Since 2018 I have been leading the delivery of the Kimberley School Project, an initiative which supports evidence-based literacy instruction in 23 regional, and remote schools," she said.

"Children living in remote communities, who may not attend school as regularly as their peers in Perth and who experience far greater levels of disadvantage, learn to read using our methodology, often better than children who attend schools in metropolitan areas in Australia. How you teach reading matters."

The success of the Kimberley School Project, Associate Professor Hammond has secured a further $10 million in Closing the Gap funding from the Federal Government to expand the program.

"My greatest passion is and always has been to help others. To change the future for many children by giving them the lifelong gift that is learning and enjoying reading."

Associate Professor Hammond was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2002, an Australian Government National Teaching Award in 2016 and the Australian Council for Educational Leadership in 2017 for her work in schools promoting high impact instruction.

In 2019, she received an Order of Australia (AM) for her outstanding contribution to tertiary education and the community.

Associate Professor Hammond’s work is based upon explicit reading instruction, which is based upon research.

Its focus is in regional and remote WA communities, where children who might not have otherwise learned to read, can read.

"Unlike children who come from more socially advantaged backgrounds, children in the Kimberley of WA don't always attend as regularly as their peers and face greater barriers learning, but with the right instruction they can learn to read as well as any child in Australia," she said.

Edith Cowan's place in the Hall of Fame

Edith Cowan was among the first group of women added to the Hall of Fame when it was established in 2011.Cowan became the first woman to be elected to an Australian parliament when she won the Legislative Assembly seat of West Perth in 1921.

She was the founding secretary in 1894 and later president of the women’s Karrakatta Club, which campaigned for female suffrage. She helped set up the WA National Council of Women in 1911. She was a foundation member of the Children’s Protection Society in 1906 and the first woman to be appointed to the Children's Court bench in 1915.

She became a Justice of the Peace in 1920 and in the same year was awarded an OBE for her contribution to the WA division of the Red Cross Society, of which she was a founding member in 1914. The clock tower at the entrance to Kings Park was erected to her memory in 1934 and in 1995, her portrait was put on the Australian $50 note.

See  all the amazing women listed in the WA Hall of Fame.