History of the Women's Suffrage Petition
In 1891 members of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the Victorian Temperance Alliance and other women's suffrage groups worked together to collect signatures from residents of more than 800 Victorian towns and suburbs for the Women’s Suffrage Petition.
Tabled in Parliament in September 1891, with the support of then Premier James Munro, the petition sought that ‘Women should Vote on Equal terms with Men'. It became known as the 'Monster Petition' because it was the largest petition that had ever been presented to the Parliament of Victoria on any question. Now held in Public Record Office Victoria (PROV), it is made of hundreds of sheets of paper pasted onto a cotton or linen fabric backing, rolled onto a cardboard spindle. The petition is approximately 260 metres long and 200 millimetres wide and takes three people three hours to unroll from one spool to another.
Acknowledgements
The Women’s Suffrage Petition was transcribed and made available through the support of the following:
Parliament of Victoria
Judy Maddigan MP, Past Speaker of the Legislative Assembly
Monica Gould MLC, Past President of the Legislative Council
Royal Historical Society of Victoria
Transcribers: Vicki Court, Daisy Searls, Suzanne Geermans, Meredith Bell, Joan Hunt, Lenore Frost, Brendan Parker
Genealogical Society of Victoria
Transcribers: Dr Peter Prideaux, Liz Prideaux, Dr Elizabeth Rushen, Sandra Dare, Dawn Keleher, Anne Heywood
League of Women Voters Victoria
WCTU Drug-Free Lifestyles
Search
The petition was digitised and transcribed for a searchable database as an initiative of the 150th anniversary of Responsible Government in Victoria committee in 2006.