A video about Australian suffragettes [View all]
And some interesting info and links are available from here:
Suffrage, or the right to vote, is something that Australians have not always been able to take for granted. In 1902, Australia was the first country in the world to give women both the right to vote in federal elections and also the right to be elected to parliament on a national basis. New Zealand granted women the right to vote in 1893.
Commonwealth women's suffrage in Australia reflected the rights of women to seek election in South Australia and to vote in Western Australia, rights granted in 1895 and 1899 respectively. Indigenous people as a group were not granted suffrage in federal elections until 1962, although South Australia granted suffrage to Aboriginal women as early as 1894, and the Commonwealth Constitution stated that anyone with a state vote was entitled to a Commonwealth vote.
'Suffragettes' was a term used around the world to describe all women who campaigned for the right to vote in elections. From the 1880s and through the 1890s each Australian colony had at least one suffragette society. These societies published leaflets; organised debates, public meetings and letter-writing campaigns; and arranged deputations to members of their colonial parliaments. In 1891, suffragettes including Vida Goldstein8gathered 30,000 women's signatures and presented them as a petition to the Victorian Parliament. In 1894, Mary Lee and others presented a petition from 11,600 women in South Australia and the Northern Territory.
http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-suffragettes