Creative Types: Inventive Women in Colonial and Federation-Era Australia

We examine the inventiveness of women in Australia, especially Victoria, during 1868 to 1910 by using patent records. We find a growth in the number and share of patent applications that included a woman, although this remained small compared with male-only applications. Inventive women came from a variety of backgrounds and geographic areas, although with some emphasis on married middle-class women from the main cities. Most women patented only once, did so by themselves, and focused on female-friendly industries. Although Australia’s geographic location and economic development process have been distinctive, we find very similar results to those in northern hemisphere industrial nations. We also find a number of similarities to Australian female investors, although a much smaller community than the latter. Building on a related literature, this points to general forces at work in the evolving economic role of women in this period.