Creative Types: Inventive Women in Colonial Australia

We examine the extent of inventiveness by women in Australia, especially Victoria of patent applications that included a woman although this remained small compared to male only applications. 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 focussed on femalefriendly 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. All of this points to general forces at work in the evolving economic role of women.