Jessie Street

Jessie Mary Grey Street (née Lillingston; 18 April 1889 – 2 July 1970) was an Australian diplomat, suffragette, and a campaigner for Indigenous Australian rights. She was referred to as "Red Jessie" by the Australian media, due to her support for the Soviet Union through World War II and the Cold War, as she organised the "Sheepskins for Russia" campaign during World War II, and she was notably one of two Australians to attend Stalin's funeral.

As Australia's only female delegate to the founding of the United Nations in 1945, Jessie served as the first Vice President of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and she played a central role in ensuring the inclusion of sex as a non-discrimination clause in the United Nations Charter. She was Lady Street from 1956, with the elevation of her husband Lieutenant Colonel Sir Kenneth Whistler Street.

Early years

Jessie Mary Grey Lillingston was born on 18 April 1889 in Ranchi, Bihar, India, to Mabel Harriet Ogilvie, who was born in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, and who died in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, and who was the daughter of Australian politician Edward David Stuart Ogilvie and Theodosia de Burgh, and Charles Alfred Gordon Lillingston, , who was born in Southwold, England, and who was educated at the French National School of Forestry in France, and who served in the Forestry Department of the Imperial Civil Service in India for 14 years, and who died in the County of Ross, Scotland.

She was associated with Dorette Margarethe MacCallum and others who were challenging the patriarchy at the University of Sydney where the men were trying to monopolise the sports facilities. She graduated from the University of Sydney as a Bachelor of Arts in 1911.

In 1916, she married Kenneth Whistler Street, who was knighted in 1944. Her father-in-law Sir Philip Whistler Street served as Chief Justice of New South Wales, and as Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales, as did her husband Kenneth and their youngest son, Laurence, who was knighted in 1976. Their other children were Belinda, Philippa and Roger. — Jessie Street title = SHEEPSKINS FOR RUSSIA. AN APPEAL TO SHEEPOWNERS. — The Muswellbrook Chronicle

At the San Francisco Conference in 1945, Street was Australia's only female delegate to the founding of the United Nations, where she became the first Vice President of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and she played a key role alongside Eleanor Roosevelt in ensuring that sex was included with race and religion as a non-discrimination clause in the United Nations Charter.

In 1941, the future prime minister Ben Chifley received a united deputation from several women's organisations, and the united deputation argued that there ought to be a tax on men who were not married, instead of the new tax on the total income of married couples, which was being proposed for introduction at the time. The delegates were Vivienne Newson, Edna Lillian Nelson, Erna Keighley and Street.

As chair of the Russian Medical Aid and Comforts Committee, she organised the "Sheepskins for Russia" campaign during World War II, announcing the appeal in a featured article, and she was notably one of two Australians to attend Stalin's funeral, along with Ernie Thornton. In 1950, Street and fellow peace activist Louise Mackay, travelled to England to participate in the World Peace Council's Second World Peace Congress, which was held in Warsaw.

Street is the namesake of the Jessie Street Centre, the Jessie Street Trust, the Jessie Street National Women's Library and Jessie Street Gardens. She was posthumously inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.