Thelma Solomon

Thelma Jean Solomon (2 April 1936 - 19 February 2003) was an Australian feminist activist originally from Adelaide, South Australia. She made significant contributions in the early days of the women’s liberation movement in Melbourne, co-founded the Women’s Action Committee in 1970, participated in many campaigns and actions in support of women's rights, and for over 30 years was involved in many feminist and lesbian collectives.

Early life and education Thelma Solomon was born in Adelaide on 2 April 1936 but moved to Melbourne with her family when she was six months old. Solomon's father was English and her mother was Italian. Solomon's mother remarried to an ex-communist when she was aged five, and he instilled in his step-daughter a strong sense of social justice. Solomon was educated at MacRobertson Girls High School in Albert Park. She worked for several years as a radiographer at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute before retraining to become a teacher. This action coincided with a state-wide teachers' strike, which enabled Solomon and Geikie to attend without risking any penalty.

The following year, on 2 March 1970, Solomon, D’Aprano and Geikie co-founded the Women's Action Committee (WAC). Fellow feminist activist, Jessie "Bon" Hull, was also an integral member of the group. The WAC gave rise to Melbourne's growing women's liberation movement in the early 1970s. It provided women with opportunities to meet, encouraged more women to get involved in activism, and campaigned on a variety of feminist issues in Australian society. In 1972, WAC members, including Solomon, helped found the Women’s Liberation Centre on Little Latrobe Street in Melbourne.

Solomon helped set up the La Trobe University Women's Group while she was a student between 1972 and 1980. The period when she was most active in the women's liberation movement was also the time when she came out as a lesbian. She helped found the Performing Older Women’s Circus in 1995 and the Lesbian Cancer Support Group in 1997. She performed as a clown in the circus's first three shows (Act Your Age, 1995, Still Revolting!!!, 1996 and Every Witch Way, 1996) and was one of their aerialists at age 60. During the 1990s she was also a member of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. Solomon re-joined the Victorian Women’ Liberation and Lesbian Feminist Archives Inc at the end of 1999 and the Lesbian Cancer Support Group at the beginning of 2002 and was an active member of both these groups until the end of her life.

Archives The Papers of Thelma Solomon, formerly held by the Victorian Women's Liberation and Lesbian Feminist Archives, are now held by the University of Melbourne Archives.