Dame Quentin Bryce’s term as the twentieth-fifth  Governor General of Australia, and the first woman to be appointed to the position, officially ended on March 26th, 2014. A woman of many firsts, she ‘normalised the “unusual” and demonstrated why appointing leaders outside of the usual sphere of power is important.’

Asked, on her last day, how it felt to be known as a pioneer among Australian women, Dame Quentin said she was very proud of the women’s movement.

‘”It’s been an era of great reform since I started my career in 1966, which was when the marriage bar was lifted, and we can be very proud of the achievements in equality and opportunity and equal status for women,” she said. “But we have a long way to go in terms of women’s leadership, our equal participation at the highest levels of decision making.”‘

Her support for movements of social justice and feminism as one of those movements was integral to her career and she was never afraid to promote them. She made sure this feature of her leadership would be represented in the official portrait of her as she left office.   ‘She’s wearing suffragette purple,” said artist Ralph Heimans. ”This is something she wanted – to be represented in the colour of the women’s movement.”

You can read a transcript of the speech delivered by Dame Quentin Bryce at the farewell reception held in her honour on 25 March 2014.