Australia's two first federal female politicians have had their legacies immortalised in the first female statues to appear in the parliamentary zone in Canberra.
The statues of Dame Dorothy Tangney and Dame Enid Lyons will stand on one side of Old Parliament House in the nation's capital, not far from the Women's Suffrage Commemorative Fountain in the adjacent rose gardens.
Dame Enid, hailing from Tasmania, was the first elected woman to the House of Representatives and the first woman to serve in the federal cabinet, while Dame Dorothy was the first woman elected to the Senate for Western Australia, with both taking office in 1943.
The statues, sculpted by Lis Johnson, were inspired by an iconic photograph of the pair on their first day of parliament in September 1943.
Minister for Territories Kristy McBain, who was the first female elected to the seat of Eden-Monaro, has unveiled the statues in a ceremony that was attended by her colleagues on both sides of politics.
"To be the person unveiling the statue of the first women who entered federal parliament and really paved the way for women after them to stand up for women's issues at a national level, [and who were] also advocates of social justice, issues for education, and for peace, is going to be something really special for me," she said.
"It's going to be very special because that old saying, 'You can't be what you can't see,' is true. And these two women really laid down the pathway that many of us have followed."
While it has taken quite a while for there to be any statues of women in the parliamentary zone, the sculptor of the full-scale replicas of the women said it was an "opportune time" to put them in the spotlight.
"Put the spotlight on the two dames as high-achieving women who did a lot of important work to improve education and public health," she said in a statement.
"I think it is befitting that the sculptures of Dame Dorothy Tangney and Dame Enid Lyons will be unveiled at a time when there are now many women making a mark in Parliament."
More statues of dogs than women
Historian Sita Sargeant founded historical walking tour business She Shapes History after she noticed a lack of female representation in Canberra.
"I just kept wondering where on earth are the women — and particularly in the national triangle, which is meant to be this space that was designed and it's still intended to represent all Australians — like you don't see women there," she said.
"I think that it's really great that we're getting some kind of female representation in the national triangle that's not Suzie Q — John Gorton's beloved kelpie cross — because at the moment we have more statues of dogs in the national triangle than we have women."
Ms Sargeant, however, said she wished Dame Dorothy and Dame Enid were not being featured together in the first female statue in the parliamentary zone.
"[They were] two extremely different women … I think that it's kind of like boiling down their achievements to their gender," she said.
"I think that the story of Australia and the people who have shaped Australian history is a story that is about more than just politicians, and there are many other incredible women whose voices haven't been heard and deserve to be elevated … and they're the ones who haven't been in Parliament House."
Ms Sargeant said she would love to see a statue of Fanny Finch, a London-born businesswoman of African heritage and a single mother of four who was the first-known woman to cast a vote in an Australian election.
"She wasn't setting out to make history — she was just someone who was a really active member of her community who had been treated poorly and then said, 'I've had enough,' and I love that story because it really changes how you think about colonial Australia.
"When I look at Australia and the way that it's presented, and particularly the way that Australian political history is presented, we just see so many white people. Where are the people of colour? And they're there but they've been there since the beginning.
"And stories like Fanny's make us go, 'Yeah, this is really a multicultural story of Australia that's been hidden, and it's been hidden in favour of platforming stories like Dorothy and Enid's.'"
'Worldwide imbalance between male figures and female figures'
The CEO of the NCA, Sally Barnes, who got the ball rolling on the monument, said women had been "under-represented in a figurative sense" through the parliamentary zone.
Ms Barnes said the statue was just one part of a "worldwide movement trying to address the imbalance between male historical figures and female figures".
She said it was not hard to choose who the NCA would honour, describing Dame Dorothy and Dame Enid as having synergy the moment they entered parliament together.
"We were putting our minds to this and having the two figures together, starting in federal parliament at the same time, from either side of Australia — one from Western Australia, one from Tasmania, one going into the Senate, one going into the House of Reps, one representing the Labor Party, one representing the Liberal Party," she said.
"We thought, wouldn't it be fantastic if we could recreate that one moment that was such a momentous step forward for women."
