Jessie Spink Rooke (10 September 1845 – 4 January 1906) was a

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

and temperance reformer in

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and one of the first Tasmanian women to gain recognition outside Tasmania.

Life

Jessie Rooke was born in London on September 10, 1845, to William Walker and Catherine Scollay. Rooke moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, and in 1867, she married New Zealander Peter Charles Reid. After he died, she married widower Charles Rooke on August 14, 1883. The Rookes moved to Tasmania in the early 1890s, and Jessie Rooke became involved with the Burnie

Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far ...

(WCTU). She was elected president in 1894. The WCTU emerged as leaders of the Tasmanian suffrage campaign. In 1896 Rooke toured Tasmania with suffrage superintendent Georgina Kermode. They arranged public meetings of women, collecting campaign funds, distributing pamphlets, and collecting signatures on a petition calling for the vote to be extended to women. The petition was presented to the Tasmanian parliament at the end of 1896. In 1898 Rooke toured Tasmania again with

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

n Elizabeth Nicholls. They visited 30 towns collecting signatures on a petition. Although suffrage bills were defeated in both 1896 and 1897, the Electoral Act of 1903 granted Tasmanian women the right to vote. In 1898, Rooke became president of the Tasmanian WCTU branch, and in 1903, president of the Australian WCTU. Rooke was a delegate to the 1902

International Council of Women The International Council of Women (ICW) is a women's organization working across national boundaries for the common cause of advocating women's rights, human rights for women. In March and April 1888, women leaders came together in Washington D.C ...

Conference in Washington, and, in 1903, she founded the Tasmanian Women's Suffrage Association, which mobilized women for the next election. Rooke remained president of the WCTU until her death in 1906 from congestive heart failure.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rooke, Jessie 1845 births 1906 deaths Australian suffragists Presidents of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union Australian women activists Australian women's rights activists 20th-century Australian women Australian temperance activists