Update: Campaign website now up! http://digitisethedawn.org
In 1888 Louisa Lawson launched The Dawn; a journal for women. The publication’s purpose was to be a “phonograph to wind out audibly the whispers, pleadings and demands of the sisterhood”. It advised on women's issues, including divorce, the age of consent, and women's right to vote. As well as operating as an important vehicle for the communication of feminist politics the paper also contained short stories, fashion notes, sewing patterns and reports on women's activities around the country and overseas. By October 1889, the Dawn office employed ten women as typesetters, printers, binders, and unskilled workers. They were harassed by male workers, and by their male union, The New South Wales Typographical Association. In 1905, after seventeen years, the publication ceased production.
From: http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0641b.htm
The National Library of Australia does not currently plan to digitise The Dawn, and there is no funding to do so. I've been informed $7,500 should be sufficient to see the entire publication digitised. It is currently available on microfilm in major libraries around the country, but adding it to the Trove Project would open access to this important resource for feminist historians around the world.
Australia was one of the first places to grant women the vote. The Dawn played a key role in the struggle for Australian women's suffrage.
