The women who shaped Sydney history and changed Sita Sargeant’s life
Described by many as the godmother of the Harbour Bridge, Butler worked as the project manager. Her official title, though, was confidential secretary. When she got married, she was forced to resign from the public service.
Sita Sargeant says too many have been overlooked in history. A new book of walking tours and stories about women in history aims to put women on the map. Credit: Wolter Peeters
About to launch walking tours in Sydney in May, Sargeant said her three-year-old business has a team of 10, and 8000 people have attended the tours.
“There is a real hunger for women’s history that’s accessible and engaging,” she said.
“The extreme audacity and confidence of me, someone who had no experience in tourism or history saying, ‘I’m going to run a walking tour’. I think it shows how frustrated I was with a lack of recognition for women’s history.”
In 1856, Finch, a single mother of four of African descent, exploited a loophole that allowed “rate-paying persons” to vote. Her vote was disallowed, and the law changed to exclude women.
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A walking tour with Sargeant is an adventure. Searching for the plaque for women’s and Indigenous rights campaigner Jessie Street took detours.
“It is like a scavenger hunt.”
When she passes Governor William Bligh’s statue, she says his daughter Mary saved him from an angry mob while he allegedly hid under his bed during the Rum Rebellion.
“She was out the front, with an umbrella, going, ‘go away, go away’,” said Sargeant. Lifting her large pink umbrella, a standard accessory as tour leader, she shook it at Bligh.
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