Love, Courage And The Women Who Made Me

At just 26, Natasha Stott Despoja strode into Parliament House in her Doc Martens boots with a head full of idealism. By the time she left, writes Samantha Trenoweth, Natasha was the youngest-ever leader of a political party and a catalyst for change.

- Samantha Trenoweth

Natasha Stott Despoja marched in her very first women’s rally while she was still a schoolgirl, and she has been championing equality ever since. “I’m a creature of the women’s movement,” she says, still with that wide smile and earnest enthusiasm. “I was attending rallies on the steps of Parliament House while I was in primary school.” This is no surprise because Australia’s former Ambassador for Women and current chair of the family violence organisation Our Watch comes from a long line of fabulously feisty women. Her grandmother, Jessica Stott (Swinfield), was a pillar of wisdom and strength. She raised five children in tough times (including the Great Depression) and steered the family through the difficult years after her husband returned traumatised from the famous light horse battle of Beersheba in WWI. “Her life wasn’t easy,” says Natasha, now 48. “Mum has always described my late grandmother as a feminist.”

Jessica raised another gutsy girl in Natasha’s mother, Shirley. She was the first in her family to study at university, the first female journalist in The Adelaide Advertiser’s newsroom, the first editor of its arts pages and, at 82, remains an influential columnist in the Festival City. Shirley raised Natasha and her brother, Luke, as a single parent after separating from their father when they were young.

“Times weren’t easy when I was a child,” Natasha explains. “We didn’t have a lot of money but we had a lot of culture. It made me cringe at the time: that I gave books as presents and our house was full of books. I thought, normal people don’t live like this, but now I understand the role that played in shaping me. My mother was a strong female role model and I want to be that for my daughter.”