Historical information
Women’s Golf Championship
In August 1935, the Australian Women’s Golf Championship was held at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, Black Rock, featuring visiting British golfers Pamela Barton, Phyllis Wade, Jessie Anderson, Mrs Walter Greenlees and Mrs J B Walker.
Australian competitors included Katherine Rymill, Betty Nankivell, Betty Sale (MBE), Janet Gardiner, Leonora Wray (MBE), Mrs Sloan Morpeth (née Susie Tolhurst), Mrs Clive Robinson (née Christina “Nin” McMaster), Joan Hood Hammond (DBE CMG), Mrs T S McKay (née Odette Lefebvre) and Mona Macleod.
Mrs J B Walker of Britain defeated Mrs Sloan Morpeth of Victoria in the final, before a gallery of 2,000, mostly women.
The women watch on…
18 year-old Miss Pamela Barton of England is teeing off at the ninth hole, watched by her competitor Miss Janet Gardiner of Queensland and a gallery of intensely focussed spectators.
Both women went on to have diverse, non-sporting careers. During the Blitz and the Battle of Britain, Pam Barton (1917-1943) drove ambulances before joining the WAAF as a radio operator. Later she gained a commission as a Flight Officer in command of a staff of 600. In 1943, Pam was killed instantly when the RAF plane piloted by her unofficial fiancée crashed in heavy weather. The Pam Barton Memorial Salver is awarded to the winner of the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship. The inscription reads “In Affectionate Memory of Pam Barton”.
During WWII, Janet Gardiner (Mrs Jobson-Scott, 1907-1987) began manufacturing liquid hosiery at the Red Cross Link rooms as a fundraiser. Donated oyster bottles were used and they charged 2/6 for four ounces. However, in April 1942, in a broadcast to the women of Australia, the Minister for War Organisation of Industry, Mr Dedman, announced that leg make-up preparations were now a prohibited item. They contained titanium oxide, an essential ingredient in the manufacture of paints used for camouflaging military equipment. Other items of a woman’s “battle array” such as nail lacquer, some creams and suntan lotions were also banned as they contained ingredients used in munitions and medical supplies.
Featured in "Newsworthy: Melbourne in photographs 1933-1936" exhibition at East Melbourne Library, October to December 2023. Exhibition caption by project volunteer, Fiona Collyer.
Published: The Age 30 August 1935
WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP GOLF AT ROYAL MELBOURNE (1935, August 30). The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne, Vic. : 1922 - 1954; 1956), p. 35. Retrieved October 10, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article277093639
Physical description
Glass plate negative
Inscriptions & markings
Photographer notations on slide: "Vic Women's Ch'ship 1935 B98".
