Eliza POTTIE

POTTIE, ELIZA (NÉE ALLEN) (b. Belfast Ireland, 1836; d. Sydney, NSW, 14 Nov 1907). Philanthropist and social reformer.

Daughter of a politician and manufacturer who emigrated to Sydney in about 1842, Eliza was, like her mother, a devout Quaker. In 1862, she married John Pottie (q.v.); they had six children. From the 1870s Eliza Pottie was an active member of numerous charities for destitute women and children. She regularly visited women in hospitals, gaols and the La Perouse Aboriginal Reserve. By the 1880s Pottie was a founding member of the WCTU and an active worker for total abstinence from alcohol and against war and militarism. In March 1890 she became president of the Franchise League, perhaps the first organisation in Sydney with the sole aim of campaigning for women's suffrage. After five months the League folded; she then joined the Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales.

Pottie undertook poor relief during the 1890s depression, and supported missionary work in India. Each Christmas until her death, she privately distributed tea, cake, flour and toys to 'upwards of 100 'destitute widows and mothers. Her public speaking and writing talents, energy and zeal ensured her an influential place among Sydney's evangelical activists, whilst she was also the centre of a loving extended family.

H Radi (ed), 200 Australian Women (Sydney, 1988), 356; Sydney Morning Herald 18 Nov 1907

JUDITH GODDEN