Julia Margaret (Bella) Guerin, was an Australian feminist, a political activist and a teacher.

She became the first woman to graduate from an Australian university in Melbourne.

She saw herself as a “national idealist” and an incorrigible militant, promoting women’s participation in public life. She was regarded as an orator of “unique talents”.

In religion she moved from Roman Catholicism to rationalism.

She described her political evolution as from “Imperialistic butterfly” to “democratic grub” and experienced continual tensions as a socialist feminist within the Labor Party.

She was a teacher and she promoted scholarships for Catholic girls to produce “a band of noble thoughtful woman”. Her political activity increased and she became the vice-president of the Women’s Political Association.

From 1914 she wrote an spoke for the Labor and Victorian Socialist parties and was recognized as a great commentator on a range of controversial social issues, they included the rights of illegitimate children “brotherhood and sisterhood without sex distinction” and defence of English militant suffragettes.

The Federation University Australia honoured her by naming one of the two campus' Halls of Residence after her. Besides there is a Guerin Place in the Canberra suburb of Chisholm, named in her honour.

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