As the host of this interactive site I am endeavouring to redress the Matilda Effect by waltzing with Australian women, identifying Tarot cards that help tell their stories. However, there is no set way to Waltz with a Matilda. The main object is to redress the Matilda Effect and bring the achievements of diverse women out of the shadows.
Christina Macpherson’s story is just one example of the Matilda Effect as it applies in a more general sense. Her contribution to the iconic Australian ballad, Waltzing Matilda, was relegated to the shadows. It was Banjo Patterson who got to be immortalised and bask in the associated glory.
Despite the reference to the iconic, unofficial Australian anthem, you do not have to be Australian or profile an Australian woman to engage with this project. There is no requirement to use a Tarot deck if its not your thing. You are simply provided with an opportunity to redress the Matilda Effect by bringing the women’s stories out of the shadows in any way you deem appropriate
If you decide to engage I will link to your work and or feature your profiles on this site.
How will you fight the Matilda Effect and cast a spotlight on extraordinary women? Will you take the opportunity to devise your own dance and be featured here?
Waltzing with Matilda’s
- The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago is an important icon of 1970s feminist art and a milestone in twentieth-century art. This installation comprises a massive ceremonial banquet, arranged on a triangular table with a total of thirty-nine place settings, each commemorating an important woman from history.
- It is no secret that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are placed well down on the scale of relevance and importance in Australia. They are invariably the last to be recognised. Perhaps this is because of their tireless pursuit of rights and betterment for their people. This may explain why individual achievements are rarely important and why they are often overlooked and don’t receive credit where credit is due. This Listening Circle provides fourteen places to seat influential First Nations Australian women. This offers an opportunity for deep listening and to redress this lack of acknowledgement.
- Christine de Pizan (c.1364-1430), France’s first professional woman of letters, confronted the misogynist view that view that female nature is wholly given up to vice.head-on in her seminal work, the City of Ladies.
- Waltzing with a Tarot Deck – Heather Blakey, a devotee of the Tarot, waltzes with Tarot decks and matches cards with a life experience or situation faced by an Australian woman. She is also the creator of this site!
- Follow in the Conversations footsteps. Perhaps, like an archeologist, you will undertake a dig and unearth previously hidden stories about women. You might be inspired to write up a profile and have it published here.
- Honour Maternal Ancestors: We all have heroines in our own family. They are our mothers, grandmothers, aunts and cousins. They are the women who survived all life’s challenges against all odds to provide for the family or the role models who showed us that family and hard work go hand in hand. Add to the honour role here. Share either a Tarot Profile or do feel free to your own thing.
- Pacific Matildas: Finding the women in the history of Pacific archaeology, responds to the Matilda Effect. The project aims to investigate the scientific lives of the first women who conducted archaeological work in Oceania from the late 19th to the mid-20th century, and document their hidden contributions to the development of Pacific archaeology, to ensure their stories and legacies become part of broader narratives in the history of science.
- Sheila: A Foundation for Women in Visual Art. Known simply as ‘Sheila’, this foundation, honouring the contribution of Lady Sheila Cruthers, was launched in May 2019 and aims “to overturn decades of gender bias by writing Australian women artists back into our art history and ensuring equality for today’s women artists.”
- More Ways to Waltz with a A Matilda
Waltzing With Matilda's 