Muriel Matters Society Inc.
The Muriel Matters Society Inc.
PO Box 87,
Modbury North, SA 5092
Contact Us...
0437 656 700
Welcome!
Welcome to The Muriel Matters Society Inc. website.
Please take the time to explore and discover more about this fascinating woman of significance.
News and Events
The Centenary Play
The Society is pleased to report that the Centenary Play was an outstanding success. The debut season of ‘Why Muriel Matters’ ran in conjunction with the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and was originally commissioned to commemorate the centenary of Muriel Matters’ lecture tour of Australia in 1910. After premiering at the Adelaide Town Hall, a series of more intimate performances were conducted at La Boheme. The Society is hoping the play will be accessible to more audiences in the future.
A successful metropolitan tour went ahead throughout June to Venues in Elizabeth, Marion, Pt Noarlunga, Golden Grove, Angle Park (The Parks Theatre), Hilton (Star Theatre) and Barossa Art Centre, as part of the ‘Out of the Square’ matinee series. In addition, a well attended regional tour travelled in July, through Arts SA, to venues in Clare Valley, Whyalla, Streaky Bay and Pt Lincoln.
Thanks to playwright Sheila Duncan and the production team, Lisa Philip-Harbutt from the Community Arts Network and Margie Fischer who have been responsible for making the play happen.
Play Related Ephemera
Mementos from the Centenary Performance such as, the ‘Why Muriel Matters’ programme, assorted cards (pack of 4) and the enamel centenary badge are available through The Society.
A commemorative handkerchief has also been produced. Handkerchiefs were used as an advertising tool in the 1900s and with the help of Mark Thomson, The Society has reproduced this memento to celebrate the Play. The limited edition handkerchiefs are priced at $20 and over time will definitely become a collector’s item.
Numbers are limited so please fill out an order form and address it to The Society to get your memento today!
Research Continues
Building on initial work by Frances Bedford, Marie Maddocks and Steven Anderson, The Society continues on various lines of enquiry on each aspect of Muriel Matters Life.
Special thanks to Lyn O’Grady for research assistance and finding a way to access the BBC clipping of Muriel’s voice. It is wonderful to hear her speak and gives us fresh impetus (not that we needed it!).
Wendy Herbert is continuing to find wonderful things about Muriel Matters – we now have interviews with Muriel from the Women's Freedom League’s publication, The Vote, which gives fresh insight into many aspects of her life both here and after her arrival in the UK.
Newsletter
The Muriel Matters Society regularly circulates a newsletter to its members detailing progress, new finds and upcoming events. These are the most recent:
The Grille Exhibition
The Society has been successful in attaining a long term loan of the Grille that Muriel Matters chained herself too in 1908 from the British Houses of Parliament. The Grille is currently displayed in Centre Hall of Parliament House. It can be viewed at leisure by Society members and the general public alike to the end of December.
HE Quentin Bryce, Governor General of Australia,
visiting the Grille Exhibition, 8 November 2010.
Muriel Matters Link with Lionel Logue
Recent research into Matters’ early life by The Society has revealed connections with Lionel Logue, the speech therapist recently made famous in The King’s Speech. Logue and Matters appear on the the same program at The Lyric Club, Adelaide, 1903 and both competed at Royal South Street in Ballarat, where Lionel also adjudicated.
In addition, Matters’ brother, Leonard Matters (Member of the British House of Commons 1929-1931) and Logue also travelled to England aboard the same passenger ship. As Matters worked as an elocutionist in Adelaide at the same time as Logue, it is likely the two families were well acquainted. Marie Maddocks of the State Library of South Australia is continuing to follow up these promising leads on behalf of The Society.
Frances Bedford and Adjunct Professor Eleanor Ramsay, The University of South Australia, talked with Phillip Adams on ABC Radio National recently. Follow the link below and listen to the discussion centred on the 103rd Anniversary of the ‘Grille Protest’:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2011/3346948.htm
The Muriel Matters Society on the Radio
The Muriel Matters Society is proud to announce that a new Chapter has been established in New South Wales. The Society was welcomed by the Governor General, HE Quentin Bryce, to Admiralty House for a morning tea prior to the Sydney launch dinner. We are grateful to the Governor General for her kindness and enthusiasm for all things Muriel.
HE Quentin Bryce, Governor General of Australia, welcoming members of the Muriel Matters Society in Sydney.
The Society’s NSW Chapter is Launched
Information from this website can only be used with appropriate attribution to The Muriel Matters Society.
London Illustrated News, 1908
Daily Mirror, 1909
WFL Postcard
The Muriel Matters Society Inc.
2011