History

The International Council of Women was founded in 1888. The Preamble to the ICW Constitution contained the following words "We, women of all Nations, in the conviction that the good of humanity will be best advanced by greater unity of thought, sympathy and purpose, and that an organised movement will serve to promote the highest good of the family and of the Nation, do hereby band ourselves together in a federation of women of all races, nations and creeds, to further the application of the Golden Rule to society, custom and law":

DO UNTO OTHERS AS YE WOULD THAT THEY SHOULD DO UNTO YOU

National Council of Women in Australia began with the State Councils, the first being formed in 1896 in New South Wales by Miss Margaret Windeyer, who had attended the first Quinquennial Conference of ICW in Chicago in 1893. This was the 6th such affiliation, the Councils in USA, Canada, Germany, Great Britain and Sweden, in that order, having joined ICW previously.

Tasmania formed a Council in 1899, Victoria in 1902, South Australia in 1902, Queensland in 1905 and Western Australia in 1911. In 1925 a Federal Council was formed, made up of the various State Councils. NCWA emerged in 1931, under the Presidency of Mrs I. H. Moss. Three more Constituent Councils joined NCWA - the ACT in 1939, Launceston in 1952 and the Northern Territory in 1964. In 2001 the NCW Coalition (Tasmania) Incorporated was formed to provide one voice for NCW in Tasmania.