HUNDREDS of banners with more than 30,000 signatures have been unveiled on the Victorian parliament's steps to mark the centenary of women gaining the right to vote.
The calico banners pay tribute to the efforts of Victorian suffrage campaigners who collected signatures for the Monster Petition over six weeks in 1891.
Victorian women finally gained the right to vote in the state on November 18, 1908, the last Australian state to reach the milestone.
Women's Affairs Minister Maxine Morand said the Monster Petition formed an important part of the journey towards women's suffrage.
"For Victoria's women the right to vote was hard won, a total of 18 private members' bills supporting women's suffrage were defeated in the process for reasons including desecration of motherhood, destruction of family life, immorality and biological weakness," Ms Morand said.
The first woman was elected to the Victorian parliament in 1933.
While 1,658 men had been elected to the Victorian parliament, only 95 women had walked the corridors of power, Ms Morand said.
Premier John Brumby today signed a banner in tribute to his great-grandmother Augustine Aire, an original petitioner during the suffrage campaign.
"Victoria came of age in 1908 when women gained the right to vote," Mr Brumby said.
AAP
