Carmel Wallace, A Seat for Vida 2008, bluestone, stainless steel, Memorial Triangle, Portland Victoria Australia

This seat commemorates pioneering suffragist Vida Goldstein, born 13 April 1869 in Portland Victoria Australia. Vida was a remarkable woman of words who championed issues of peace, social justice and equal rights. She was at the forefront of change for women’s rights throughout her life and became the first woman in the British Empire to stand for parliament. Fighting to give women a political voice, she stood five times as an independent candidate for Australian Federal Parliament between 1903 and 1914.
The seat was commissioned by the Historic Buildings Restoration Committee and designed by artist Carmel Wallace. It was unveiled as part of Victorian Women Vote 1908-2008 celebrations by Member for Western Victoria Gayle Tierney MLC on 24 October 2008 and funded through the Victorian Government’s Centenary of Suffrage Grant Program and Regional Arts Victoria. The project received a Victorian Local Government Women’s Charter Award.