IN 1975, the United Nations proclaimed it International Women’s Year.
Altona Meadows resident Loretta Cormack was in the thick of it, on the Sunshine International Women’s Year action committee.
Now, she has been honoured as one of Hobsons Bay’s most inspirational women of 2012.
“I was one of the first members of International Women’s Year in the mid-’70s,” Ms Cormack said.
“We had great support from the Whitlam government at the time, and my husband joined the International Women’s Year.
“It was a wonderful group to get going. We had women from all walks of life, and it’s wonderful to see that it’s come as far as it has, that it really is International Women’s Year.”
In 1975, the Whitlam government allocated $3.3 million over two years for International Women’s Year events and established a national advisory committee.
A Justice of the Peace for 38 years, Ms Cormack sat on the bench for 10 years as an honorary magistrate hearing cases. For 19 years, she has also heard remand cases as a bail justice.
She works at Williamstown police station as an ITP – independent third person – assisting people with disabilities who enter the legal system.
She is among 20 winners recognised in the inaugural Hobsons Bay Inspirational Women Awards.
