The first female shareholders of the bank of New South Wales: Examination of shareholdings in Australia's first bank, 1817–1824

Abstract This paper examines female shareholdings in Australia's first bank, the Bank of New South Wales. Existing descriptions of colonial women have portrayed them generally as domestic servants, farmhands, prostitutes or wives and mothers, rather than as businesswomen or investors. But by 1823 the number of female shareholders represented 31 per cent, almost one-third, of total shareholders. Nevertheless, it seems that women were unable to take advantage of this potentially powerful position. Although they were allowed proxy votes, these could only be exercised by male shareholders. Thus, male shareholders acquired extra voting power through use of female shareholders' proxies, and seemingly employed the extra votes particularly when there were crucial or ‘political’ decisions to be made.