Bertha McNamara

Matilda Emilie Bertha McNamara (née Kalkstein, previously Bredt; 28 September 1853 – 1 August 1931) was an Australian political activist and writer.

She arrived in Melbourne in 1869 and lived with an uncle for six months, subsequently moving to Bairnsdale, Victoria, to work as the governess for her aunt Mrs Drevermann.

Bertha McNamara, who has been called 'The Mother of the Labour Movement', carried on agitating for social reform for 25 years after the death of her second husband.

She was a member of the Social Democratic Federation of Australasia, Australian Labour Party, Labor Women's Central Organizing Committee and of Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales.

A bronze bas relief of Bertha McNamara, by Lyndon Dadswell,[7] is located in Foyer of the Trades Hall (Goulburn Street, Sydney)[8][9]