[2] It was the seventh attempt to introduce voting rights for women and received widespread public support including the largest petition ever presented to the South Australian parliament.

The proposed legislation was amended during debate to include the right of women to stand for parliament after an opponent miscalculated that such a provision would cause the bill to be defeated.

The first resolution in the South Australian House of Assembly to give women the vote was introduced by Sir Edward Charles Stirling in 1885, and was passed but not acted upon.

[4] The Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Bill was first presented to the Legislative Council by John Hannah Gordon on 23 August 1894.

[8] The bill was introduced for the third time by John Cockburn on 17 December and debate went on long into the night, with conservative members stonewalling.

[10] The bill was eventually passed in the House of Assembly on 18 December 1894, 31 votes to 14, with about 200 women present watching and cheering.