Transvestite feminism: The politics of the Australian woman, 1894

The Australian Woman, an apparently radical feminist journal which appeared and disappeared in Sydney during 1894, suggests a hitherto unsuspected degree of outspokenness in the Australian women's rights movement of the 1890s. However, there is reason to question this interpretation. As is shown in this paper, a critical reading of the full text of the journal and of its political context raises questions about the nature of its feminism and these questions in turn point to a mystery surrounding the identity of its editors.