The new film Suffragette focuses on the followers of Emmeline Pankhurst, who fought to get women the vote in Britain a century ago. An equally fascinating film could be made about her daughter Adela's tumultuous life in Australia.
Adela Constantia Pankhurst, Emmeline's third daughter, was on a lecture tour of Australia, campaigning for women's rights and equal pay, when war broke out in August 1914. By then the 29-year-old had fallen out with her mother.
After hearing Pankhurst speak in Sydney in July 1914, The Australian Worker judged her to be a worthy scion of "one of the most remarkable families that England has produced".
Pankhurst became an organiser for Vida Goldstein, one of Australia's leading anti-war campaigners. She also joined the Victorian Socialist Party, and met and fell in love with Tom Walsh - a widowed trade union leader and political activist.
Pankhurst, who was only 152cm tall, was a compelling public speaker who defied bans on public gatherings to rage against the war, the huge loss of life and the effect on workers' rights.
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In August 1917, she was arrested near Federal Parliament (then in Melbourne) while leading a protest against high food prices. She was charged under the Unlawful Association Act.
The following month, while on remand, Pankhurst and Walsh married. This frustrated pro-conscription Prime Minister William Morris (Billy) Hughes, who had wanted to deport the British firebrand.
Pankhurst spent four months in Pentridge Jail, turning down Hughes's offer of release if she stopped speaking in public. She was released in January 1918.
Walsh, who was general secretary of the Federated Seaman's Union, was jailed for organising a strike in 1919.
The couple moved to Sydney and had five children. They were founding members of the Communist Party of Australia, but were later expelled.
In the late 1920s Pankhurst founded the Australian Women's Guild of Empire, raising money to help impoverished women and children.
After a visit to Japan in 1939, Pankhurst urged Australia to negotiate a trade agreement with Japan - a stance that led to her being interned for several months in 1942.
Pankhurst died in May 1961, 18 years after her husband.
Perhaps Adela Pankhurst deserves a movie of her own. In the meantime, Suffragette opens in Australia on Boxing Day, with Meryl Streep playing Emmeline.
