Alice Elizabeth Anderson

Third child of five children of the Irish-born couple Joshua Thomas Noble Anderson, an engineer, and Ellen Mary (née White-Spunner), Alice Elizabeth Anderson was born in Melbourne, Australia, on 8 June 1897.

She grew up in a bush house in Narbethong, a small town in the rural suburbs of Melbourne, where she learned to hunt, fish, horse ride, and had her first contact with driving.[3]

During her teenage years, Anderson attended the Melbourne Church of England Girls' Grammar School, however financial struggles forced her to abandon schooling after five terms.[4] Her sisters were Frances Alexandra (Frankie) Derham (1894–1987), artist and art educator,[5] Joan and Claire, who was the first woman engineering student at the University of Melbourne.[3] Her brother Stewart drowned in 1913.[6]

While some writers say Anderson's first contact with vehicles happened in the local co-operative bus service,[4] others say she worked in her father's motoring business as a secretary and the staff taught her to drive.[7][8] Either way, her interests in motors and technology began in her late childhood.

At the age of 18, Anderson started a part-time job as a clerical worker and, alongside, took groups on weekend touring trips to the Dandenong Ranges.[3][8] By the age of 21, she settled in Kew and became a full-time worker for her tourism business. A year later, she acquired a block in Cotham Road, constructed a brick garage, and founded the Alice Anderson Motor Service enterprise.[8]

Inaugurated in 1919, Alice Anderson Motor Service was the first all-women garage workshop in Australia.[9] The services offered included vehicle repair, chauffeuring with garage-owned cars, interstate touring trips, driving classes, and petrol stations.[9][3] In addition, women could take educational programs on engine technology, and participate in a mechanics apprenticeship.[3] Due to Anderson's reputation for caring and passion, mothers from all across Australia would send their daughters to the garage to learn to drive.[10][11] By 1925, the garage was so popular that 50 women applied for the apprenticeship program, the crew grew to 9 members, and the car fleet grew to 5 vehicles.[3] She trained more than thirty young female chauffeurs.[12]

The enterprise continued to operate after Anderson's death until at least 1954, first with Ethel Bage, a close friend of Anderson, as manager, and then with May Rooney.[3]

On 7 September 1926, Anderson was found dead in her workshop in Kew after a day of work.[3][11] The coroner's report suggested that she accidentally shot herself while cleaning two of her guns, and family and friends dismissed the possibility of suicide.[3]

The news stated the following day: "Probably no woman in Melbourne was better known. She pioneered the way to motor garages for women, and made a greater success of it than most men could."[11]

Anderson was buried in the Boroondara Cemetery following a graveside service. Young women who worked in her garage acted as pallbearers.[13]

According to the historian Loretta Smith, Anderson "was a woman of 'rare achievement' who excelled as a motoring entrepreneur and inventor."[1][14] Her best known invention is the car creeper, the ‘Anderson get out and under board’, a board on castor-wheels, for use when working under a car although she did not apply for a patent at the time.[3][8]

Anderson was involved with several social clubs and associations.[10] She was a founder and Vice-President of The Women's Automotive Club of Australia,[3][15] and a member of The Lyceum Club,[16] a club for prominent and influential women in the fields of arts, sciences, and contemporary issues.[17][18] As an advocate for women in garage work, and female independence, she published press articles and contributed to motoring columns.[19][10]

In 2016, Alice's Garage, a social enterprise, was founded upon Anderson's ideals of women empowerment. Its mission is "to address the inequalities LGBTI Elders face related to ageism and the legacies of our LGBTIphobic histories."[20]

Since 2017, "Alice Anderson's Motor Service" is an exhibition in the National Motor Museum of Australia.[21] In 2018, the project won the "Interpretation Australia, Runners-up – 2018 Awards of Excellence."[22]

In March 2020 Anderson was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women following nomination by members of the Friends of Boroondara (Kew) cemetery.[23]