Rooms in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade building have been re-named to correct a conspicuous historical imbalance.

When the DFAT building was first opened, it was named in honour of distinguished diplomats and public servants, including Richard Casey (pivotal in Australia's exploration of Antarctica) Arthur Tange and Gareth Evans.

But the original namers ran short of names, and so labelled the last eight rooms after flowers and native plants, even though not a single room had been named after a woman.

Those eight DFAT rooms have now been renamed in honour of women who broke down barriers on behalf of the nation, including Ruth Dobson, Australia's first female head of mission, Joanna Hewitt, the first female DFAT deputy secretary, Maris King, the first clerical officer posted overseas, Rosaleen McGovern, the first woman promoted to DFAT's senior executive service and Margaret Regnault, the first development official posted to the Pacific.

Australia's first female foreign minister, Julie Bishop, sees the change as common sense. 

“In one of my first conversations with Frances, we were talking about how we could change some of the attitudes at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and much work has been done in this regard – we have an executive mentoring program in DFAT, we focus very much on ensuring women and men are viewed equally for promotion, for roles within the department,” she said in an address to the Women in IT Executive Mentoring Program event late last year.

“Frances made me aware of a small but symbolic issue. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is housed in a very grand, for Canberra, office building called the RG Casey Building, named after Richard Casey, one of our finest diplomats.

“All of the meeting rooms in DFAT are named after distinguished Australian diplomats; every meeting room is named after a male, but there are eight smaller meeting rooms and they are named after flowers – the Banksia Room, the Acacia Room.

“Frances said to me; ‘Minister, it's just a little issue but it's symbolic’.” 

“I said; ‘I know exactly where you're going’.

“So we've named those eight meeting rooms after some of the women who were firsts in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

“While it's only a small matter, it has sent a very strong message through the department: we value women's contributions, we appreciate what they do and we recognise their efforts.

“If you want to name rooms after the first male diplomats, let's do it, but likewise what about the efforts of the women?”