Woman's History Month...2023. Post 14...The Lipfert Sisters...
This month is Women's History Month. I have decided to repost the stories of many of the wonderful women from Subiaco I have come across.
The Lipfert Sisters...
This blog post is a continuation of the previous blog post "Alexandra McKinnon Burns... Subiaco Business Woman (1938)" about the women mentioned in the Museum of Subiaco exhibition on International Women's Day. This post is about sisters Maria, Olga and Elsa Lipfert.
The following information is from the previous blog post..."During March International Women's Day was held. The Subiaco Museum created an exhibition to highlight the contribution of women to the Subiaco community.
The women included Alexandra McKinnon Burns (1864 -1961), Dame Annie Florence Gillies Cardell-Oliver (1876 - 1965), Adelaide 'Queenie' Chugg (1898 - 1981), The Lipfert Sisters (Minna Maria Lipfert (1902 – 1959), Olga Gertrude Lipfert (1906 - 1989) and Thekla Elsa Lipfert (1912 - 1989) and Ethel Maude Thomas M.B.E (1881 - 1961). The exhibition contained a number of wonderful photographs and artefacts and is available on the webpage from the Subiaco Museum.
While there is a substantial amount of information about the exceptional work and life of Dame Cardell-Oliver available on various sites on the Internet, Trove, the database of the National Library of Australia contains some wonderful information and photographs about the women mentioned by the Subiaco Museum in their exhibition..."
Herman Franz Otto Lipfert was born at Poessneek, Saxe Meiningen, Germany, in 1864. Otto arrived in Western Australia at the end of 1892 and began work at the Western Museum in 1894. He married Anna Maria Franiska Struck in 1902. Together they had four children Minna, Olga, Elsa and Heinrick. The family lived at 270 York Street, Subiaco.
The following information about the Lipfert sisters is from the Subiaco Museum's webpage on International Women's Day about the Lipfert Sisters.
"...Minna, Elsa and Gertrude were the three daughters of the WA Museums famed taxidermist, Otto Lipfert and his wife Anna. The family lived at 270 York Street, Subiaco and the daughters attended the Subiaco Infants School and Subiaco State School.
Minna was a teacher at Rosalie Primary School for 31 years. A memorial plaque to Miss Lipfert was unveiled in August 1959 at the school in the centre of a grove of trees.
Gertrude attended the School of Domestic Arts and became a dressmaker and professional embroiderer. Many of her samplers and embroidery work are currently on display in the museum’s 'A Woman's Work; Dressmaking and Handcrafts in Subiaco’ exhibition.
Elsa attended Perth Technical School and received her Commercial Junior Certificate in 1927 from UWA. She went on to work as a private secretary to the Crown Law department.
All three daughters never married and much of their remaining household goods were donated to the museum and form the Lipfert collection..."
There is a substantial amount of articles and photographs about the Lipfert family in the State Library of Western Australia. Ken Spillman who wrote a book about the history of Subiaco "Identity Prized: A History of Subiaco" in 1986 completed oral histories with Elsa and Gertrude Lipfert about their life in Subiaco.
Trove, the database of the National Library of Australia contains many articles and photographs about Otto Lipfert and his work with the Western Australian Museum published in newspapers.
The photographs are from the State Library of Western Australia. No copyright infringement intended. 
Otto Lipfert's children - from left: Heinrich, Maria (holding book), Olga and Elsa (seated), ca. 1914.
Family of Otto Lipfert, ca. 1910.
