These days women can run out on to almost any sporting field and give it their best. Once upon a time, that just wasn’t the done thing.

But South Australian women aren’t good at being told no and thanks to that determined spirit we can proudly pronounce it was one of us who became the first woman to ride in the Melbourne Cup, the first to claim varied Olympic gold for Australia, the first woman worldwide to scale all seven highest mountain peaks on each continent.

Then there are the women who have reported on these feats — and many other moments in our state’s history, taking on a traditionally blokey industry and proving women can occupy a space equally as important in the media realm.

And then there’s our saint, our Singing Nun and an unassuming Salisbury-based churchwarden — women who made their mark in a divine way.

Contributors: Brad Crouch, Cameron England, Clare Peddie, Craig Cook, Emily Cosenza, Emily Dawe, Erin Cutler, Jillian Attrill, Katie Spain, Kaysee Miller, Lauren Novak, Liz Walsh, Matt Pike, Matt Turner, Nathan Davies, Paul Starick, Rebecca Fletcher, Robyn Douglass, Rod Savage, Scott Walsh, Sean Fewster, Tim Williams, Tory Shepherd, Valerina Changarathil