Chained to a Brisbane bar, Merle made her mark. Now a statue is promised

The Brisbane woman behind one of Australian feminism’s most famous protests has died, with the state Labor government vowing to recognise the act with a statue nearby.

A funeral notice published online reveals trailblazing academic and author Merle Thornton – the mother of actress Sigrid – “passed away peacefully” on Friday, aged 93.

In 1965, Thornton and her friend Rosalie Bogner chained themselves to a rail in the front bar of Toowong’s Regatta Hotel to protest laws banning women from drinking in them.

Merle Thornton enjoys a beer at the Regatta Hotel 50 years after her famous protest. A bar at the venue is now named after her.Credit: Michelle Smith

With women at the time confined to separate “Ladies’ Lounges”, the protest attracted significant attention and contributed to the successful campaign to open public bars to women across Queensland five years later.

“In a way, the change took place that night when the police refused to pursue the matter when it was clear we wouldn’t leave voluntarily,” Thornton told Brisbane Times in 2015.

“Society has changed quite a lot … one of the extremely good things about the bar demonstration was that it revealed there was a substantial level of support among women in particular, but also among some men for opposing the unfairness.”

Thornton’s broader work included campaigns through the Equal Opportunities for Women Association she founded, sparking attention from ASIO, including the ability for women to continue working after marriage in the public service.

At the University of Queensland, she also established a women’s studies discipline and one of the first women’s studies courses at an Australian university.

“Merle championed the rights of women her whole life… well before that iconic protest at the Regatta that helped lift a ban on women drinking in public bars,” Premier Steven Miles told parliament on Thursday.

“In her honour, my government will build a statue – near the Regatta. Because if there is any Queensland role model that young women and girls should be able to look up to, it’s Merle.”

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said Thornton’s broader commitment to the cause “left a mark on the history of women’s rights in this country”.

Thornton later lived in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. She was the mother of Harold and Sigrid, and grandmother to Ben and Jaz. Husband Neil Sylvester Thornton died in 2014.

A funeral service will be held from 11am at the Denman Anglican Cemetery in Denman, NSW, on August 29.