International Women’s Day: recognising the incredible achievements of Toowoomba’s Women
International Women’s Day offers the opportunity to recognise the women in your life. Here are the stories behind some of the inspiring women of Toowoomba:
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“I love being true to myself instead of listening to all the noise about what we’re supposed to do and who we’re supposed to be as women,” said Courtney Patterson.
Driven by passion, hope, strength, and love here are some of the incredible women of Toowoomba, each carving different paths forward these women show just how much they are capable of.
1. Jo Capp
Jo Capp, whose son was diagnosed with cancer at the age of six, made it her mission to give back to the community that supported her during that difficult time.
With an idea and $20, Hope Horizons was born and the incredible organisation has been supporting cancer patients and their families in Toowoomba since 2017.
Ms Capp said cancer is not just a normal disease and has lasting impacts even after treatment, which is why she wanted to help patients and loved ones through emotional turmoil.
“Until you’ve been through major trauma you have no idea how it affects your entire wellbeing,” she said.
2. Susy Wenitong
Susy Wenitong and her husband Adam run Adapt Mentorship, an organisation that aims to help end the cycle of poverty, hardship, and helplessness in Indigenous communities.
Through Adapt Mentorship Ms Wenitong said she wants to give people the same sense of belonging, purpose, and empowerment that the loving people in her life gave her.
“You can be strong, you can be bold, you can be courageous but don’t ever lose that essence of just being kind and caring,” she said.
3. Shirley-Anne Gardiner
Moving to Toowoomba from New Zealand in 2013, Shirley-Anne spent years as the Executive Director of the Toowoomba Hospital but it wasn’t until a health scare of her own that she realised she wanted to do more to give back to the beautiful community she now calls home.
After falling down a flight of stairs and breaking three vertebrae, doctors found a 20cm tumour that was pushing on her kidneys, bowel, and uterus.
Her tumour was removed but she said if she hadn’t fallen down those stairs they probably wouldn’t have found it.
Ms Gardiner is now the CEO of Momentum Mental Health often helping people who were dealt a bad hand.
“Seeing all of the people coming in with such trauma but also with such resilience it’s so inspiring,” she said.
4. Lizzie Adams
Originally from Cunnamulla, Lizzie Adams, got into nursing at age of 16 and through her lived experiences and work in the healthcare system she saw the need for more support for Indigenous communities.
In 2013 Ms Adams sadly lost her son in a car accident and said it was the community support that got her through the traumatic experience.
Lizzie Adams is now the CEO of Goolburri, an organisation that provides holistic health and wellbeing support to Indigenous communities.
“We didn’t have a lot of materialistic stuff, but we had a lot of love,” she said.
She has since set up the Jaydon Adams foundation in her son’s honour.
5. Tash Johnston
Growing up in regional Queensland Tash Johnston has seen the wonders and the hardships of rural life.
Through floods, droughts, pests, and fires she witnessed the toll disasters took on her family and so she founded Farm Angels in 2014 providing support to regional communities.
Ms Johnston remembered a time when her mum had to work 18 hour days at two jobs because their farm was struggling through consecutive years of drought.
Years later Ms Johnston found out that her parents had a suicide pact and sadly on average one farmer dies by suicide every 10 days.
“I just needed to do something to stop another farmer from taking their life,” she said.
6. Amanda Dalton
Amanda Dalton spent 25 years working in different roles in the human services sector including homelessness, youth protection, and domestic violence support and she said housing and health should never be seen as a luxury.
In 2018 she became the founder of Protea Place, a place that feels like home and supports vulnerable women find connections and friendships through homelessness and domestic violence.
“It’s a really lonely place to be when you’re homeless because most people are embarrassed and ashamed of what’s happened,” she said.
7. Kim Walmsley
Kim Walmsley, who was adopted into a loving non-Indigenous family when she was a baby has always used art to stay connected to her roots.
After meeting her birth parents in 2000, Ms Walmsley said she felt so lucky to have her family and mob who have always motivated her to create inspiring art.
“I’ve got my adopted family, my natural family, and my own family,” she said.
“There’s a lot of people with less, so I’m very grateful for what I have.”
8. Courtney Patterson
At the age of four Courtney Patterson had her mind set on becoming a tax lawyer, but as she worked towards her law career she realised she was motivated by the need to prove herself as a woman in a male-dominated field and has now found her own view on success.
Courtney and her husband John Patterson opened a family law practice in Toowoomba in 2024 and Ms Patterson said being able to help people struggling through separation is what makes her work fulfilling.
“My parents went through separation when I was a kid and people underestimate the impact it has on kids,” she said.
“Unless you are going through it, people don’t realise how gut wrenching it is.”
9. Tanya Dallinger & Rojin Rash
Tanya Dallinger and Rojin Rash are Toowoomba Police Liaison officers and Ms Dallinger said the most rewarding thing about their job is knowing that they can make a difference and help people who just need someone to talk to.
Ms Rash moved to Toowoomba from Syria eight years ago, and she loves helping the Yazidi community in Toowoomba, many of which fled genocide and war and need a friendly face who understands their struggles.
Ms Rash said the refugees coming from Syria, Iraq, and Iran often had a bad relationship with authority and her work as a PLO shows them that the police are there to help.
“They are coming from traumatic backgrounds, especially the women, a lot of them didn’t have many rights in their countries,” she said.
“They didn’t have the freedom to speak up and advocate for themselves.”
10. Nicole Rangiira
At age 18, Nicole Rangiira, lost her foster brother in a terrible accident and since then has sought ways to find comfort and hope in loss, and she now shares that hope through her work in pastoral care at the Toowoomba Hospital.
“We don’t know from one day to the next how our lives are going to be changed forever,” she said.
“I go into that hospital every day, and I want to make the most of every opportunity to try and do what I can to support people.”
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