The theatrics of protest: Bessie Harrison Lee and performing the values of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union

Australian women's activist, Bessie Harrison Lee (1860-1950) used her body and dress in performative, dynamic and innovative ways. Lee established herself as an integral part of a movement of women who exhibited exceptional stamina for public protest. At the beginning of Lee's career, she joined the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) because it matched her ideals of how society could best nurture Christian values in the home and wider community. Many women who spoke in public spaces were educated and considered upper class, whilst Lee's early life was characterised by humble beginnings and lack of formal education. Despite the odds, she rose to prominence as President of the WCTU Footscray branch, Colonial Evangelist and Superintendent of Literature. Temperance or abstaining from alcoholic beverages was a primary goal that the WCTU and Lee promoted over a lifetime in multiple contexts in various continents. I argue that revisiting Lee's life shows us that the WCTU provided the environment for working-class women to move up through the ranks and publicly communicate radical ideas behind the veil of a hyper-conservative organisation. Women in this period, rather than shrinking from attention, utilised it to convey powerful messages for social change.