MURIEL’S VISION FOR GLOBAL PEACE

How it started

Muriel Matters was an activist in many areas. When preparing a presentation detailing her run for The House of Commons in 1924, it was discovered that one of her first activities, in the area perhaps dearest to her heart, was working for Peace – she started her own group in 1914, well before Gallipoli and the subsequent death of her brother, Charles Matters, at Lone Pine in August 1915.

She then joined other groups and became active within the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF). Listed as a speaker at their 1915 conference in The Hague, Muriel appears to have been prevented from attending, as no speech was recorded. Peace became one of her life’s continual themes – ‘we must speak, we must act for world peace’.

The Society wanted to recognise this particular aspect of Muriel’s work, and at the suggestion of our friends at The Adelaide Day Centre, adopted the theme of Article 3 of the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights – that everyone has ‘the right to life, liberty and security’ as a concept that was universal and underpinned opposition to all wars and conflicts.¹ The event acknowledging the UN UDHR will now be held annually.

National and International Links

Through our friends in the GF Smith Peace Trust, MMS learned of the Rotary’s SA Peace Pole Project.
(See www.peacepolesoceania.com) Their slogan ‘May Peace Prevail on Earth’ mirrors the aims of the petition, and a Peace Pole has now been erected at NCW House (95 South Terrace, Adelaide). Adelaide Peace Pole #154 was unveiled on 6 February, 2025. Part of a state and national network, the word is spreading in the year of the 80th Anniversary of the dropping of bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The aftermath of those momentous events continues today.

How can you help?

Simply download the petition, sign it and ask your friends to sign it, too. Every conversation you have to promote the petition and the concept of Global Peace is worthwhile.

Once we have received 10,000 signatures, MMS will present the petition to the SA Parliament and move a motion supporting the petition’s aims in the Legislative Council.

As we are well short of our target, the petition will now be lodged as soon as possible. A date will be advertised, with the hope that as many as want may attend on the day of tabling.

Text of the Petition:
“That we live in internationally turbulent times and are witness to the destructive consequences being endured by those living in war zones throughout the world. We believe every member of every community needs to come together in support of global peace. Your petitioners, therefore, request that your Honourable House pass a motion recognising the human right of all people to a safe existence and acknowledging the importance of Global Peace—learnt through the devastation of past conflicts.”

Please download a copy of the Petition, gather signatures and return it to the Muriel Matters Society.

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1. Australia was an original signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. The UDHR is widely regarded as the world’s foundational human rights document. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, it set out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected. ↩︎

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