Portrait of Augusta Zadow, the first woman Inspector of Factories. Taken from the Weekly Herald newspaper 17 July 1896 page 1. State Library of South Australia B-58465
Christiane Susanne Augustine "Augusta" Zadow (née Hofmeyer; 27 August 1846 – 7 July 1896) was a German-Australian trade unionist.
Christiane Susanne Augustine Hofmeyer was born on 27 August 1846 in Runkel in the Duchy of Nassau. She was educated at the Ladies' Seminary, Biebrich-on-Rhine, and following her studies became a governess. By 1868 she was working as a tailor in London, England. She met her husband Christian Wilhelm Zadow, a tailor and political refugee from Germany, in London and the pair married in 1871. They travelled to Australia with their young son on the Robert Lees, arriving in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1877.
In Adelaide, Zadow became an advocate for women working in clothing factories. She was a major contributor to the establishment of the Working Women's Trades Union in 1890 and was a delegate to the United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia. Mary Lee, David Charleston and Zadow prepared a list of fair wages and prices for use in Adelaide.
She died on 7 July 1896 of haematemesis following an illness from influenza in 1896 while preparing a report on the Factories Act. She was buried at the West Terrace Cemetery.
The Augusta Zadow Scholarship was formed in her honour in 1994. It is awarded annually to individuals involved in women's health and safety issues in South Australia.[1]
