In a quiet backstreet in the heart of Adelaide, there's a mural of a woman who may have otherwise been forgotten.

Her name is Muriel Matters, and she was the trailblazing force behind some very "daring" acts of defiance.

"I suppose it was daring, as one looks back from the point of view of age and perhaps wisdom," Muriel told the BBC in 1939.

"At the time I didn't stop to think what a risky venture it was.

"I was young, and the experiences of the suffragettes soon taught one to be tough."

Muriel had dreamed of becoming an actress in Australia, but soon after she moved to London in 1905, her admiration for the stage took an unexpected turn towards activism.

Having grown up in Adelaide — where women had been able to vote and stand for office since 1894 — Muriel was appalled at the lack of women's rights in the United Kingdom.

The 28-year-old began attending meetings of the Women's Social and Political Union, which was headed by Emmeline Pankhurst, a British suffragette.

Muriel then formed a movement called the League of Light, which aimed to support women, particularly stage actresses, who were oppressed by their employers.

Her ability to speak publicly and eloquently, together with her growing passion for the suffragist cause, catapulted her into the London limelight.

"It's what we might now call a 'MeToo' moment in British history, where women start to act against the sexual discrimination, exploitation and sexual harassment of female workers," says Clare Wright, a historian from La Trobe University.

"Muriel becomes particularly interested in this because when she starts working as an actress in England, which is what she had come to set about doing, she experienced this kind of vulnerability herself."

Suffragette or suffragist? The suffragette movement used militancy and violence while campaigning for women's rights

The suffragette movement used militancy and violence while campaigning for women's rights Muriel was a staunch supporter of UK suffragist movement instead

Muriel was a staunch supporter of UK suffragist movement instead The suffragists embraced peaceful campaigning for women's rights to vote

Muriel became a staunch supporter of the British suffragist movement, advocating for women's rights to vote in elections.

But she also fought for equal rights for all — not just women. She advocated for the poor, the uneducated, and for animal rights.

Avoiding arrest in 'the air'

A few years after her arrival in London, Muriel made international headlines when she climbed aboard an airship emblazoned with the slogan "Votes for Women".

Members of the movement had been threatened with arrest if they were caught handing out leaflets as the king drove to open parliament.

Muriel Matters holds a megaphone as the airship takes flight ( Getty: Mirrorpix )

"They had this brilliant idea that if they can't take to the streets, they'll take to the air," says author Robert Wainwright, who has written a book about Muriel.

"When they rented this small airship they decided that the person brave enough and with the voice required was Muriel.

"Muriel clambered into this bamboo basket beneath the balloon with a man who looked rather nervous, and she literally took to the skies."

'Shouting and proclaiming votes for women'



In 1908 Muriel became the first woman to speak in the British House of Commons.

But she hadn't been invited to speak.

Muriel's airship as it set sail from Hendon to drop leaflets over Westminster, 1909. ( Supplied: Muriel Matters Society )

Instead, she chained herself to the grille that obscured women's views of proceedings at London's Houses of Parliament and addressed the assembled politicians.

"This grille was seen as a symbol of the separation that women experienced in political life, but also the humiliation and degradation that they were forced to suffer everyday as second-class citizens," Dr Wright says.

Muriel made a speech demanding that women be given the right to vote.

It held up parliamentary debate and police rushed in to remove her.

"They were pulling at her violently and pulled her head back, and they realised she was chained [to the grille]," Dr Wright says.

"They asked for the key and she said she didn't have it — she actually did, it was on a concealed chain around her neck, but she didn't tell them that.

"They cut the whole panel of the grille out of the wall and she was dragged out of the gallery still shouting and proclaiming votes for women while attached to this section of metal."

A locksmith removed the padlock.

Later that same evening, Muriel was arrested for protesting outside the Parliament. She was sentenced to one month in Holloway Prison.

'The sort of thing we were up against'

Muriel also took part in a three-month 'Votes for Women' caravan tour around the UK.

She used her acting skills to spread the message of the Women's Freedom League in town centres.

A postcard of the Women's Freedom League. One man holds a banner that says "the men of Brixton demand votes for women this evening". ( Flickr: LSE Library )

"The police surrounded the stage on many occasions and she'd speak from the back of a cart or on a town statue," Wainwright says.

There are references of up to 3,000 people gathering around the tiny figure, who had to be under police escort because men would hang around the fringes and throw rotten food, or generally try to disturb what was happening.

In her 1939 interview with the BBC, Muriel recalled what she was up against.

"When addressing open air meetings I used to put a mackintosh on to receive the bad eggs and rotten fish," she recalled.

"Sometimes the chances of success for our cause seemed very small, but we went on."

Her activism made her a celebrity in Great Britain, which finally adopted women's suffrage in 1928.

A section of the brass grille that Muriel chained herself to is now on display at the South Australian Houses of Parliament.

In honour of her accomplishments, a Muriel Matters Society has been established in South Australia by the independent Member for Florey, Frances Bedford, who lives and breathes Muriel Matters.

Ms Bedford has been the driving force behind the 'uncovering' and spreading of Muriel's story. She also organised for a historic blue plaque to be put on Muriel's house in Hastings, England.

Wainwright believes people warmed to Muriel's message "because it was different from militant forces".

"There was no violence attached to any of the things she did, and she made intelligent speeches from the back of horse carts or in halls," he says.

"She spoke about the vote not as an issue in itself but as a means to an end."

Wainwright says if Muriel was here today, she would probably not be terribly surprised that we have come all this way, but would still say there is still a long way to go.