The International Women’s Day lunch at the Sheraton Grand Port Douglas was a spectacular success and everyone who attended was treated to amazing success stories from two dynamic women who, although different generations, had to fight hard to achieve their goals.

Tennis Legend, Judy Dalton AM, and Rural Doctor of the Year, Dr Renee Cremen both believe in a world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive and so the theme for the day #Break The Bias was just perfect.

Tennis legend

Judy Dalton AM made history over 50 years ago as a member of the ‘Original Nine’.

This trailblazing group of women broke away from the men's tour in 1970 to take a stand for equal pay, which paved the way for equality for women in sport, and beyond.

Judy was also a singles finalist at Wimbledon in 1968 - where she fell to champion Billy Jean in the title match.

She won nine majors in her career, including eight in women's doubles and one in the mixed doubles. Judy recently attended the Australian Open as an honoured guest of Tennis Australia.

Rural Doctor of The Year

Dr Renee Cremen is the Director of Medical Services Babinda MPHS and Yarrabah ED. She received the Rural Doctors Association of Australia's (RDAA) Rural Doctor of the Year Award in recognition of her exceptional commitment to her Far North Queensland community and her inspiring approach to teaching the next generation of doctors.

Renee has been providing dedicated service to the people of North Queensland since completing her Internship at Cairns Hospital in 2009.

Both Judy and Renee told stories about the hurdles put up to slow down their success just because they were women. That didn’t stop either of them of course and both succeeded in a spectacular way.

Local actor Shaun Cram, complete with pink hair was MC for the day, which raised money for local charity ‘Pink In The Tropics’,

a community based charity Breast Cancer Support Group supporting those recently diagnosed, undergoing treatment and to celebrate survivors.