Melb women's museum to be Australian first

Australia's first major museum dedicated to women who helped shape the nation could soon be built in Melbourne.

A campaign to create the museum, dubbed Her Place, was launched on Monday at the opening of a three-week exhibition at the Melbourne Town Hall.

The pop-up exhibition - which is hoped to be a precursor to a permanent museum - tells the stories of nine women who have overcome adversity to become community leaders.

The lack of women represented in Australia's museums was acknowledged in a Museums Australia policy in 2000.

Sixteen years on, Her Place board chairwoman Mary Stuart says it's time for a women's museum.

"I am very confident that we will achieve this. It will happen," she told AAP on Monday.

Melbourne's lord mayor Robert Doyle supports the campaign.

A series of public talks - on family violence, feminism and women in sport - will run alongside the exhibition.