Banker Jacquie Hey broke more than a century of male exclusivity when she was unanimously voted onto the board of Cricket Australia (CA) on Thursday.
Cricket remains hugely important in Australia, both in sporting and cultural terms, and Hey will be the first woman to serve on the board of the organisation which governs the game.
"I'm so proud, privileged and honoured to be given this role, it's deep inside me that I really feel how important this is and how important it is that I do a damned good job," Hey said.
"I want to make sure I'm not the first and only, but the first of many. I'm here and I'm on show and I will do a good job. I will make sure there are many more women following me."
Hey was one of three independent directors appointed to the board on the recommendation of the Crawford-Carter review into how CA governs the game, which was set up after the Ashes defeat of 2010-2011.
The board has been reduced from 14 members to nine and the aim is to increase its independence and end the inter-state squabbling which has often impeded decision-making in the past.
