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Fowler, Lilian Maud (1886 - 1954)

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Alderman and Politician
Born: 7 June 1886  Cooma, New South Wales, Australia.  Died: 11 May 1954  Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

The first woman alderman, mayor and among the first women JPs and MPs in New South Wales, Lilian Fowler was a blunt and tenacious politician, who worked on behalf of women and the underprivileged.

Labor candidate for Newtown in 1941 (unsuccessful), 1944 (elected) and 1947 (elected). Lang Labor candidate for Newtown-Annandale in 1950. Alderman Newtown Municipal Council 1928, first woman alderman in NSW, re-elected 1935-37, 1938-40, 1941-44, 1948. Mayor 1938-39.


Career Highlights
Alternative Names:
  • Fowler, Elizabeth (also known as)

Lilian was educated at Cooma public school, and married Albert Edward Fowler, bootmaker, on 19 April 1909.

She became Secretary of the Newtown-Erskineville Political Labor League. For 20 years from 1917, she was electorate manager for F.M. Burke, anti-conscriptionist Labor candidate for Newtown. Her Labor activism included being a Central Executive member of ALP 1920-21, 1923-25, and President of Labor Women’s Central Organising Committee, 1926-27. She was instrumental in pressuring premier Jack Lang to institute widows’ pensions and child endowment. Mrs Fowler was active in Newtown Municipal Council from 1928 – she established playgrounds and instituted a 40-hour week for council employees. From 1941 she stood against her former employer Burke, as a Lang Labor candidate. She remained critical of Labor’s centralist tendencies and of bureaucratic consolidation in labour and municipal politics.

The Federal electorate of Fowler is named after her, as is Lilian Fowler Place, Marrickville, NSW, and Fowler Reserve in Newtown, NSW.

 
Sources used to compile this entry: Australian Dictionary of Biography Vol 8; SMITH, A. Viola, Women in Australian Parliaments and Local Governments Past and Present. 1975; http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/members.nsf accessed 24 October 2004; REYNOLDS, Margaret and WILLOUGHBY, Jean (eds), HERstory: Australian Labor Women in Federal, State and Territory Parliaments 1925-1994. 1994.
 
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Structure based on ISAAR(CPF) - click here for an explanation of the fields.Prepared by: Annette Alafaci
Created: 25 August 2005
Modified: 6 February 2006

Published by National Foundation for Australian Women on Australian Women's Archives Project Web Site
Comments, questions, corrections and additions: awap@womenaustralia.info
Prepared by: Acknowledgements
Updated: 14 November 2008
http://womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE1274b.htm

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