Australian Women's Register

An initiative of The National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW) in conjunction with The University of Melbourne

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Fatin, Wendy Frances (1941 - )

Born
10 April 1941
Harvey, Western Australia, Australia
Occupation
Nurse and Parliamentarian

Summary

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Wendy Fatin was elected to the House of Representatives in the Australian Parliament as the Member for Canning, Western Australia at the federal election, which was held in 1983. She was the first woman from Western Australia to be elected to the House of Representatives. At the 1984 election, following an electoral redistribution, she won the new seat of Brand, which she held until her retirement in 1996. Her Ministerial appointments included Local Government from 1990-1991 and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women. In December 1991 she was appointed Minister for the Arts and Territories, remaining in that position until after the 1993 election.

Details

Wendy Fatin qualified as a nurse in 1962 and subsequently gained a Bachelor of Applied Science (Nursing) at the Western Australian Institute of Technology. A feminist, she was one of the founders of the Women's Electoral Lobby in Western Australia in the early 1970s and in 1989 was a member of the core founding group of the National Foundation for Australian Women with Marie Coleman, Helen L'Orange and Ann Symonds. She served as an Advisor to the Minister for Repatriation and Compensation and Minister for Social Security from 1974-1975.

She is an honorary life member of the Australian Reproductive Health Alliance.

Archival resources

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

  • [Biographical cuttings on Wendy Fatin, first WA woman to be elected to the House of Representatives], BIOG; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

State Library of Western Australia

  • [Interview with Wendy Fatin] [sound recording], 1988, OH2605/9 A/r; State Library of Western Australia. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Fatin, Wendy, Nursing and the politics of health care, N.S.W. College of Nursing, [Sydney], 1986, 12 pp. Details

Online Resources

Rosemary Francis

Created: 7 April 2009

Site-wide information and acknowledgements

National Foundation for Australian Women The University of Melbourne, eScholarship Research Centre

http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE4110b.htm

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