Cheryl Duschka was born in 1950 at Mount Hawthorn, Perth, Western Australia, to Warren Duschka, a carpenter, and his wife Betty. She attended Tuart Hill Primary and Senior High School, then studied Law at the University of Western Australia, where she was awarded the Criminal Law Prize in 1980. She married Colin Edwardes in 1973. Cheryl Edwardes worked as a solicitor from 1984 to 1986, and entered Parliament in 1989 when elected to the Legislative Assembly for Kingsley. She was re-elected in 1993, 1996 and 2001, and did not contest the general election of 2005. In 1993, Edwardes became the first female Attorney-General to be appointed in Western Australia.

Sources used to compile this entry: Black, David and Bolton, Geoffrey (eds), Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia, Vol. 2, 1930-1990, Western Australian Parliamentary History Project, Perth, Western Australia, 1990; Black, David and Phillips, Harry, 'Making a Difference: Women in the West Australian Parliament 1921-1999', Parliament of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, 2000; Cheryl Edwardes on the Parliament of Western Australia website is at http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/web/newwebparl.nsf/iframewebpages/Members+-+Former [2009-11-30].