The Australian Women's Register

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Kirsten Livermore was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament as the Member for Capricornia, Queensland in 1998. She was re-elected in 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2010.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Justine Elliot was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament as the Member for Richmond, New South Wales, in 2004. She was re-elected in 2007 and appointed Minister for the Ageing in the Rudd Labor Government. She was re-elected again in 2010 and currently holds the position of Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Trade.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Julie Owens was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament as the Member for Parramatta, New South Wales, in 2004. She was re-elected in 2007 and in 2010.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Belinda Neal was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament as the Member for Robertson, New South Wales, in 2007. She was appointed to the Australian Senate in 1994, serving until 1998, when she resigned to contest the seat of Robertson in the House of Representatives. She was unsuccessful on that occasion. Before entering the federal political arena, she served in local government as Councillor for the Gosford City Council from 1991-95. She was not a candidate at the 2010 election as she lost pre-selection for the seat.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Kerry Rea was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament as the Member for Bonner, Queensland, in 2007. Before entering the federal parliament, she served in Local Government on the Brisbane City Council from 1991-94 and 1997-2007.

Emma Crawford probably migrated to Brisbane in 1896 and almost immediately involved herself in the work of the Society of the Sacred Advent, a religious order committed to the care of Brisbane’s underprivileged women and children. She presided over the Society’s establishment of Anglican schools (all public teaching in Queensland was legislated secular) and made them financially viable. After developing an industrial school for wayward girls in Brisbane, the community took charge of a school in Stanthorpe in 1909 which was later moved to Warwick and named St Catharine’s. She also helped to establish boarding schools for girls in Townsville, Herberton, Charters Towers, Yeppoon and Brisbane.

By the time Mother Emma died, in 1939, the Society was active in three of Queensland’s five Dioceses – this despite never having more that thirty professed sisters working during the course of her lifetime.

A member of the National Party, Flo Bjelke-Petersen was elected Senator for Queensland in the Senate of the Australian Parliament in 1980. She held the position of Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from 1985 until 1990 and retired from parliament in 1993. She was married to Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, who served as Premier of Queensland from 1968-87.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Susan Knowles was elected to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia as a Senator for Western Australia in 1984. In 1987 she was elected Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate, a position she retained until 1993. She remained in Parliament until 30 June 2005, having served for more than twenty years.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Claire Moore was elected as a Senator for Queensland in the Senate of the Australian Parliament in 2001. She was re-elected in 2007.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Sue Boyce was chosen by the Queensland Parliament to represent the state on 19 April 2007 on the resignation of Senator Santoro in the Senate of the Australian Parliament. She was elected in 2007 for a six year term.

On the September 5, 2008, Quentin Bryce assumed the office of Governor-General of Australia, the twenty-fifth person to hold the office, but the first woman.

The appointment was the latest in a long line of ‘firsts’ for Bryce. A graduate from the University of Queensland with degrees in arts and law, she was one of the first Queensland women to be admitted to the Queensland Bar. In 1968 she became the first woman to be a faculty member of the Law school where she had studied. In 1984 she was appointed inaugural Director of the Queensland Women’s Information Service, Office of the Status of Women, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. In the period 1993 to 1996, she was founding Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the National Childcare Accreditation Council. In 2003, she became the second woman to be appointed to the position of Governor of Queensland. She has also served as Queensland director of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. In 1989 she became the Sex Discrimination Commissioner on the commission. And she was one of the first women to serve on the National Women’s Advisory Council, established by the commonwealth government in 1978.

From country stock, raised in a series of small towns scattered around central-west Queensland, Bryce was home schooled by her mother before being packed off to board at Brisbane’s Moreton Bay College, attending the University of Queensland subsequently. At university she reacquainted herself with an architecture student, Michael Bryce, whom she had first met as a nine-year- old. They started dating and married in 1964. They now have two daughters, three sons and five grandchildren.

Of his decision to recommend Quentin Bryce to the role of Governor-General, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2008 said:

It’s obvious that we needed to have a governor-general for Australia who captures the spirit of modern Australia, and the spirit of modern Australia is many things. Giving proper voice to people from the bush and the regions, giving proper voice to the rights of women, giving proper voice to the proper place of women in modern Australia and proper place to someone committed to the lives of, improving the lives for Indigenous Australians. These are all considerations in shaping my recommendation to her Majesty the Queen.

Of her own appointment as Governor-General, Quentin Bryce has remarked:

I grew up in a little bush town in Queensland of 200 people and what this day says to Australian women and to Australian girls is that you can do anything, you can be anything, and it makes my heart sing to see women in so many diverse roles across our country and Australia.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Vi Jordan was elected to the Parliament of Queensland as Member for Ipswich West at the state election, which was held in 1966. She was the second woman to be elected to the Queensland Parliament. She was re-elected in 1969 and 1972, but was ultimately defeated in 1974. Before entering the state Parliament, she served as a Councillor for the Ipswich City Council.

A member of the National Party, Vicky Kippin was the first woman from her party to be elected to a parliament in Australia in 1974. She represented the electorate of Mourilyan in the Queensland Parliament. She was re-elected in 1977, but defeated at the 1980 election. She was a candidate again in 1983, but was unsuccessful in regaining the seat. After her parliamentary career she served as a councillor for the Johnstone Shire Council from 1982 to 1985.

Beryce Nelson represented both the Liberal and National Parties in the Queensland Parliament. She was elected as the Member for Aspley, representing the Liberal Party of Australia, in 1980. In August 1983, during her first term in parliament, she was appointed Government Deputy Whip, the first woman to gain the position, but was unfortunately defeated at the election, which was held in the same year. After her resignation from the Liberal Party in 1984 and on joining the National Party in 1985, she won the seat of Apsley in 1986 for the National Party and was appointed Minister for Family Services in 1989. She was the third woman to hold a ministerial portfolio in Queensland.

A member of the National Party of Australia, Yvonne Chapman was elected to the seat of Pine Rivers in the Queensland Parliament in 1983. She held the ministerial portfolios of Transport and Ethnic Affairs from September 1989 until December 1989 and Welfare Services (later Family Services) from February 1986 until December 1987. She was the first woman to be appointed to Cabinet in the Queensland Government. She lost her seat at the 1989 state election. Before her entry into state parliament she served as a councillor on the Pine Rivers Shire Council from 1976 until 1983, assuming the position of vice-chairman in 1982. In 1994 she was elected Mayor of the Pine Rivers Shire and held the position until 2008 when she retired.

A member of the National Party, Judy Gamin was elected as the Member for South Coast in 1988 at a by-election, but was defeated at the 1989 election. She was elected as Member for newly created seat of Burleigh at the 1992 election. She was re-elected in 1995 and 1998, but was ultimately defeated at the 2001 election. Before her election to the state parliament, she stood unsuccessfully in the federal seat of Moncrieff at the 1984 election.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Lorraine Bird was elected to the Parliament of Queensland representing the electorate of Whitsunday in 1989. She remained in parliament until her defeat at the 1998 election. Before her election to parliament she served as a local government councillor for the Pioneer Shire from 1985-91.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Laurel Power was elected Member for Mansfield in the Parliament of Queensland in 1989. She remained in the parliament until July 1995.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Judy Spence was elected to the Parliament of Queensland as the representative for the electorate of Mount Gravatt in 1989. She is currently the Leader of the House in the Parliament as well as Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier and Minister for the Arts, Anna Bligh. She has held ministerial portfolios, which have included Police and Corrective Services and Seniors, since 1998.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Margaret Woodgate was elected to the Parliament of Queensland as Member for Pine Rivers at the election, which was held in 1989. In an electoral redistribution, the seat of Pine Rivers was abolished and Margaret Woodgate became Member for the new seat of Kurwongbah at the 1992 election. During her period in parliament she held the ministerial portfolios of Family and Community Services and Minister Assisting the Premier on the Status of Women, from July 1995 until February 1996. She resigned from the Parliament in 1997. Before her election to the state parliament Margaret Woodgate served in local government as a councillor for the Shire of Pine Rivers from 1985-88.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Joan Sheldon was elected to the Parliament of Queensland at a by-election which was held for the seat of Landsborough in 1990. She was the third woman to be elected to the Queensland Parliament and the first outside Brisbane. In the electoral redistribution before the 1992 election, Joan Sheldon stood successfully for the new seat of Caloundra and remained the Member until her retirement in 2004. On her election to the leadership of the Parliamentary Liberal Party on 11 November 1991, she gained the distinction of becoming the first woman to lead a political party in Queensland and the first to lead a Liberal Party in Australia. She held that position until June 1998. During her period in parliament she served as Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for the Arts and Women’s Policy from February 1996 until June 1998. She was Deputy Coalition Leader from November 1992 until June 1998.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Merri Rose was elected to the Parliament of Queensland as Member for Currumbin in 1992. During her period in Parliament she served as Minister for Tourism and Racing from 1999-2004, for Fair trading from 2001-2004 and for Emergency Services from 1998-1999. She was defeated at the 2004 election.

A member of the Liberal Party, Lynette Warwick was elected to the Parliament of Queensland as Member for Barron River in 1995. She was defeated at the 1998 election and was an unsuccessful candidate again at the 2001 election.

Linda Lavarch was the first female lawyer elected to the Parliament of Queensland, Australia. In July 2005 she was appointed Minister for Justice and Attorney-General – the first woman to be Attorney-General in Queensland. As Attorney-General she oversaw the introduction of permanent drug courts in Queensland and the creation of the offence of identity theft. Retiring from state politics in 2009, Lavarch became involved in medical research and the not-for-profit sector, chairing the Not-For-Profit Sector Reform Council. Lavarch stood as the Labor candidate for the Queensland seat of Dickson in the 2016 Australian federal election.

Linda Lavarch was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Nita Cunningham was elected to the Parliament of Queensland in 1998 as Member for Bundaberg and served until her retirement from parliament in 2006. During her parliamentary career she served as Minister for Local Government and Planning from November 2000 until February 2004. Before her entry into state parliament she served as a local government councillor and Deputy Mayor from 1988 until 1991 and as Mayor from 1991 until 1998.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Jo-Ann Miller was elected to the Parliament of Queensland as Member for Bundamba at a by-election, which was held in February 2000. She has served as Parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Education, 2001-2004 and the Minister for Health, 2004-2006. She is a member of the current parliament.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Peta-Kaye Croft was elected to the Parliament of Queensland as Member for Broadwater in February 2001. She currently holds the position of Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Services.