Dorothy Edna Annie Edwards CBE (née Fleming; 20 June 1907 – 9 March 2006) was an Australian schoolteacher and civic leader. She served as mayor of Launceston, Tasmania, from 1955 to 1957, the first woman to serve as mayor of an Australian city. She was also president of the National Council of Women of Australia from 1960 to 1964 and a long-serving board member of the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) and the State Library of Tasmania.
Dorothy Edwards | |
|---|---|
| Mayor of Launceston | |
| In office December 1955 – December 1957 | |
| Preceded by | Brian Thornley |
| Succeeded by | James McGowen |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Dorothy Edna Annie Fleming 20 June 1907 |
| Died | 9 March 2006 (aged 98) |
| Spouse |
Rex Edwards (m. 1933) |
| Alma mater | University of Tasmania London School of Economics |
| Profession | Schoolteacher |
Early life
editEdwards was born on 20 June 1907.[1] She grew up in Deloraine, Tasmania, where her father was the town clerk.[2] She attended Deloraine Primary School and Launceston High School.[3] She went on to study at the University of Tasmania and the London School of Economics, where she graduated Master of Arts.[4]
Edwards worked as a schoolteacher, teaching Latin and literature. Due to a marriage bar she was forced to resign from the education department in 1933.[4] She taught at Launceston High School and Hobart High School.[3]
Municipal politics
editEdwards was a leader of the campaign to allow women to stand for election to the Launceston City Council, a right which was not granted until 1945 by an act of state parliament. In 1949, she became the first women to stand for election to the council.[5] She was elected with the second-highest number of votes, behind only the incumbent mayor Denham Henty,[6] becoming Tasmania's first female alderman.[2] She became chairman of the council's finance committee,[7] and in 1954 she became the first woman to preside over a council meeting.[8] She served as an alderman for 15 years in total.[2]
In 1955, Edwards was elected as the first female mayor of an Australian city.[4] She held office for two terms from December 1955 to December 1957. Her achievements in office included "the building of the City Baths at Windmill Hill, flood prevention measures and the opening of a by-products plant for the Killafaddy Abattoirs".[4]
Other activities
editEdwards helped revive the National Council of Women of Launceston, serving as secretary (1947–1956) and president (1958–1960). She was subsequently elected as the first Tasmanian president of the National Council of Women of Australia (NCW), holding office from 1960 to 1964. She sought to expand the NCW's membership in Australia and established closer relationships with similar organisations in the Asia-Pacific. She also lobbied for equal pay and the removal of marriage bars, intending for the NCW to play a more activist role. Edwards additionally served as a vice-treasurer (1963–1970) and vice-president (1970–1979) of the International Council of Women (ICW). She was appointed to the ICW's Committee of Honour in 1979 and attended her last ICW meeting in 1996.[4]
Edwards served on the board of the State Library of Tasmania from 1953 to 1978.[4] In 1962 she was appointed to the board of the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) by the Menzies government, in place of fellow Tasmanian Enid Lyons.[9] She remained on the ABC board until 1975.[4]
Personal life and honours
editEdwards had two sons with her husband Rex Edwards, whom she married in 1933.[3] She died on 9 March 2006 at the age of 98.[1]
Edwards was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1958[10] and promoted to CBE in 1979.[11] She was made an honorary freeman of the City of Launceston in 1984 and entered on the Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women in 2005.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Dorothy Edna Annie EDWARDS". Women's Museum of Australia. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ^ a b c "Dorothy Edna Annie Edwards CBE". Honour Roll of Women. Tasmanian Government. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ^ a b c Rosemann, Dorothy. "Edwards, Dorothy (1907 - 2006)". Companion to Tasmanian History. University of Tasmania. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Dorothy Edwards". Stirrers With Style: Presidents of the National Council of Women of Australia and its Predecessors. The Australian Women's Register. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ^ "Candidates for Launceston Polls". Burnie Advocate. 25 November 1949.
- ^ "Launceston Council's First Woman Alderman". Launceston Examiner. 9 December 1949.
- ^ "Launceston may have first woman as its mayor". Hobart Mercury. 25 August 1954.
- ^ "Woman boss of meeting". Brisbane Telegraph. 25 May 1954.
- ^ "Dame Enid Lyons Resigns ABC Post". Canberra Times. 21 August 1962.
- ^ "Mrs Dorothy Edna Annie Edwards". It's an Honour. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
- ^ "Mrs Dorothy Edna Annie Edwards, OBE". It's an Honour. Retrieved 7 June 2022.