Sunday marks 70 years since Dame Enid Lyons delivered her maiden speech to parliament as the first female ever elected to the House of Representatives at the 1943 federal election. (Western Australia’s Dame Dorothy Tangney was elected to the Senate for Labor at the same election and became the nation’s first female Senator.)
Dame Enid, a mother of twelve children, represented the Tasmanian electorate of Darwin between 1943-1951. She was a member of the United Australia Party which became the Liberal Party of Australia in 1945. The division of Darwin was replaced with Braddon in 1955. Dame Enid’s husband Joseph served as Labor Premier of Tasmania in the 1920s and UAP Prime Minister of Australia from 1932 until he died in office in 1939.
Her speech was the first time a woman had addressed the House of Representatives – 43 years after its creation. Dame Enid used the opportunity to reflect on the historical significance of the occasion and touched on policy areas of interest including social security, taxation, population growth and worldwide conflict, which remain hotly debated topics today.
Her maiden speech can be read in full at the Commonwealth Parliament’s website but here are some noteworthy extracts:
“It would be strange indeed were I not tonight deeply conscious of the fact, if not a little awed by the knowledge, that on my shoulders rests a great weight of responsibility; because this is the first occasion upon which a woman has addressed this house. For that reason it is an occasion which, for every woman in the Commonwealth, marks in some degree a turning point in history.”
“I believe, very sincerely, that any woman entering the public arena must be prepared to work as men work; she must justify herself not as a woman but as a citizen; she must attack the same problems, and be prepared to shoulder the same burdens. But because I am a woman, and cannot divest myself of those qualities that are inherent in my sex, and because every one of us speaks broadly in the terms of one’s own experience, honorable members will have to become accustomed to the application of the homely metaphors of the kitchen rather than those of the operating theatre, the workshop, or the farm.”
“I hope that I shall never forget that everything that takes place in this chamber goes out somewhere to strike a human heart, to influence the life of some fellow being, and I believe this, too, with all my heart: that the duty of every government, whether in this country or any other, is to see that no man, because of the condition of his life, shall ever need lose his vision of the city of God.”
Dame Enid went on to become Australia’s first female cabinet minister when Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies appointed her Vice-President of the Executive Council in 1949. The role was largely honorary and did not involve the oversight of any government department. On Australia Day in 1980, Dame Enid was made a Dame of the Order of Australia. She passed away in Tasmania on 2 September 1981.
Dame Enid was a pioneer for mothers in federal politics and leaves an inspiring legacy.