Edith Cowan
Encyclopedia
Edith Dircksey Cowan MBE (2 August 18619 June 1932) was an Australian politician
, social campaigner and the first woman elected to an Australian parliament.
Edith Brown was born and raised in Glengarry (HI) Station near Geraldton
, Western Australia
on 2 August 1861. The second daughter of Kenneth Brown
and Mary Eliza Dircksey née Wittenoom, she was born into an influential and respected family that included her grandfathers Thomas Brown
and John Burdett Wittenoom
, and an uncle, Maitland Brown
. When she was seven years old her mother died in childbirth, and her father sent her to a Perth
boarding school run by the Cowan sisters, whose brother James she would later marry. Her father remarried, but the marriage was unhappy and he began to drink heavily. When Edith was fifteen, her father shot and killed his second wife, and was subsequently hanged for the crime.
After her father's death, Edith Brown left her boarding school and moved to Guildford
, probably to live with her grandmother. There, she attended the school of Canon Sweeting, a former headmaster of Bishop Hale's School
who had taught a number of prominent men including John Forrest
and Septimus Burt
. According to her biographer, Sweeting's tuition left Brown with "a life-long conviction of the value of education, and an interest in books and reading".
At the age of eighteen (12 November 1879) she married James Cowan, a career public servant who had held numerous positions and was at that time Registrar and Master of the Supreme Court. They lived in Malcolm Street, West Perth
for most of their lives, but are also well known for having one of the first houses in Cottesloe
, where they lived from 1896 to 1912.
Cowan became concerned with social issues and injustices in the legal system, especially with respect to women and children. In 1894 she helped found the Karrakatta Club
, a group where women "educated themselves for the kind of life they believed they ought to be able to take". In time she became the club's president. The Karrakatta Club became involved in the campaign for women's suffrage, successfully gaining the vote for women in 1899.
After the turn of the century Cowan turned her eye to welfare issues. She was particularly concerned with women's health and the welfare of disadvantaged groups, such as disadvantaged children and prostitutes. She became extraordinarily active in women's organisations and welfare organisations, serving on numerous committees. The building of Perth's King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women
in 1916 was largely a result of her efforts. She helped form the Women's Service Guilds
in 1909 and was a co-founder of the Western Australia's National Council of Women
, serving as president from 1913 to 1921 and vice-president until her death.
Cowan believed that children should not be tried as adults and, accordingly, founded the Children's Protection Society. The society had a major role in the subsequent introduction of children's courts. In 1915 she was appointed to the bench of the new court and continued on in this position for eighteen years. In 1920 Cowan became one of the first female Justices of the Peace
. Her great great nephew David Malcolm followed in her footsteps, by becoming Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 1988.
During World War I
Cowan collected food and clothing for soldiers at the front and coordinated efforts to care for returned soldiers. She became chairperson of the Red Cross Appeal Committee and was rewarded when, in 1920, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire
(MBE).
In 1920 Western Australia passed legislation allowing women to stand for parliament. At the age of 59 Cowan stood as the Nationalist
candidate for the Legislative Assembly
seat of West Perth
because she felt that domestic and social issues were not being given enough attention. She won a surprise victory, ironically defeating the Attorney General
, Thomas Draper, who had introduced the legislation that enabled her to stand. She championed women's rights in parliament, pushing through legislation which allowed women to be involved in the legal profession. She succeeded in placing mothers in an equal position with fathers when their children died without having made a will, and was one of the first to promote sex education in schools. However, she lost her seat at the 1924 election and failed to regain it in 1927.
In her final years she was an Australian delegate to the 1925 International Conference of Women held in the United States
. She helped to found the Royal Western Australian Historical Society
in 1926 and assisted in the planning of Western Australia's 1929 Centenary celebrations. Though she remained involved in social issues, illness forced her to withdraw somewhat from public life in later years. Cowan died in 1932, at the age of 70, and was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery
.
Two years after her death, the Edith Cowan Memorial Clock
was unveiled at the entrance to Perth's Kings Park
. Believed to be the first civic monument to an Australian woman, it was built in the face of persistent opposition which has been characterised as "representative of a gender bias operating at the time" (Heritage Council of Western Australia, 2000). Opponents of the monument claimed that monuments were inherently masculine and therefore not an appropriate form of memorial to a woman, and that Cowan was not important enough to merit a monument in such a prominent location.
Cowan's portrait was featured on an Australian postage stamp in 1975, as part of a six-part "Australian Women" series.
During the WAY 1979
sesquicentennial celebrations, a plaque was laid in St Georges Terrace in her honour.
In 1984 the federal Division of Cowan
was created and named after her, and in January 1991 the Western Australian College of Advanced Education was re-named Edith Cowan University
(ECU).
Her portrait appears on the Australian fifty dollar note
, a polymer banknote
that was first issued in October 1995. In 1996 a plaque honouring her was placed in St George's Cathedral. There are references to her in a public art installation in Kings Park that was unveiled in November 1999 to commemorate the centenary of women's suffrage
, and in a tapestry that was hung in King Edward Memorial Hospital in 2000 to honour women involved in the hospital.
In 1991, Edith Cowan University purchased the house at that Edith Cowan, her husband and family resided in at 71 Malcolm Street. They resided in the house from 1919 for approximately 20 years. The house was reconstructed on the university's Joondalup Campus with the assistance of the West Coast College of TAFE. The reconstructed house opened in 1997 and is Building 20 on the university's Joondalup Campus and currently plays host to the Peter Cowan Writer's Centre.
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, social campaigner and the first woman elected to an Australian parliament.
Edith Brown was born and raised in Glengarry (HI) Station near Geraldton
Geraldton, Western Australia
Geraldton is a city and port in Western Australia located north of Perth in the Mid West region. Geraldton has an estimated population at June 2010 of 36,958...
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
on 2 August 1861. The second daughter of Kenneth Brown
Kenneth Brown (pastoralist)
Kenneth Brown was an explorer and pastoralist in Western Australia. He was hanged for murdering his wife.Kenneth Brown was born in England in 1837. The eldest son of Thomas Brown, he later became the older brother of Maitland Brown. In 1840, The Brown family emigrated to Western Australia,...
and Mary Eliza Dircksey née Wittenoom, she was born into an influential and respected family that included her grandfathers Thomas Brown
Thomas Brown (Western Australian politician)
Thomas Brown was an early settler in colonial Western Australia, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council....
and John Burdett Wittenoom
John Burdett Wittenoom
John Burdett Wittenoom was a colonial clergyman who was the second Anglican clergyman to perform religious services in the Swan River Colony, Australia, soon after its establishment in 1829....
, and an uncle, Maitland Brown
Maitland Brown
Maitland Brown was an explorer, politician and pastoralist in colonial Western Australia. He is best remembered as the leader of the La Grange expedition, which searched for and recovered the bodies of three white settlers murdered by Indigenous Australians, and subsequently killed a number of...
. When she was seven years old her mother died in childbirth, and her father sent her to a Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
boarding school run by the Cowan sisters, whose brother James she would later marry. Her father remarried, but the marriage was unhappy and he began to drink heavily. When Edith was fifteen, her father shot and killed his second wife, and was subsequently hanged for the crime.
After her father's death, Edith Brown left her boarding school and moved to Guildford
Guildford, Western Australia
Guildford is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located 13 km northeast of the city. Its Local Government Area is the City of Swan.-History:Guildford was established in 1829 on the Swan River, being sited near a permanent fresh water supply...
, probably to live with her grandmother. There, she attended the school of Canon Sweeting, a former headmaster of Bishop Hale's School
Hale School
Hale School is a selective, independent, Anglican day and boarding school for boys, located in Wembley Downs, a coastal suburb of Perth, Western Australia....
who had taught a number of prominent men including John Forrest
John Forrest
Sir John Forrest GCMG was an Australian explorer, the first Premier of Western Australia and a cabinet minister in Australia's first federal parliament....
and Septimus Burt
Septimus Burt
The Hon Septimus Burt KC was a Western Australian lawyer, politician and grazier, the son of Sir Archibald Burt.He was born on 25 October 1847 at St Kitts in the West Indies, and educated at a private school at Melksham, Wiltshire, England...
. According to her biographer, Sweeting's tuition left Brown with "a life-long conviction of the value of education, and an interest in books and reading".
At the age of eighteen (12 November 1879) she married James Cowan, a career public servant who had held numerous positions and was at that time Registrar and Master of the Supreme Court. They lived in Malcolm Street, West Perth
West Perth, Western Australia
West Perth is an inner suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. It is part of the inner mixed zone, and has predominantly office blocks which have displaced residential buildings. There is a high proportion of miners and consultants, and particularly medical specialists, compared to...
for most of their lives, but are also well known for having one of the first houses in Cottesloe
Cottesloe, Western Australia
-Transport:Cottesloe is served by Swanbourne, Grant Street, Cottesloe, Mosman Park and Victoria Street railway stations on the Fremantle line. Various bus routes along Stirling Highway and through the suburb's western and eastern sections link Cottesloe to Perth and Fremantle. All services are...
, where they lived from 1896 to 1912.
Cowan became concerned with social issues and injustices in the legal system, especially with respect to women and children. In 1894 she helped found the Karrakatta Club
Karrakatta Club
The Karrakatta Club is a women's club in Perth, Western Australia. Established in 1894, it was the first women's club in Australia.-History:The Karrakatta Club was founded in 1894 by members of the St George Reading Circle. The St George Reading Circle was formed around 1887 for the purpose of...
, a group where women "educated themselves for the kind of life they believed they ought to be able to take". In time she became the club's president. The Karrakatta Club became involved in the campaign for women's suffrage, successfully gaining the vote for women in 1899.
After the turn of the century Cowan turned her eye to welfare issues. She was particularly concerned with women's health and the welfare of disadvantaged groups, such as disadvantaged children and prostitutes. She became extraordinarily active in women's organisations and welfare organisations, serving on numerous committees. The building of Perth's King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women
King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women
King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women is located at 374 Bagot Road, Subiaco, Western Australia.It provides pregnancy and neonatal care within the greater Perth Metropolitan area. In cases where patients have gone to private maternity clinics they may be moved to KEMH should complications occur...
in 1916 was largely a result of her efforts. She helped form the Women's Service Guilds
Women's Service Guilds
The Women's Service Guilds, initially known as the Women's Service Guilds of Western Australia, was an organizing body of the feminist movement in Australia...
in 1909 and was a co-founder of the Western Australia's National Council of Women
National Council of Women of Australia
The National Council of Women of Australia is an Australian organisation founded in 1931. The council is an umbrella organisation with which are affiliated seven State and Territory National Councils of Women...
, serving as president from 1913 to 1921 and vice-president until her death.
Cowan believed that children should not be tried as adults and, accordingly, founded the Children's Protection Society. The society had a major role in the subsequent introduction of children's courts. In 1915 she was appointed to the bench of the new court and continued on in this position for eighteen years. In 1920 Cowan became one of the first female Justices of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
. Her great great nephew David Malcolm followed in her footsteps, by becoming Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 1988.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Cowan collected food and clothing for soldiers at the front and coordinated efforts to care for returned soldiers. She became chairperson of the Red Cross Appeal Committee and was rewarded when, in 1920, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(MBE).
In 1920 Western Australia passed legislation allowing women to stand for parliament. At the age of 59 Cowan stood as the Nationalist
Nationalist Party of Australia
The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...
candidate for the Legislative Assembly
Western Australian Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Perth....
seat of West Perth
Electoral district of West Perth
The Electoral district of West Perth was a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Western Australia. The district was named for its location immediately to the west of the central business district of Perth....
because she felt that domestic and social issues were not being given enough attention. She won a surprise victory, ironically defeating the Attorney General
Attorney-General of Western Australia
The Attorney-General of Western Australia is the member of the Government of Western Australia responsible for maintenance and improvement of Western Australia's system of law and justice. Before the advent of representative government in 1870, the title was Advocate-General of Western Australia...
, Thomas Draper, who had introduced the legislation that enabled her to stand. She championed women's rights in parliament, pushing through legislation which allowed women to be involved in the legal profession. She succeeded in placing mothers in an equal position with fathers when their children died without having made a will, and was one of the first to promote sex education in schools. However, she lost her seat at the 1924 election and failed to regain it in 1927.
In her final years she was an Australian delegate to the 1925 International Conference of Women held in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. She helped to found the Royal Western Australian Historical Society
Royal Western Australian Historical Society
Royal Western Australian Historical Society has for many decades been the main association for Western Australians to collectively work for adequate understanding and protection of the cultural heritage of Perth and Western Australia...
in 1926 and assisted in the planning of Western Australia's 1929 Centenary celebrations. Though she remained involved in social issues, illness forced her to withdraw somewhat from public life in later years. Cowan died in 1932, at the age of 70, and was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery
Karrakatta Cemetery
Karrakatta Cemetery is a metropolitan cemetery in the suburb of Karrakatta in Perth, Western Australia. Karrakatta Cemetery first opened for burials in 1899, with Robert Creighton. Currently managed by the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board, the cemetery attracts more than one million visitors each...
.
Edith Dircksey Cowan Memorial
The Edith Dircksey Cowan Memorial, formerly known as the Edith Cowan Memorial Clock, is a clock tower in Kings Park, Perth, Western Australia. It was built in 1934 as a memorial to Edith Cowan, the first female member of any Australian parliament...
was unveiled at the entrance to Perth's Kings Park
Kings Park, Western Australia
Kings Park is a park located on the western edge of Perth, Western Australia central business district. The park is a mixture of grassed parkland, botanical gardens and natural bushland on Mount Eliza with two thirds of the grounds conserved as native bushland. With panoramic views of the Swan...
. Believed to be the first civic monument to an Australian woman, it was built in the face of persistent opposition which has been characterised as "representative of a gender bias operating at the time" (Heritage Council of Western Australia, 2000). Opponents of the monument claimed that monuments were inherently masculine and therefore not an appropriate form of memorial to a woman, and that Cowan was not important enough to merit a monument in such a prominent location.
Cowan's portrait was featured on an Australian postage stamp in 1975, as part of a six-part "Australian Women" series.
During the WAY 1979
WAY 1979
WAY '79, also referred to as WAY 79 and WAY 1979, was the official 1979 sesquicentennial celebration of the colonisation of Western Australia by Europeans.-Planning:...
sesquicentennial celebrations, a plaque was laid in St Georges Terrace in her honour.
In 1984 the federal Division of Cowan
Division of Cowan
The Division of Cowan is an Australian Electoral Division in Western Australia. The division was created in 1984 and is named for Edith Cowan, the first woman elected to an Australian Parliament. It is located in the northern suburbs of Perth, including the suburbs of Girrawheen, Greenwood,...
was created and named after her, and in January 1991 the Western Australian College of Advanced Education was re-named Edith Cowan University
Edith Cowan University
Edith Cowan University is located in Perth, Western Australia. It was named after the first woman to be elected to an Australian Parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman....
(ECU).
Her portrait appears on the Australian fifty dollar note
Australian fifty dollar note
The Australian fifty dollar note is an Australian banknote with a face value of fifty Australian dollars . It is currently a polymer banknote, featuring portraits of David Unaipon and Edith Cowan.-History:...
, a polymer banknote
Polymer banknote
Polymer banknotes were developed by the Reserve Bank of Australia , Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and The University of Melbourne and were first issued as currency in Australia in 1988. These banknotes are made from the polymer biaxially-oriented polypropylene ...
that was first issued in October 1995. In 1996 a plaque honouring her was placed in St George's Cathedral. There are references to her in a public art installation in Kings Park that was unveiled in November 1999 to commemorate the centenary of women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
, and in a tapestry that was hung in King Edward Memorial Hospital in 2000 to honour women involved in the hospital.
In 1991, Edith Cowan University purchased the house at that Edith Cowan, her husband and family resided in at 71 Malcolm Street. They resided in the house from 1919 for approximately 20 years. The house was reconstructed on the university's Joondalup Campus with the assistance of the West Coast College of TAFE. The reconstructed house opened in 1997 and is Building 20 on the university's Joondalup Campus and currently plays host to the Peter Cowan Writer's Centre.