Enid Lyons
Encyclopedia
Dame Enid Muriel Lyons, AD
, GBE
(9 July 1897 – 2 September 1981) was an Australian politician and the first woman to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives
as well as the first woman appointed to the federal Cabinet
. Prior to these achievements, she was best known as the wife of the Premier of Tasmania and later Prime Minister of Australia
, Joseph Lyons
.
Lyons was born Enid Muriel Burnell in Smithton, Tasmania
, and educated at the Teacher's Training College, Hobart
and later became a school teacher. In 1913, when she was 15, she met Joseph Lyons, then a young Labor
politician, and married him in 1915. They had twelve children, one of whom died in infancy.
In 1929 Joseph, who had been Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928, entered federal politics as member for the Division of Wilmot
. In 1931 he left the Labor Party and became leader of the United Australia Party
(UAP) and at the beginning of 1932 became Prime Minister. Enid and her children moved into The Lodge in Canberra
, and she became an extremely popular political spouse.
She was made a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
(GBE) in the Coronation Honours of 1936. Joseph died in 1939, aged 59, the first Australian Prime Minister to die in office, and Dame Enid returned to Tasmania. She bitterly resented Joseph Lyons's successor as leader of the UAP, Robert Menzies
, who had, she believed, betrayed her husband by resigning from the Cabinet, shortly before Joseph's death.
At the 1943 election
Dame Enid Lyons narrowly won the Division of Darwin
in north-western Tasmania for the UAP, becoming the first woman in the House of Representatives. Her Labor opponent, who received more primary votes than she did, was the future Tasmanian Premier Eric Reece
. At the same election, Dorothy Tangney
(later Dame Dorothy) was elected as a Labor Senator for Western Australia
, the nation's first woman Senator. In 1945 the UAP became the Liberal Party of Australia
.
As a Roman Catholic from Australia's most provincial state, Enid Lyons had always had a conservative streak, despite her husband's Labor roots. By the time she was elected to Parliament in her own right, there was very little left of her Labor ties. Her speeches in Parliament generally espoused traditional views on the family and other social issues.
In 1949 the Liberals came to power under Menzies' leadership. The frosty personal relations between Menzies and Dame Enid thawed very slightly when Menzies gave her the role of Vice-President of the Executive Council
. This was a largely honorary post which gave her a seat in Cabinet but no departmental duties. Nevertheless her health declined under the strain of regular travel between Canberra and Tasmania, and she left parliament at the 1951 election.
In retirement, Dame Enid's health recovered. She was a newspaper columnist (1951–54), a commissioner of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
(1951–62), and remained active in public life promoting family and women's issues. She published two volumes of memoirs, which embarrassed the Liberal Party by reviving her complaints about Menzies' 1939 behaviour towards her husband.
She was nevertheless made a Dame of the Order of Australia (AD) on Australia Day 1980, the second of only two women to receive this honour. The following year she died, and was accorded a state funeral in Devonport
, before being buried next to her husband at the Mersey Vale Lawn Cemetery.
An informal political faction of the Liberal/National opposition parties called the Lyons Forum
was formed in 1992. The group's name alluded to Lyons' maiden speech to the House of Representatives. The faction was considered to be defunct in 2004.
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
, GBE
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...
(9 July 1897 – 2 September 1981) was an Australian politician and the first woman to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
as well as the first woman appointed to the federal Cabinet
Cabinet of Australia
The Cabinet of Australia is the council of senior ministers of the Crown, responsible to parliament. The Cabinet is appointed by the Governor-General, on the advice of the Prime Minister the Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, and serves at the former's pleasure. The strictly private...
. Prior to these achievements, she was best known as the wife of the Premier of Tasmania and later Prime Minister of Australia
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
, Joseph Lyons
Joseph Lyons
Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...
.
Lyons was born Enid Muriel Burnell in Smithton, Tasmania
Smithton, Tasmania
Smithton is a town in the far north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. It lies on the Bass Highway, 85 km north-west of Burnie. At the 2006 census, Smithton had a population of 3,361. Smithton is the administrative centre of the Circular Head Council...
, and educated at the Teacher's Training College, Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
and later became a school teacher. In 1913, when she was 15, she met Joseph Lyons, then a young Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
politician, and married him in 1915. They had twelve children, one of whom died in infancy.
In 1929 Joseph, who had been Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928, entered federal politics as member for the Division of Wilmot
Division of Wilmot
The Division of Wilmot was an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Tasmania. It was located in central Tasmania, and was named after Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, the sixth Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania...
. In 1931 he left the Labor Party and became leader of the United Australia Party
United Australia Party
The United Australia Party was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia and predecessor to the Liberal Party of Australia...
(UAP) and at the beginning of 1932 became Prime Minister. Enid and her children moved into The Lodge in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, and she became an extremely popular political spouse.
She was made a Dame Grand Cross 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...
(GBE) in the Coronation Honours of 1936. Joseph died in 1939, aged 59, the first Australian Prime Minister to die in office, and Dame Enid returned to Tasmania. She bitterly resented Joseph Lyons's successor as leader of the UAP, Robert Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
, who had, she believed, betrayed her husband by resigning from the Cabinet, shortly before Joseph's death.
Australian federal election, 1943
Federal elections were held in Australia on 21 August 1943. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister of Australia John Curtin easily defeated the opposition Country Party led...
Dame Enid Lyons narrowly won the Division of Darwin
Division of Darwin
The Division of Darwin was an Australian Electoral Division in Tasmania. The division was created in 1903 and abolished in 1955, when it was replaced by the Division of Braddon. It was named after Charles Darwin, who visited Australia in 1836. It was located in north-western Tasmania, including the...
in north-western Tasmania for the UAP, becoming the first woman in the House of Representatives. Her Labor opponent, who received more primary votes than she did, was the future Tasmanian Premier Eric Reece
Eric Reece
Eric Elliott Reece, AC was Premier of Tasmania on two occasions: from 26 August 1958 to 26 May 1969, and from 3 May 1972 to 31 March 1975.-Biography:...
. At the same election, Dorothy Tangney
Dorothy Tangney
Dame Dorothy Margaret Tangney DBE was an Australian politician and the first woman member of the Australian Senate.Dorothy Tangney started her career as a school teacher in Western Australia...
(later Dame Dorothy) was elected as a Labor Senator for 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...
, the nation's first woman Senator. In 1945 the UAP became the Liberal Party of Australia
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
.
As a Roman Catholic from Australia's most provincial state, Enid Lyons had always had a conservative streak, despite her husband's Labor roots. By the time she was elected to Parliament in her own right, there was very little left of her Labor ties. Her speeches in Parliament generally espoused traditional views on the family and other social issues.
In 1949 the Liberals came to power under Menzies' leadership. The frosty personal relations between Menzies and Dame Enid thawed very slightly when Menzies gave her the role of Vice-President of the Executive Council
Vice-President of the Executive Council
The Vice-President of the Federal Executive Council is a position in Australian federal governments, whose holder acts as presiding officer of the Federal Executive Council in the absence of the Governor-General....
. This was a largely honorary post which gave her a seat in Cabinet but no departmental duties. Nevertheless her health declined under the strain of regular travel between Canberra and Tasmania, and she left parliament at the 1951 election.
In retirement, Dame Enid's health recovered. She was a newspaper columnist (1951–54), a commissioner of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
(1951–62), and remained active in public life promoting family and women's issues. She published two volumes of memoirs, which embarrassed the Liberal Party by reviving her complaints about Menzies' 1939 behaviour towards her husband.
She was nevertheless made a Dame of the Order of Australia (AD) on Australia Day 1980, the second of only two women to receive this honour. The following year she died, and was accorded a state funeral in Devonport
Devonport, Tasmania
-Sport:The Devonport Football Club is an Australian Rules team competing in the Tasmanian Statewide League. The Devonport Rugby Club is a Rugby Union team competing in the Tasmanian Rugby Union Statewide League...
, before being buried next to her husband at the Mersey Vale Lawn Cemetery.
An informal political faction of the Liberal/National opposition parties called the Lyons Forum
Lyons Forum
The Lyons Forum was a ginger group or informal political faction comprising some federal members of conservative Australian parliamentary parties. It was formed in the early 1990s and was active both in Liberal Party of Australia parliamentary leadership conflict and on family policy issues. The...
was formed in 1992. The group's name alluded to Lyons' maiden speech to the House of Representatives. The faction was considered to be defunct in 2004.
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desmond | 1916 | 2000 | |
| Sheila | 1918 | ||
| Enid | 1919 | ||
| Kathleen | 1920 | ||
| Moira | 1922 | ||
| Kevin Kevin Lyons Kevin Orchard Lyons was an Australian politician and member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly representing the seat of Darwin... |
1923 | 2000 | |
| Garnet | 1924 | ||
| Brendan Brendan Lyons Brendan Aloysius Lyons was an Australian politician. He was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly at the 1982 election representing the Division of Bass for the Liberal Party... |
1926 | 2010 | |
| Barry | 1927 | ||
| Rosemary | 1929 | ||
| Peter | 1931 | ||
| Janice | 1933 |
Further reading
- Enid Lyons, So We Take Comfort (1965)
- Enid Lyons, Among the Carrion Crows (1977)
- Anne Henderson, Dame Enid Lyons: Leading Lady to a Nation (2008)
- Kate White, Political Love Story: Joe and Enid Lyons (1987)
External links
- Listen to a recorded version of Enid Lyon's maiden speech in Parliament and read more about it on australianscreen online. This recording was added to the National Film and Sound ArchiveNational Film and Sound ArchiveThe National Film and Sound Archive is Australia’s audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of audiovisual materials and related items...
's Sounds of Australia registry in 2011.