Eva Mary Seery, née Dempsey (27 February 1874 – 22 May 1937) was an Australian political organiser and one of the first women to stand for the Australian Parliament with major party endorsement.

Born at Tangmangaroo near Yass

Yass, New South Wales

Yass is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Yass Valley Shire. The name appears to have been derived from an Aboriginal word, "Yarrh" , said to mean 'running water'....

 to farmer and goldminer Edwin Joseph Dempsey and Mary, née Kelly, Eva and her family moved to Temora

Temora, New South Wales

Temora is a town located in north east part of the Riverina area of New South Wales, south-west of the state capital, Sydney. At the 2006 census the population of Temora was 4,086.-History:...

 and then West Wyalong, where she and her sister Sophia Beatrice "Sophy" (1872–1946) became dressmakers and joined the Labour League

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...

 for the Grenfell electorate

Electoral district of Grenfell

Grenfell was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, created in 1880, partly replacing Lachlan, and named after and including Grenfell. It was abolished in 1904, with the downsizing of the Legislative Assembly after Federation.-Members for...

 in 1889, the only female members. On 26 November 1898 Sophy married miner John Seery at Wyalong, and on 23 May 1900 Eva married John's brother, East Maitland

Maitland, New South Wales

Maitland is a city in the Lower Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia and the seat of Maitland City Council, situated on the Hunter River approximately by road north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle...

 gaol warder Joseph Michael Seery.

Eva and Joseph moved to Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 in 1903 and Eva joined the Labour League at Waverley

Waverley, New South Wales

Waverley is an eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Waverley is located 7 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council....

 before helping to form the Surry Hills

Surry Hills, New South Wales

Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is located immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney...

 league in 1906. A founding member of the Labor Women's Central Organising Committee (LWCOC) (1904), she succeeded Edith Bethel as secretary in 1909 and served until 1922. A campaigner for increased pay for women, she became president of the Domestic Workers Union in 1913. A frequent delegate to Labor conferences from Waverley, she called for child endowment, equal pay and political and social rights for women at the rowdy pre-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...

 conferences.

Together with Kate Dwyer

Kate Dwyer

Catherine Winifred Dwyer was an Australian educator, suffragist, and labour activist.Kate was born Tambaroora, New South Wales and educated at Hill End Public School...

 and May Matthews, Seery contested Labor Party preselection for the Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

 in 1916 but was unsuccessful, ultimately being endorsed instead as the candidate for the safe conservative seat of Robertson

Division of Robertson

The Division of Robertson is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. The Division is located on the Central Coast, immediately north of the Hawkesbury River. It encompasses the towns of Woy Woy, Gosford and Terrigal....

; she and Henrietta Greville

Henrietta Greville

Henrietta Greville MBE, née Wyse was an Australian labour organiser and one of the first women to run for the Australian Parliament with major party endorsement....

 were the first women endorsed by a major party to contest the Australian Parliament. Seery strenuously opposed conscription

Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...

 and also opposed the socialist objective at the 1919 Labor conference. In 1921 she was one of the first 61 women appointed justices of the peace. The success and survival of the LWCOC is often attributed to Seery and Dwyer's skills.

Seery later supported Bob Heffron's Industrial Labor Party

Industrial Labor Party

The Industrial Labor Party or Heffron Labor Party was a political party active in New South Wales, Australia, between 1938 and 1939. It was a splinter group of the Australian Labor Party and was formed by Bob Heffron after he and Carlo Lazzarini attempted to depose the party leader Jack Lang...

. She died of diabetes in 1937 at Long Bay gaol

Long Bay Correctional Centre

Long Bay Correctional Complex is located in the suburb of Malabar in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Long Bay comprises six institutions, four maximum security and two minimum security.-History:...

, where her husband was superintendent. She was buried in Botany

Botany, New South Wales

Botany is a suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Botany is located 10 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the City of Botany Bay....

cemetery and was survived by her husband (who later remarried) and three daughters.