Australian social reformer and politician (1861–1932)
This article is about the Australian social activist. For other uses, see Edith Cowan (disambiguation).
Edith Cowan
OBE
Cowan in c. 1900
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia for West Perth
In office 12 March 1921 – 22 March 1924
Preceded by
Thomas Draper
Succeeded by
Thomas Davy
Personal details
Born
Edith Dircksey Brown
2 August 1861 (1861-08-02) Glengarry station, near Geraldton, Western Australia
Died
9 June 1932 (1932-06-10) (aged 70) Subiaco, Western Australia
Resting place
Karrakatta Cemetery
Political party
Nationalist
Spouse
James Cowan
(m. 1879)
Edith Dircksey CowanOBE (néeBrown; 2 August 1861 – 9 June 1932) was an Australian social reformer who worked for the rights and welfare of women and children. She is best known as the first Australian woman to serve as a member of parliament. Cowan has been featured on the reverse of Australia's fifty-dollar note since 1995.
Cowan was born at Glengarry station near Geraldton, Western Australia. She was the granddaughter of two of the colony's early settlers, Thomas Brown and John Wittenoom. Cowan's mother died when she was seven, and she was subsequently sent to boarding school in Perth. At the age of 15, her father, Kenneth Brown, was hanged for the murder of her stepmother, making her an orphan. She subsequently lived with her grandmother in Guildford, Western Australia until her marriage at the age of 18. She and her husband would have five children together, splitting their time between homes in West Perth and Cottesloe.
In 1894, Cowan was one of the founders of the Karrakatta Club, the first women's social club in Australia. She became prominent in the women's suffrage movement, which saw women in Western Australia granted the right to vote in 1899. Cowan was also a leading advocate for public education and the rights of children (particularly those born to single mothers). She was one of the first women to serve on a local board of education, and in 1906 helped to found the Children's Protection Society, whose lobbying resulted in the creation of the Children's Court the following year. Cowan was a co-founder of the Women's Service Guild in 1909, and in 1911 helped establish a state branch of the National Council of Women.
Cowan was a key figure in the creation of the King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, and became a member of its advisory board when it opened in 1916. She was made a justice of the Children's Court in 1915[1][2] and a justice of the peace in 1920. In 1921, Cowan was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia as a member of the Nationalist Party, becoming Australia's first female parliamentarian. She was defeated after just a single term, but maintained a high profile during her tenure and managed to secure the passage of several of her private member's bills.
^"News and notes". The West Australian. Perth, WA. 10 June 1915. p. 6. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
^"Mainly About People". Daily News. Perth, WA. 31 July 1915. p. 5. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
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