Dame Annabelle Rankin was the first Queensland woman and only the third woman and second female senator to be elected to the Australian parliament.
First elected in 1947 Dame Annabelle was also the first woman to hold the office of Parliamentary Whip, the first executive woman Minister, and the first to head a diplomatic mission.
Dame Annabelle's Senate career continued until retirement in 1971 when she was appointed High Commissioner to New Zealand. The electoral division of Rankin in Queensland was named after her in 1984.
Source: Sylvia Marchant, 'A Profile of Dame Annabelle Jane Mary Rankin', Australian Spirit : An Anthology of Poetry and Prose (2001): 25-27
