Cirrus@Austlit

Dame Enid Lyons was born in Tasmania and undertook her teacher training in Hobart. She married Joseph Lyons who was Premier of Tasmania and later Prime Minister of Australia.

Both Enid, by then the mother of seven children, and her mother stood for the ALP in the 1925 State election. She was unsuccessful on that occasion, but later (after her husband's death) she stood for a federal seat and became the first woman elected to the Australian Parliament.

In 1937, Enid accompanied Joe to England for the coronation of George VI and was made a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire.

She also became the first woman to hold a Cabinet portfolio. Lyons represented her constituency from August 1943 to March 1951. Her policy interests included encouraging women's participation in politics, improving maternity care, family welfare, and addressing employment discrimination. Her achievements in office included the extension of child endowment in 1950, increases to the allowances paid to returned servicewomen, and ensuring that women who married foreigners retained their nationality and citizenship.

Enid continued to be active in public life working as a newspaper columnist, chairing the Jubilee Women's Convention (1951) and as a Member of the Australian Broadcasting Commission (1951-62). She was a longstanding member of the Victoria League (1913-81), Liberal Party (1944-1981), the Housewives Association and the Country Women's League.