The Australian Women's Register

Sheila McHale was born in Yorkshire in 1953, and first came to Australia in 1978, eventually settling in Western Australia. McHale has a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Sociology, and a Graduate Diploma in Social Science. She held research posts in the United Kingdom with Nottinghamshire Social Services and the Equal Opportunity Commission, and in Australia for the State School Teacher’s Union. McHale joined the Labor Party in 1984, and served as Vice President and Treasurer for the Labor Women. She was elected to the Thirty–fifth Parliament of Western Australia for Thornlie on 14 December 1996 in succession to Hon. Yvonne Daphne Henderson (retired). McHale was re-elected 2001, and after the electorate was abolished in a redistribution in 2003, was elected to the Thirty-seventh Parliament for Kenwick (new seat) on 26 February 2005. Again the electorate was abolished in a redistribution in 2007, and McHale did not contest the general election of 6 September 2008.