The Australian Women's Register

Summary

Mary Meillon won the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Murray after the death of her father, the sitting member, J.A. Lawson, who had held the seat from 1932 to his death in August 1973. As a Liberal candidate she was elected to the seat in 1973, 1976 and 1978 and held the seat of Murray until her death in 1980. She was the first woman in the Legislative Assembly in 20 years, and one of the first Liberal Party candidates to win a country electorate. She married first, Mr Meillon, and later Mr Keith Herber and had two daughters. Mary Meillon spent 17 years bringing up her daughters and then went to work as a secretary at Parliament House, Sydney.