The Australian Women's Register

Heather Meers was born and bred in Waverley and taught at Dover Heights High School before her marriage to John Meers, with whom she has two children. She later worked as a primary school teacher/librarian and was active in local community groups. At the time of her campaigns, she was the Secretary of the management committee of a local neighbourhood centre, where she conducted a conversation group for migrants. In 1984 and 1988 she stood as an Australian Democrats candidate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Waverley. Her election leaflet committed her to fight for cleaner beaches, reduction of public housing waiting lists, improved psychiatric care for the mentally ill and more community and youth centres.

Jenny Gordon was active in the Australian Democrats for a decade. She represented them in the following elections:
House of Representatives seat of Sydney, 1983
New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Elizabeth, 1984
New South Wales Senate, 1984, 1987, 1990.

Jenny McLeod had lived in the electorate of Elizabeth for more than a decade, when she ran for election. She had been a secondary school teacher before becoming the mother of five children, and her stated interests largely revolved around education and child welfare. She also espoused the causes of Aboriginal Land Rights and improved public transport.

Jean Manuel was a dedicated local activist in southern Sydney, with a wide range of voluntary and community interests. She was a Councillor on the Sutherland Shire council from 1965-80, including stints as the Deputy Shire President from 1968-71 and 1977-78 and Shire President from 1978-79. Jean was less successful in state politics, having been an unsuccessful Independent candidate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Woronora in 1973 and for Sutherland in 1988.

Cheryl Lawrence-Rowe was a once only candidate (ALP) in an unwinnable seat (New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Lane Cove, 1995). She was born in Bowral but grew up on the North Shore of Sydney. She was educated at St Kevin’s Eastwood Primary School, Brigidine College, St Ives and Monte Sant’Angelo College North Sydney. Cheryl Lawrence-Rowe graduated from the University of Sydney with a BA. From 1986 she taught Modern History at Monte Sant’ Angelo, where she was the Secretary of the Independent Teachers Association branch.

Anne Leembruggen was a once only parliamentary candidate, but a successful local government councillor. She was Alderman at the Ashfield Municipal Council from 1987-1991 and an Independent candidate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Ashfield in 1988.

Tanya Leishman is a committed environmentalist who represented the Australian Greens in the 2003 New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Heathcote. She has more than 10 years experience in conservation and community education, working for National Parks, Streamwatch and the Taronga Zoological Park. She has also been the Bush Fire Project Officer at the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, and is a volunteer member of the Woronora Bush Fire Brigade. In 2003 Tanya Leishman was studying to be a primary school teacher. She lives with her partner and child in Woronora.

Jo-Anne Lentern ran for election twice, to represent the Greens. That was in the 1998 House of Representatives elections for Hughes and in the 1999 New South Wales Legislative Assembly Heathcote election. At the time of her campaign for Heathcote, Jo-Anne Lentern had been living in the Sutherland Shire for seven years. She was active in community affairs and has two children.

An ALP candidate whose other life as a historian and teacher was distinguished. Judith Mackinolty was a candidate for the Hills Shire Council elections in c.1962 and in the 1973 New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for the Hills.

Virginia Judge was a successful local and state ALP politician and was the first woman to be elected for the seat of Strathfield in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 2003. She was re-elected in 2007, but was defeated at the 2011 election.

She was a Councillor with the Strathfield Municipal Council from 1995-2004 and Mayor from 2001-03.

Julie Kanaghines was an ALP activist in the 90s, but was untraced in 2005. She ran in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for The Hills in 1991 and in the 1993 House of Representatives elections for Mitchell. Julie Kanaghines studied at Teachers’ College (grad 1966) and Arts part-time at Macquarie University, Sydney in 1990s.
She joined the ALP 1976, becoming Branch secretary and delegate to Mitchell Federal Electorate Council. She was also involved in Greenpeace.

She is married to Peter, and they have three children.

Active in student, religious and union affairs since 1990, Kristina Keneally was the first American born member of the N.S.W. Parliament. In 2003 she was an ALP candidate elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Heffron.

After being re-elected in 2007, she became the Minister for Ageing and Disability Services and was subsequently appointed Minister for Planning by incoming Premier Nathan Rees in September 2008. She held the position of the NSW Government’s Spokesperson for World Youth Day 2008.

On 3 December 2009 the Australian Labor Party caucus elected Keneally to replace Nathan Rees as leader of the parliamentary party. She was sworn in as Premier on 4 December, 2010. She led the Labor Government to defeat at the 2011 election and was replaced as Leader of the ALP by John Robertson in March 2011. She resigned from the Parliament on 29 June 2012.

Meira Kurfurst was a once only parliamentary candidate, with local interests at heart. She was a Councillor with the Marrickville Municipal Council from 1984-87 and an Independent candidate in the 1995 New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Marrickville. At the time of her campaign, Meira Kurfurst had been a resident of Newtown for 16 years and was well known as a founding member of Concerned Citizens of Newtown and a member of the Cooks River Festival Committee from 1985-89. Her campaign leaflets stressed the urgent need to reduce aircraft noise in the area. She moved to Queensland in the 1990s where she is listed in the Multicultural Resource Directory as a teacher of Hebrew and as President of the Israelis & Friends Association. Meira has a Dip.Ed.

Katrina Ann Hodgkinson was a National Candidate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly by-election for Southern Highlands in 1996. In 1999 and then again in 2003 she was successfully elected to the Burrinjuck seat in the NSW Legislative Assembly. She was re-elected in 2007 and 2011. An electoral redistribution before the 2015 election, meant that she stood for and won the new seat of Cootamundra.

Jocelyn Howden is a dedicated Greens party member who stood for them in the following elections:
New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Hawkesbury, 1999
New South Wales Legislative Assembly, The Hills 2003
House of Representatives, Greenway, 1998

Shelley Hancock was a Liberal Party candidate who was elected to parliament at her first attempt in 2003. She became the Member for South Coast in the South Wales Legislative Assembly. She was re-elected in 2007, 2011 and 2015. In 2016 she was the Speaker in the Legislative Assembly, the first female to assume this position.

Prior to this she was a successful local councillor, having been Alderman at the Shoalhaven Council from 1987-2001 and Deputy Mayor 2000-01.

Mairi Petersen is widely known and respected in the labor movement, particularly in Illawarra. She stood as an ALP candidate in the following elections:
New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Bligh in 1976.
House of Representatives for Wentworth in 1975.
City of Shellharbour Council in 1995.

Janice Knight ran for election only once. That was in 1991 as an ALP candidate for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Northern Tablelands.

An active member of the Australian Democrats, Rachael Jacobs was a candidate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Epping in 1999 and for the Australian Capital Territory Senate in 2004.

Doris Jobling was a radical union organiser, who spent many decades on the front line of political campaigns, particularly in the area of education. She was a Communist Party of Australia candidate in the 1971 King elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.

Anne Catherine Graham was an Australian Democrats candidate at the following elections:
New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Castlereagh in 1984.
House of Representatives for Gwydir in 1996.

Sue Galley is a once only candidate for election: an Australians Against Further Immigration candidate in the 2003 elections to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Albury.

Di Gibson ran only once for election to the parliament of New South Wales: in 2003 as an Independent for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Wallsend.

Margaret Dombkins is a community activist and an outstanding scholar. She ran for election as a Liberal Party candidate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Kogarah in 1995 and then as an Independent in the Kogarah Municipal Council elections of 1999.

Catherine Winifred (Kate) Dwyer was one of the most prominent women in New South Wales in the early twentieth century. An avid Labor activist, Dwyer stood for election for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Balmain in 1925.

Julia Featherstone is a multitalented woman, whose two election campaigns were part of a life filled with activity and creativity. She was an Australia Party candidate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Bligh in 1973 and to the House of Representatives for Wentworth in 1974.

Patricia Forsythe was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1991 until 2006. A member of the Liberal Party, she first ran for parliament in 1984 in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Newcastle. She didn’t run again until 1991 and was elected to the Legislative Council of New South Wales. She was re-elected in 1999. She resigned from parliament on 22 September 2006 to take up the position of Executive Director of the New South Wales Business Chamber.

Bronwyn Brown is a committed environmentalist who ran for the Australian Greens in the 1999 elections to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Willoughby.