The Australian Women's Register

Judyth Watson was born in 1940 at Burton-on-Trent in England to Cecil Watson, a railway worker, and his wife Hylda. The family moved to Western Australia 1949, and Judyth attended Perth Modern School on a scholarship, trained as a nurse, then completed a Bachelor of Science with first class Honours in 1977. She won the faculty prize and a Commonwealth postgraduate award, and completed a doctoral thesis on worker’s compensation in 1982. Watson joined the Australian Labor Party in 1976, and her experience and research expertise ensured that she could make a valuable contribution to national occupational health and safety policy. Watson was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia in 1986, and served as member for Canning until 1989. She was then elected member for Kenwick, which she held until December 1996.