Annie Cardell-Oliver

Dame Annie Boydan Cardell-Oliver, DBE (11 May 1876, Stawell, Victoria, Australia – 12 January 1965, Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia) was a Western Australian politician and political activist.

Background/Family

Born Annie Florence Gillies Wilson to Johnston and Annie (née Thompson) Wilson, she married David Sykes Boydan and they travelled to England. Her husband died on 5 September 1902. Later she married Arthur Cardell-Oliver and they had two sons.

The family migrated to Western Australia and Arthur Cardell-Oliver registered as a doctor in 1912. During the First World War Florence spoke at recruitment meetings for the armed services. Her husband, an honorary captain in the Army Medical Corps Reserve, joined the Australian Imperial Force, and served in England before requesting his appointment be terminated. He then set up a medical practice in South Melbourne and retired in 1924 due to ill health. The family travelled to England where he died on 15 September 1929.

Annie Cardell-Oliver stood against John Curtin in 1934. In 1936 she became the Nationalist member for Subiaco in the Assembly and in 1948 the first Australian woman to attain full cabinet rank. She was a women's activist in Western Australia between 1936 and 1956 and a party organizer from 1936 to 1956.

External links

* [http://john.curtin.edu.au/events/speeches/whitlamintro.html]
* [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/explore/A130406e.htm]