When we hear the story of the Tasmanian teenager who met the 33 year old State Minister for Education when she was only 15 and married him two years later, we feel this could be a partnership doomed to failure in the future. Yet this particular couple went on to have 12 children and became the most wellknown people in Australia.
Their names were Enid and Joseph Lyons. He went on to become Prime Minister and she became the first woman to be elected to the House of Representatives. They had a strong and loving partnership, devoted to each other and their children, one of whom died in infancy. What a role model Enid made for working mothers. As well as juggling the tasks of motherhood and prime ministerial wife she travelled constantly to meetings and speaking engagements.
With her large family divided between The Lodge in Canberra, school in Melbourne and the family home in Devonport, Tasmania, she had to manage a family spread across three states. When she entered parliament, she was the widowed mother of a family aged from 10 to 27 years. She spoke in parliament expressing traditional views on families and social welfare issues.
Having given birth to twelve children, she had a perfect platform to speak from a woman’s point of view. Referring to population policy for instance, she said her knowledge came not from reading with `her feet up on the mantelpiece’ but `from being knee deep in shawls and feeding bottles’. She has been an inspiration to countless working mothers in Australia and abroad.
Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers everywhere! May we all be inspired by the courage and dedication that Enid had.
Happy puzzling!
Recent Comments