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Speaker 11, February 1986 to 5 June 1987; 14 September 1987 to 28 August 1989
Australian Labor Party
In 1986, Joan Child (1921 – 2013) became the first woman elected to the office of Speaker. It was not the first time that she had made history, having in 1974 become the first woman elected to the House of Representatives for the Labor Party. With a quiet but determined manner, Child sought to foster a harmonious Chamber, though this was seldom a reality.1
Child was born Gloria Joan Liles Olle in Victoria in 1921. She spent her childhood in Yackandandah, Beechworth, and St Kilda, where she received a scholarship to Camberwell Girls’ Grammar. Here, Child recalled feeling out of place, conscious of the class difference between herself and her peers.
She married Harold (Hal) Child in 1942 and began volunteering for the Labor Party when the couple moved to Launceston. After they returned to Melbourne in the early 1960s, Hal died, leaving her with five sons and £57 in savings. Forced to leave her career in advertising to care for the children, the family could not survive on the meagre widow’s pension. For extra income, she worked a variety of jobs, including cleaning houses and working in a factory.
In 1964, Child joined the Labor Party, securing preselection for the seat of Henty in 1972. Henty was an enduring Liberal seat, and she lost the 1972 election, albeit with a swing to Labor. However, she secured the seat at the 1974 election, becoming Henty’s first Labor member as well as the first female Labor member in the House. She lost her seat after the dismissal of Gough Whitlam in 1975 but was re-elected in 1980. From 1984, Child served as Chairman of Committees.
Child was elected Speaker in 1986, the first woman to hold the office. Her election was seen as a reflection of her ‘integrity, ability and character’ as well as a ‘recognition of the skills, abilities and aspirations of Australian women’.2 While some protested that she was among the least experienced members to become Speaker, she presided with a calm and controlled manner. She strove for an amiable parliament but reflected that the Speaker’s chair could be ‘the loneliest seat in the House’.3 She disliked unruly conduct but was not always successful in maintaining order. She described Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Treasurer Paul Keating as ‘a difficult pair to handle’.4
The first Speaker to preside in the new Parliament House, Child contributed to the building’s final design decisions. However, she found the new building inhospitable and the Chamber conducive to disorder. From this time, her relationship with the Opposition deteriorated, and she faced a censure motion from Opposition Leader John Howard in 1989.
From 1988, Child suffered from chronic ill-health. She resigned as Speaker in 1989, continuing as a member until the 1990 election, when her seat was abolished. She was appointed an AO in 1990 and received the Centenary Medal in 2001. She died on 23 February 2013.
Charles William Bush
Melbourne-born Charles Bush (1919-1989) enrolled at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School at age 14. There he met fellow student Phyllis Waterhouse with whom he rented a studio and later married. In 1941, he was deployed for fulltime duty with the Militia, serving in the artillery survey unit in World War II. By 1943, he was appointed an official war artist, capturing scenes in Papua, New Guinea, and Timor. In 1949, he was awarded a British Council grant enabling him to travel to London where he studied with Bernard Meninsky. Bush exhibited at the Royal Academy and toured Europe before returning to Melbourne in 1953, where he became Drawing Master at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School. Bush also accepted commissions as a freelance art critic and advisor and in 1962 founded the Leveson Street Gallery, one of the first artist-run galleries in Melbourne, with his wife, and their friend June Davies. Bush was a prolific artist and master watercolourist. His love for seascapes and the Australian bush won him many awards, most notably the Crouch Prize on three occasions and two Wynne Prizes. His work is held in many regional, state and national collections.5
Gloria Joan Liles Child
by Charles William Bush
1988
Oil on canvas
75 x 100.5 cm
Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection
References
1. Information in this biography has been taken from the following: S Marchant, ‘Child, Gloria Joan (1921–2013)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first online 2021; S Marsden, ‘Joan Child interviewed by Susan Marsden in the Old Parliament House political and parliamentary oral history project’, Digital Collection, National Library of Australia. See also ‘Gloria Joan Liles Child’ in Historic Memorials Collection Portraits: Speakers of the House of Representatives, Parliamentary Library, Parliament of Australia, Canberra, 2021. Websites accessed 30 August 2021.
2. B Hawke, ‘Election of Speaker’, House of Representatives, Debates, 11 February 1986, p. 230.
3. J Child with G Johnstone, Joan: Child of Labor, Victoria, 2015, p. 232.
4. Ibid., p. 226.
5. Information in this biography has been taken from the following: D Keys, ‘Bush, Charles William (1919–1989)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 2007; ‘Charles William Bush’, Australian War Memorial. Websites accessed 15 April 2021.