Florence Isabel Bjelke-Petersen (née Gilmour; 11 August 1920 – 20 December 2017) was an Australian politician. She was a member of the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

from 1981 to 1993, and was the wife of the longest-serving

Premier of Queensland The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is appointed ...

, Sir

Joh Bjelke-Petersen Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (13 January 191123 April 2005) was an Australian politician and farmer who served as premier of Queensland between 1968 and 1987, for almost 20 years, as state leader of the National Party (earlier known as the C ...

. She was styled as Lady Bjelke-Petersen upon her husband's knighthood, and was also known informally as Lady Flo.

Early life

Florence Isabel Gilmour was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, as the eldest of two daughters of James Pollock Gilmour, an accountant and company secretary, and his wife Florence Mabel (née Low). She was raised at the Brisbane riverside suburb of

New Farm New Farm is an inner northern riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , New Farm had a population of 12,197 people. Geography The suburb is located 2 kilometres east of the Brisbane CBD on a large bend of the ...

. She started her schooling at the New Farm State School, and later attended the prestigious Brisbane Girls' Grammar School. She was employed as a private secretary to the Queensland Commissioner for Main Roads when she met Johannes Bjelke-Petersen, who was then a Country Party member of the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

. They were married on 31 May 1952 at the Fortitude Valley Presbyterian Church.

Career

Bjelke-Petersen was preoccupied with home duties until well after Joh Bjelke-Petersen became Premier in 1968. In the 1970s, however, she assumed an increasingly public role, as part of the Queensland National Party's increasing promotion of a Bjelke-Petersen "personality cult". Her simple, homespun sayings and her recipes and affection for pumpkin scones were often associated with her in the media. At the 1980 federal election, against the wishes of party president

Robert Sparkes Sir Robert Lyndley Sparkes (31 May 19296 August 2006) was President of the Queensland National Party from 1970 to 1990 and the mayor of the Shire of Wambo for over 30 years. Sparkes was born in Dalby, Queensland, the son of Sir Jim Sparkes. Mo ...

, Joh Bjelke-Petersen arranged for his wife to be placed in the number one position on the National Party's Queensland senate ticket, ensuring her election. Her term was due to commence on 1 July 1981, however, on 6 February 1981, Queensland Senator

Glen Sheil Glenister Fermoy Sheil (21 October 192929 September 2008) was an Australian politician, representing the National Party in the Senate for the state of Queensland from 1974 to 1981, and again from 1984–90. He was an amateur tennis player who ...

resigned, creating a

casual vacancy ''The Casual Vacancy'' is a novel written by British author J. K. Rowling, published worldwide by the Little, Brown Book Group on 27 September 2012. It was Rowling's first publication since the ''Harry Potter'' series, her first novel apart fr ...

. She was appointed on 12 March 1981 for the remainder of Sheil's term, and then continued into her own term. Bjelke-Petersen

crossed the floor In some parliamentary systems (e.g., in Canada and the United Kingdom), politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a political party different from the one they were initially elected under. I ...

18 times during her career, the 12th-most of any MP between 1950 and 2019 and the second-most by a woman after Kathy Sullivan.

Knighthood

When Joh Bjelke-Petersen was knighted in 1984, Flo Bjelke-Petersen became Lady Bjelke-Petersen, and was officially known as "Senator Lady Bjelke-Petersen". She was frequently referred to as "Lady Florence" or "Lady Flo".

Later career

She was re-elected at the

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

and 1987 elections (both

double dissolution A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks in the bicameral Parliament of Australia between the House of Representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). A double dissolutio ...

s), and her term expired on 30 June 1993, when she decided to retire.

Death

On 20 December 2017, Bjelke-Petersen died at the age of 97 after suffering a short illness. She died in

Kingaroy Kingaroy () is a rural town and suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. The town is situated on the Road Junction, junction of the D'Aguilar Highway, D'Aguilar and the Bunya Highway, Buny ...

at Orana Aged Care where she had resided since August 2014.

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party an ...

and

Queensland Premier The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is appointed ...

Annastacia Palaszczuk Annastacia Palaszczuk ( , born 25 July 1969) is an Australian politician who served as the 39th premier of Queensland from 2015 to 2023. She held office as the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2012 unt ...

offered to hold a state funeral which was accepted by their son John Bjelke-Petersen. It was held in the

Kingaroy Town Hall Kingaroy Shire Council Chambers is a heritage-listed former town hall and now visitor information centre and art gallery at Haly Street, Kingaroy, South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Gerard William Barlow and built ...

Cookbook publication

She published a

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (food), course (appetize ...

which included her

recipe A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish (food), dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main r ...

for her trademark pumpkin scones.Lady Flo's simple pumpkin scones

References

External links

*[http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/lady-flo-bjelkepetersen-is-still-going-strong-at-93-and-is-a-big-supporter-of-campbell-newman/story-fnihsrf2-1226788151863 "Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen is still going strong at 93 and is a big supporter of Campbell Newman"] at ''Brisbane Courier-Mail''
Sir Joh and Lady Florence Bjelke-Petersen collection

State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

Bjelke-Petersen and Low family papers

Growing Up in the Bjelke-Petersen Family digital story and oral history

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bjelkepetersen, Florence 1920 births 2017 deaths People from Kingaroy People from Brisbane Members of the Australian Senate for Queensland Women members of the Australian Senate National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Spouses of Australian politicians Australian monarchists Delegates to the Australian Constitutional Convention 1998 20th-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian women politicians Bjelke-Petersen family