Beryce Ann Nelson, ''née'' Noble (born 10 January 1947) was an Australian politician. She 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 ...

to Arthur Lloyd Noble and Thelma Ann, ''née'' Kelso. She attended state schools at

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

and Brisbane and studied

radiography Radiography is an imaging technology, imaging technique using X-rays, gamma rays, or similar ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation to view the internal form of an object. Applications of radiography include medical ("diagnostic" radiog ...

from 1965 to 1967, earning a diploma and winning the Kodak Student Prize for research. On 24 August 1968 she married John Arthur Nelson, with whom she had three children. From 1967 to 1971 she worked as a radiographer, and in 1979 she commenced a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in government and history at the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

. Beryce was one of the founders of the Down Syndrome Association of Queensland and during her time as president from 1978 to 1980 also worked as their public relations officer until her election to the

Queensland Legislative Assembly 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 h ...

in 1980 as the Liberal member for Aspley. In 1983 she was the first woman appointed to the role of Government Deputy Whip in Australia but lost her seat in October of that year following the collapse of the Coalition Government. In 1984 she resigned from the Liberal Party and established her own PR company. In 1985 she joined the

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

, easily winning her seat back in 1986. Between 1986 and 1989 she held a number of junior cabinet positions including the Chair of the Brisbane River Management Committee and in September 1989 was promoted to the front bench as Minister for Family Services, the third woman appointed a minister in Queensland. She lost her seat some months later at the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

which saw the Nationals lose office. In the 1990s she returned to the world of public relations working as a senior consultant, then State Manager, for the Rowland Company in Queensland and in 1994 started her own business Jigsaw Public Relations, which ran successfully for ten years until she sold it in 2003. During that decade she also served on a number of state and national boards including Energex Ltd, Musica Viva and the Abused Child Trust - now Act for Kids. In 2001 she also returned to academic life part-time and in 2005 completed a Masters in Management at the University of Southern Queensland, then worked as a lecturer at the Brisbane campus of

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cair ...

until retiring in 2010. Following her retirement, Beryce made a life changing move to the country town of Toogoolawah in Queensland where she became part of a group involved in the establishment of a recently completed cultural heritage project and in 2013 she married Canadian/Australian artist Merton Chambers.

References

1947 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Queensland National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Queensland Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly University of Queensland alumni Politicians from Brisbane Women members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly {{Australia-National-politician-stub