Ivy Lavinia Weber (7 June 1892 – 6 March 1976) was an Australian politician. Born at

Captains Flat Captains Flat is a town in the Southern Tablelands of rural New South Wales, Australia, in Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council. It is south of Queanbeyan. Captains Flat township is bounded by the non-urban parts of the locality of Captains Flat ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

to schoolteacher John Filshie and his wife Elizabeth Seaman, she was educated at the local schools, eventually becoming a physical culturist and organiser. On 11 December 1915 in Sydney she married Thomas Mitchell, a

stock and station agent Stock and station agencies are businesses which provide a support service to the agricultural community. Their staff who deal with clients are known as stock and station agents.In his book Simon Ville states: "The term stock and station agent is v ...

, with whom she had one son. They moved to Melbourne, but Thomas was killed in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in 1917. She married her second husband, fellow physical culturist

Clarence Weber Clarence Alfred Weber (27 March 1882 – 20 November 1930) was an Australian athlete, wrestler and physical culturalist. Career Weber opened a health and strength college in Flinders Street, Melbourne with partner John Rice. He took up wrestli ...

, on 7 March 1919; they had one son and two daughters. Following her husband's death in 1930, she experimented with several occupations, including as a lecturer on health and diet and a Country Party organiser. In 1937, she was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

for

Nunawading Nunawading () is an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 18 km (11 miles) east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Whitehorse and City of Manningham local government areas. Nunawading recorded ...

, as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

. She generally supported Country Party Premier

Albert Dunstan Sir Albert Arthur Dunstan, KCMG (26 July 1882 – 14 April 1950) was an Australian politician who served as the 33rd premier of Victoria from 1935 to 1943 and from 1943 to 1945 and as the third deputy premier of Victoria for five days in ...

in the Assembly. She resigned from the Assembly in 1943 to contest the federal seat of Henty in the election of that year; she came fifth in a field of six candidates with 3.9% of the vote, and the seat was won by another independent,

Arthur Coles Sir Arthur William "A.W." Coles (7 August 1892 – 14 June 1982) was a prominent Australian businessman and philanthropist, a son of St James, Victoria shopkeeper George W. Coles (died 1932). With his brothers George Coles (entrepreneur) ...

. Weber contested Box Hill unsuccessfully in 1945 and held various positions subsequently; in 1943 she had been president of the Victorian section of Women for Canberra. From 1950 to 1952 she was organising secretary for the women's section of the Victorian Country Party. After an unsuccessful stint as a

guest house A guest house (or guesthouse, also rest house) is a kind of lodging. In some parts of the world (such as the Caribbean), a guest house is a type of inexpensive hotel-like lodging. In others, it is a private home that has been converted for the e ...

operator, she organised for Blind Babies Homes in 1955 and then became organising secretary of the Australian Women's Movement against Socialism. She died in 1976 at

Camberwell Camberwell ( ) is an List of areas of London, area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles' Church, Camberwell, St Giles ...

, and was cremated at Springvale Crematorium. She was the first woman elected at a general election in Victoria (

Millie Peacock Millie Gertrude Peacock, Lady Peacock (née Holden; 3 August 1870 – 7 February 1948), was the first woman elected to the Parliament of Victoria. She was the wife of Sir Alexander Peacock, a three-time Premier of Victoria. Upon his death in 1 ...

had previously won the seat of Allandale at a by-election), and the first woman in Australia to win a seat as an independent.

Awards

Weber was inducted into the

Victorian Honour Roll of Women The Victorian Honour Roll of Women was established in 2001 to recognise the achievements of women from the Australian state of Victoria. It was launched by The Hon. Joan Kirner AC as a joint initiative of the Centenary of Federation Victoria Comm ...

in 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weber, Ivy 1892 births 1976 deaths Independent members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly 20th-century Australian politicians Women members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly People associated with physical culture 20th-century Australian women politicians