Elizabeth Ahern (19 October 1877 – 7 April 1969) was an Australian political activist,

trade unionist A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

and

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

Early life and education

Ahern was born in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

, Victoria, Australia on 19 October 1877. Her father, Edmund Ahern, was a gold miner, and her mother was Eliza, née Kiely; both were from Ireland. Ahern left school when she was 14 years old, and worked as a pupil-teacher and then moved to Melbourne, where she worked in

domestic service A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly ...

as a

cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (profession), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * C ...

Career

Ahern joined the Abbotsford branch of the Political Labor Council in 1904, and the Social Questions Committee, later renamed the

Victorian Socialist Party The Victorian Socialist Party (VSP), also known as the Socialist Party of Victoria, was a socialist political party in the Australian state of Victoria during the early 20th century. Most VSP members were also members of the Australian Labor ...

, the following year. The Victorian Socialist Party was primarily interested in education and free speech and ran weekly meetings in the Bijou Theatre that often attracted crowds of more than 1,000 people. It also held meetings at Yarra Bank, which could attract tens of thousands. Ahern was one of the Party's most popular and effective speakers and spoke at their meetings on street corners as well as in rural areas. In November 1906 she was arrested and jailed for ten days; she had been campaigning for the Free Speech Campaign, which defended the right to speak in public places. Ahern was a member of the Victorian Socialist Party's executive committee in 1906-08, 1910 and 1917–18; in 1906-07 she was a vice-president. She was a delegate to the Political Labor Council's annual conference in 1907 and helped to establish the Domestic Workers' Union and the Women's Socialist League. During

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 ...

she campaigned against conscription and in 1916 she became secretary of the Women's Anti-Conscription Committee. Ahern remained active with the Labor Women's Central Organizing Committee until 1934, and was a delegate to the first interstate conference of Labor women in 1929 and secretary to its executive in 1930. She became a Justice of the Peace and a

children's court Juvenile court, also known as young offender's court or children's court, is a tribunal having special authority to pass judgements for crimes committed by children who have not attained the age of majority. In most modern legal systems, chi ...

magistrate. Ahern was a member of the party's Albert Park branch until she died on 7 April 1969.

Personal life

Ahern married Arthur Wallace of the Barrier Socialist Propaganda Group in a socialist wedding on 10 December 1908. They had two children together.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahern, Lizzie 1877 births 1969 deaths People from Ballarat 19th-century Australian women Australian people of Irish descent Australian domestic workers Australian women activists Australian socialists Australian trade unionists Australian women trade unionists 20th-century Australian women