Mary Jane Fairbrother , known as Mary Jane Warnes (18 July 1877 – 19 June 1959) was an Australian activist who in 1926 established the first

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

n branch of the

Country Women's Association The Country Women's Association (CWA) is a women's organisation in Australia, which seeks to advance interests of women, families, and communities in Australia, especially those in rural, regional, and remote areas. It comprises seven indep ...

(CWA).

Early life and education

Fairbrother was born in Fullarton, an inner suburb of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, the youngest daughter of Thomas Fairbrother, a gardener, and Jane Mears (née Clarke). She was of English descent. She received her education at Misses Newman's private school in Parkside.

Career

On 12 February 1900, Fairbrother married Isaac James Warnes (1871-1944) at St Augustine's Church in Unley. The couple lived in isolation at Koomooloo in the northeast of

state, though she occasionally made a trip by horse and cart to Burra to shop and converse with other women. By the mid 1920s, Warnes was living in Wahroonga, roughly from Burra. In 1926, she attended an informal conference held by the National Council of Women in

. Inspired by the meeting, upon her return she formed the Burra Women's Service Association with women representatives from 11 local districts in November. It became the first South Australian branch of the

(CWA), which formed that year, with Warnes becoming President of the Burra branch. She took an active role in the running of the CWA from the outset, and was influential in the establishment of the metropolitan branch of the group in Adelaide. Warnes's active work led to her appointment as the State President of the CWA in 1929, a position which she held until 1941. In 1929, she was a delegate to the Rural Women’s Conference in London. The following year, ''Register'' wrote of her: "Hers is often the guiding hand that steers a smooth path for women on whom the burdens of drought and bad seasons have weighed too heavily". In 1934 she began broadcasting on the radio, and in 1936 she was made an MBE for her services to women issues. Warnes also presided over the women's branch of the Liberal Federation, and also served with the National Council of Women of South Australia and the League of Nations Union.

Legacy

Warnes died in 1959 and was buried at Burra Cemetery. There are memorials dedicated to her at St. Mary's Church, Burra, the National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame in

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

and at the C.W.A. complex in Kent Town, Adelaide.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Warnes, Mary 1877 births 1959 deaths Australian women's rights activists Australian women in politics Activists from Adelaide Australian people of English descent Australian women activists 20th-century Australian women Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire