Mary Mellon (née Lawson; 4 October 1919 – 8 June 1980) was an Australian politician. She was the Liberal member for Murray in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

from 1973 to 1980. Born Mary Lawson in

Deniliquin Deniliquin () is a town in the western Riverina region of south-western New South Wales, Australia, close to the border with Victoria. It is the largest town in the Edward River Council local government area. Deniliquin is located at the inte ...

, her father Joe Lawson was also a

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 ...

politician. She attended Hornsby Girls High School before working as a stenographer. She married Francis Meillon on 5 September 1942, with whom she had one son and two daughters. When her father, the member for Murray in the

, died in 1973, Meillon was selected as the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

's candidate for the by-election to replace him (Joe Lawson had been an ex- Country Party

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 narrowly defeated the Country Party's candidate, Bruce Jeffery, who later represented the Oxley and

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie, sometimes shortened to Port Mac and commonly locally nicknamed Port, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane, on the Tasman Sea coast at the mouth of the ...

electorates. Meillon was the fourth woman elected to the assembly, the first Liberal woman, and the first woman to win a seat since 1946. Defeating an independent Jeffery in the 1973 state election, she held the seat against challenges from Independent Country candidates (since the

Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

agreement prohibited the party from endorsing candidates to run against sitting Liberals) until her death in Sydney in 1980; the by-election to replace her was won by future federal Nationals leader

Tim Fischer Timothy Andrew Fischer (3 May 1946 – 22 August 2019) was an Australian politician and diplomat who served as leader of the National Party of Australia, National Party from 1990 to 1999. He was the tenth Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, d ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meillon, Mary 1919 births 1980 deaths Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly People from Deniliquin 20th-century Australian politicians Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 20th-century Australian women politicians