![Ada Beveridge](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Ada_Beveridge.png)
Ada Beveridge
MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
, ''née'' Beardmore (15 February 1875 – 20 January 1964) was an Australian
Country Women's Association leader.
Born at
Townsville in
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
to commission agent Frederick Joshua Wathen Beardmore and Emily Anne, ''née'' Commins, Ada attended
Sydney Girls High School as a scholarship student before studying at the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
, receiving her
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in 1896 with first-class honours in English and becoming a schoolteacher. She married grazier James William Caldwell Beveridge at
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
on 20 January 1904 and moved to his property at
Gundagai and later
Junee.
Beveridge joined the
Country Women's Association (CWA) soon after its 1922 establishment and was founder of the Junee branch in 1926. From 1937 to 1940 she was international vice-president of the Pan-Pacific Women's Association, attending conferences in
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
(1934) and
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
(1937). She was elected state president of the CWA in 1938 and vigorously performed her duties, despite a serious
car accident in 1939 and contracting
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
in 1940, the year in which she retired. As president of the CWA at the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, she actively mobilised support for the war effort and was foundation director and executive chairman of the Women's Australian National Services from 1940 to 1942. She was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in 1941.
[
Beveridge contested the ]Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
at the 1943 election 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 the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
, temporarily suspending her involvement with the apolitical CWA. After her defeat she returned in a local capacity before travelling to Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
in 1947 and Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
in 1951 as a delegate to the Associated Country Women of the World
The Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW) is the largest international organization for both rural and urban women, with a membership of nine million in over 70 countries. ACWW holds a triennial conference and publishes a magazine, ''The Cou ...
conferences. Having moved to Roseville after her husband's death in 1959, Beveridge died there in 1964 and was cremated.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beveridge, Ada
1875 births
1964 deaths
Members of the Order of the British Empire
19th-century Australian women
20th-century Australian women
People educated at Sydney Girls High School