Anne Elizabeth Press, ''née'' Speechley (25 August 1903 – 23 August 1992) was an Australian politician. She was born at

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Gol ...

to farmers Thomas and Charlotte Speechley. She was educated privately before training at

Sydney Teachers College The Sydney Teachers' College was a tertiary education institution that trained school teachers in Sydney, Australia, Sydney, Australia. It existed from 1906 until the end of 1981, when it became the Sydney Institute of Education, a part of the ne ...

, thereafter teaching at

Condobolin Condobolin is a town in the west of the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, on the Lachlan River. At the , Condobolin had a population of 3,486. History Prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by the Wiradjuri pe ...

(1922–23),

Tichborne Tichborne is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish east of Winchester in Hampshire, England. History In archaeology in the south of the parish within the South Downs National Park is a bell barrow, bowl barrow and regular aggre ...

(1923–24) and

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(1924–25). On 1 September 1924 she married Thomas F. Press, a farmer, with whom she had three children. She was on the council of the New South Wales Parents and Citizens Federation from 1950 to 1953 and vice-president from 1953 to 1960, and was director of the Condobolin Hospital Board from 1953 to 1978. In 1959, Press was elected to the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

as a member of the Labor Party. However, she opposed the Labor policy of abolishing the Legislative Council, and together with a number of other Labor MLCs was expelled from the party shortly after her election; these members formed the

Independent Labor Group The Independent Labor Group was a minor Australian political grouping in the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1959 to 1977. The group emerged when a number of Labor Party MLCs were expelled from the party for voting against the abolition ...

. Eventually the group began to fragment, and Press joined 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. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

in 1967. When the Council became directly elected in 1978, Press did not nominate and retired. She died at Condobolin in 1992.

References

1903 births 1992 deaths Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Independent Labor Group politicians Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Council 20th-century Australian women politicians {{Australia-Labor-NewSouthWales-MP-stub