Dame Audrey Reader DBE (9 December 1903 – 6 March 1989) was an Australian charity worker, who worked primarily in promoting the interests of women and of immigrants to Australia.

Early life

Born Audrey Tattie Hinchliffe Nicholls in 1903 in

Macedon Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by ...

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...

, the daughter of William Henry Nicholls and Mabel Tattie Hinchcliff Mallett, she married Reginald "Rex" Reader (1901–1986) in 1928; they had one daughter.

Career

Audrey Reader was actively involved in the

Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...

for more than forty years, from 1945 until her death, being a member of the State Executive for 26 years and a Federal Councillor of the party from 1955 to 1967. From 1955 to 1958, she was State Chairman of the Women's Section of the party. From 1950 she was a member of the Good Neighbour Council of Victoria, and from 1955 she was a member of the National Council of Women; in 1958 she became an executive member of both of these bodies. In 1962 she was made Metropolitan Vice-Present of Victorian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia, and in 1964 Honorary Secretary of the National Council of Women of Victoria, which posts she held until 1967, when she represented Australia at the

International Council of Women The International Council of Women (ICW) is a women's rights organization working across national boundaries for the common cause of advocating human rights for women. In March and April 1888, women leaders came together in Washington, D.C., with ...

Executive Meeting in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. From 1966 to 1972 she was the Australian convenor of the Migrating Standing Committee. In the late 1960s and early 1970s she represented the Victorian State Government on the Consumer Protection Council. In 1967 she became Honorary Secretary on the Australia Board of the National Council of Women, a post which she held for 3 years. From 1971 to 1973 she was a representative on the Commonwealth Immigration Advisory Council.

Damehood

In 1978 Audrey Reader was created a Dame Commander 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 ...

(D.B.E.) for her services to women's affairs and politics.Damehood awarded to Audrey Reader in 1978
/ref>

Sources

* Cadman, Kerith A (ed.), ''Who's who in Australia,'' 1988, 26th edition, ''The Herald and Weekly Times'', Melbourne, 1988

References

External links

Liberal Party of Australia, Federal Women's Committee history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reader, Audrey 1903 births 1989 deaths Australian Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire People from Victoria (state) Australian women in politics Place of death missing 20th-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian women politicians