Alicia Teresa Jane O'Shea Petersen ( McShane; 2 July 1862 – 22 January 1923) was a

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

n suffragist and social reformer.

Biography

Alicia Teresa Jane McShane was born in Tasmania to Hugh and Jane ( Wood) McShane. She became interested in women's and labor rights as a result of her own work in

sweatshop A sweatshop or sweat factory is a crowded workplace with very poor, socially unacceptable or illegal working conditions. Some illegal working conditions include poor ventilation, little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting, o ...

s. She was also influenced by her cousin, John Earle, who founded the Workers' Political League and became the first

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the House of Assembly is invited by the governor of Ta ...

in 1909. She was the first woman in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

to stand as a political candidate, contesting the federal seat of Denison in 1913 as an independent. In 1922, when women were first eligible to stand for the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...

, she was a political candidate in Denison, again as an independent. As vice-president of the Women's Health Association, Petersen was instigator of both child welfare work and bush nursing in Tasmania. She was on the executive of the National Council of Women and the Tasmanian council of the Workers' Educational Association until her death. Petersen was twice married. On 28 May 1884, she married widower Patrick Robert O'Shea at St Joseph's Church, Hobart. Following a long illness, he died in March 1886, aged 39. She then married a mining investor named William Petersen at her home, Wilmott Terrace, Hobart on 16 December 1891. He died in 1912. Petersen died on 22 January 1923 at her home, Wilmott Terrace, 18 Harrington Street, Hobart.

References

External links

Alicia O'Shea Petersen
at Women Tasmania {{DEFAULTSORT:Petersen, Alicia O'Shea 1862 births 1923 deaths Australian suffragists Australian people of Irish descent Australian social reformers 19th-century Australian women 20th-century Australian women People from Hobart