Mary Hynes Swanton (22 June 1861 – 25 November 1940) was an Australian trade unionist.

Biography

Mary "Mamie" Hynes Swanton was born 22 June 1861 to James Swanton and Sarah Marie, née Connelly in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. Her father was a car proprietor and both parents were born in Ireland. She got her education through the Benedictine nuns. In 1889 was a tailoress in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. She went to a Women's suffrage meeting in Perth in 1896. Swanton became a member of the Australian Natives' Association. She went on to be the first woman to be awarded honorary life membership in 1900. Swanton also helped found the Australian Women's Association, the

Karrakatta Club The Karrakatta Club is a female-only women's club in Perth, Western Australia. Established in 1894, it was the first women's club in Australia. History The Karrakatta Club was founded in 1894 by members of the St George Reading Circle. The St G ...

. Swanton was a Founder president of the Perth Tailoresses' Union from 1900 to 1905 until it became part of the Tailors' Union. She was the representative to the Trades and Labour Council. Her main area of activism was to reduce child labour in the Perth clothing trades followed by health issues. Swanton became the first woman elected president of the Tailors and Tailoresses' Union of Western Australia in 1907. In 1913 she moved to

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

to live with her brother and became his housekeeper. She continued to work for the local A.N.A. and wrote articles regularly until she returned to Subiaco. She opened the Perth Working Girls' Club in the late 1920s. She toured Britain and the United States before returning to live in Sydney where she died on 25 November 1940. Swanton is buried in Rookwood cemetery. Swanton Street in the Canberra suburb of Chisholm is named in her honour.

References and sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swanton, Mary Hynes 1861 births 1940 deaths Australian trade unionists People from Melbourne 19th-century Australian women 20th-century Australian women Australian women trade unionists