Millie Gertrude Peacock, Lady Peacock (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Holden; 3 August 1870 – 7 February 1948), was the first woman elected to the

Parliament of Victoria The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria that follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the King, represented by the Governor of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly and ...

. She was the wife of Sir

Alexander Peacock Sir Alexander James Peacock (11 June 1861 – 7 October 1933) was an Australian politician who served as the 20th Premier of Victoria. Early Years Peacock was born of Scottish descent at Creswick, the first Victorian Premier born after ...

, a three-time

Premier of Victoria The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the Australian state of Victoria. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly ...

. Upon his death in 1933, Lady Peacock won the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

to replace him in parliament. She served only a single term, retiring at the 1935 state election.

Early life

Millie Gertrude Holden was born in East Framlingham, Victoria, to Marianne (née Arnold) and John Bryson Holden, the second of two daughters born from the marriage. Her parents were both born in Ireland. Her father, originally from

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, had arrived in Victoria in 1855, and became a successful land agent and auctioneer in

Port Fairy Port Fairy (historically known as Belfast) is a coastal town in south-western Victoria, Australia. It lies on the Princes Highway in the Shire of Moyne, west of Warrnambool and west of Melbourne, at the point where the Moyne River enters the S ...

. Her mother died when she was a few months old, and her father remarried Millie's maternal aunt Jane Ellen Arnold. Millie was given eight half-brothers and half-sisters from this union, and Jane was referred to as her mother throughout her life. Holden attended

Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne ("For God and for Home") , established = , type = Independent, single-sex, day and boarding school , denomination = Uniting , slogan = "MLC girls become world-ready women"

. She was first introduced to politician

in 1899, when her family hosted members of the

Australian Natives' Association The Australian Natives' Association (ANA) was a mutual society founded in Melbourne, Australia in April 1871. It was founded by and for the benefit of native-born white Australians and membership was restricted exclusively to that group. The A ...

during a conference. They married on 1 January 1901, when she was 30 and he was 38. After her husband's knighthood the following year she was known as "Lady Peacock". Lady Peacock was the President of the Creswick Red Cross from 1914–1918, and a member of the Ladies Benevolent Society, Children's Welfare Association, and Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind Auxiliary. The Peacocks did not have any children. They appear to have stayed close to Millie's family, especially Millie's only full sibling Agnes (Nellie) and her husband, solicitor Charles Jonas Horsfall. When Sir Alexander Peacock died on 7 October 1933, Charles was named an executor of his will.

Parliament

Following Sir Alexander Peacock's death in 1933,

Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

encouraged Lady Peacock to stand in the by-election for her husband's seat of Allandale. She did so reluctantly and, because she was mourning her husband's death, made no speeches. She was elected and sworn in as the first woman member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

on 21 November 1933. Lady Peacock only gave one speech in parliament, on the third reading of the Factories Act Bill. She spoke on her husband's role in forming the bill. She retired from politics at the end of her term in 1935, saying that representing a country electorate in parliament was no place for a woman.

Death

Lady Peacock continued her community work at Creswick. She died in 1948, and is buried next to her husband.

References

External links

*Parliament of Victoria. Women in Parliament
Lady Peacock

"Peacock, Millie Gertrude (1870–1948)"
at

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peacock, Millie 1870 births 1948 deaths United Australia Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Australian people of Northern Ireland descent People educated at Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne People from Port Fairy Women members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Red Cross personnel