Phyllis Jean Benjamin (30 August 1907 – 9 April 1996),
Labor Party politician, was a member of the
Tasmanian Legislative Council
The Tasmanian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. It is one of the two chambers of the Parliament, the other being the House of Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in the state capital, H ...
in the electorate of
Hobart
Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...
from 10 May 1952 until her retirement on 22 May 1976.
Born Phyllis Allsopp, she married Albert Benjamin in Sydney on 10 March 1926.
In 1948, their daughter, Jill Benjamin, married
Bill Neilson
William Arthur Neilson AC (27 August 1925 – 9 November 1989) was Premier of Tasmania from 1975 to 1977.
Born in Hobart, and educated at Ogilvie High School, Neilson became a postman before entering politics. He married Jill Benjamin, daug ...
who went on to become Premier of Tasmania.
[Peter Boyce]
'Neilson, William Arthur (Bill) (1925–1989)'
''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 2012, accessed online 19 November 2015.
She stood for the division of Hobart as a
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 ...
candidate when sitting member
John Soundy
Sir John Soundy (14 November 1878 – 25 October 1960) was an Australian politician.
He was born in Dorchester, Dorset, England. In 1925 he was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly as a Nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and ...
retired on 10 May 1952. She won the division easily with 1,433 votes; the next highest candidate received only 563 votes.
Despite her sex, Benjamin was reported as one of the "36
faceless men
Faceless men is a term from Politics of Australia, Australian politics. The term is generally used to refer to men and women who exert Politics, political influence and are not elected representatives to state, territory or federal legislative bodi ...
" reported to be in control of the Australian Labor Party in the lead up to the
1963 Australian federal election.
From 1968 to 1969, Benjamin was Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council, as one of only four representatives of her party in that chamber. She was the first woman to hold the position in any Australian legislative council.
See also
*
References
External links
*
1907 births
1996 deaths
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Tasmania
Members of the Tasmanian Legislative Council
Officers of the Order of Australia
Members of the Order of the British Empire
20th-century Australian politicians
Women members of the Tasmanian Legislative Council
20th-century Australian women politicians
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