Ellen Violet Jordan (née Perrett; 29 June 1913 – 7 May 1982) was an Australian politician. She was the second woman elected to the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

, and the first representing the Labor Party.

Early life

Jordan was born in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

to James Berties Perrett and Anne Jane Jordan, ''née'' Brown. She attended Brassall State School and then

Ipswich Girls' Grammar School , motto_translation = Diligence Overcomes All , established = 1892 , type = Independent, day & boarding , gender = Girls , denomination = Non-denominational , slogan = , principal = Peter Britton , key_people = , chair ...

before earning a

Diploma of Education The Diploma of Education, often abbreviated to DipEd or GradDipEd, is a postgraduate qualification offered in many Commonwealth countries including Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Overview The diploma can build on the ...

and becoming a schoolteacher. On 14 June 1932 she married David Jordan, with whom she had two children.

Politics

Joining the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

in 1946, Jordan was a delegate to the Labor-in-Politics Convention in 1956. She was the inaugural president of the Women's Central Committee Queensland from 1956 to 1967 and secretary of the Ipswich Labor Party Executive from 1958 to 1965. In 1961 she became the first woman elected to

Ipswich City Council The City of Ipswich is a local government area in Queensland, Australia, located within the southwest of the Brisbane metropolitan area, including the urban area surrounding the city of Ipswich and surrounding rural areas. Geography The Ci ...

, serving until 1967. In 1966 she was elected to the

as the member for Ipswich West. She was the first Labor woman elected to the Assembly, and the first woman in parliament since

Irene Longman Irene Maud Longman (; 24 April 1877 – 29 July 1964) was an Australian community worker and politician. She was the first woman elected to the Parliament of Queensland, representing the Queensland Legislative Assembly seat of Bulimba from 1 ...

's defeat in 1932. Jordan was defeated in 1974, after which she became the inaugural president of the Australian ALP Women's Executive.

Later life

Jordan died at Ipswich in 1982. She was buried in the

Ipswich General Cemetery The Ipswich General Cemetery is a historic cemetery in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. It is the second oldest cemetery in Queensland. It is owned by Ipswich City Council, but the council have outsourced the day-to-day operations to a private c ...

alongside her husband who had predeceased her in 1967.Jordan, Mrs Ellen Violet (Vi) (1913–1982)
—

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

. Retrieved 8 February 2015.Presbyterian C New Section
— Australian Cemeteries. Retrieved 8 February 2015. File:AU-Qld-Ipswich-Cemetery-Ellen Violet JORDAN grave site-2021.jpg, Grave plot File:AU-Qld-Ipswich-Cemetery-Ellen Violet JORDAN headstone-2021.jpg, Headstone

Legacy

The electoral district of Jordan created in the 2017 Queensland state electoral redistribution was named after her.

References

1913 births 1982 deaths Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Members of the Order of Australia People from Ipswich, Queensland Burials at Ipswich General Cemetery Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland 20th-century Australian politicians Women members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 20th-century Australian women politicians {{Australia-Labor-Queensland-MP-stub