Yvonne Daphne Henderson (née Finn; born 16 May 1948) is a former Australian politician who was a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly of

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 ...

from 1983 to 1996. She served as a minister in the governments of

Peter Dowding Peter McCallum Dowding SC (born 6 October 1943) is an Australian lawyer and former politician who served as the 24th Premier of Western Australia, from 25 February 1988 until his forced resignation on 12 February 1990. He was a member of parli ...

and

Carmen Lawrence Carmen Mary Lawrence (born 2 March 1948) is an Australian academic and former politician who was the Premier of Western Australia from 1990 to 1993, the first woman to become the premier of an Australian state. A member of the Labor Party, sh ...

. Henderson was born in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, England, but her family moved to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

when she was an infant. She attended

John Curtin Senior High School John Curtin College of the Arts, originally John Curtin High School, is an independent, public co-educational, partially selective high school, located in East Street, , a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. The school provides a general and ...

before going on to the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

, where she studied to be a teacher. After stints at

Melville Senior High School Melville Senior High School is a Government school, public co-educational high school located in Melville, Western Australia, Melville, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Opened in 1960, as of 2021 the school had an enrolment of 1,399 students ...

and

Morley Senior High School Morley Senior High School is an Independent Public high school located in Noranda, a northern suburb of Perth, Western Australia. The school provides an education to approximately 1,400 students from Year 7 to Year 12. History By the end of th ...

, Henderson eventually became deputy principal of

Mirrabooka Senior High School Dianella Secondary College (formerly Mirrabooka Senior High School) is a public co-educational high day school, located in Dianella in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. It teaches years 7 to 12 in the Australian education sys ...

(from 1977 to 1982). An official of the State School Teachers Union and a member of the Labor Party since 1975,Yvonne Daphne Henderson
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 11 May 2016. she stood for parliament at the 1983 state election, winning the safe Labor seat of Gosnells. Following the retirement of Brian Burke in February 1988, Henderson was elevated to the new ministry formed by Peter Dowding, as Minister for Lands and Minister for the Arts. After the 1989 election, where she transferred to the new seat of Thornlie, she was instead made Minister for Consumer Affairs and Minister for Works and Services. Following Dowding's resignation in February 1990, Henderson was retained in the new ministry formed by Carmen Lawrence, as Minister for Consumer Affairs and Minister for Housing. Following a reshuffle in February 1991, she was additionally made Minister for Productivity and Labour Relations, with

Jim McGinty James Andrew McGinty (born 22 September 1949) is an Australian former politician. He was a Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 2009, representing the district of Fremantle. He was Labor Party leader and Lea ...

replacing her as housing minister. During her period in cabinet, Henderson became the first minister to give birth while in office. Following the defeat of the Labor government at the 1993 state election, Henderson continued on as a shadow minister, serving under four opposition leaders (Carmen Lawrence, Ian Taylor, Jim McGinty, and

Geoff Gallop Geoffrey Ian Gallop (born 27 September 1951) is an Australian academic and former politician who served as the 27th Premier of Western Australia from 2001 to 2006. He is currently a professor and director of the Graduate School of Government at ...

). She retired at the 1996 election. In June 2003, under the Gallop Labor government, Henderson was appointed head of the state government's Equal Opportunity Commission. She remained in the role until her retirement in June 2013.Kate Emery (4 June 2013)
"Henderson retires as Equal Opportunity Commissioner"
– ''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

''. Retrieved 11 May 2016.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Yvonne 1948 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Australian schoolteachers Australian trade unionists English emigrants to Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly People educated at John Curtin College of the Arts Politicians from Wakefield University of Western Australia alumni Women members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly

See also

References