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 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 h ...

seat of Bulimba from 1929 to 1932 as a member of the

Country and Progressive National Party The Country and Progressive National Party was a short-lived conservative political party in the Australian state of Queensland. Formed in 1925, it combined the state's conservative forces in a single party and held office between 1929 and 1932 u ...

(CPNP). Longman was born in

Franklin, Tasmania Franklin is a small township on the western side of the Huon River in the south-east of Tasmania, between Huonville and Geeveston. At the 2011 census, Franklin had a population of 337. It was named after Sir John Franklin and his wife Lady Ja ...

, to a Christian minister; her brothers

Percy The English surname Percy is of Norman origin, coming from Normandy to England, United Kingdom. It was from the House of Percy, Norman lords of Northumberland, derives from the village of Percy-en-Auge in Normandy. From there, it came into use ...

and

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

were also members of parliament. She was educated in Sydney and trained as a kindergarten teacher, later moving to Queensland where she married Heber Longman. The couple settled in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

where she became involved in various community organisations relating to education and women's rights. Longman served as state president of the National Council of Women from 1921 to 1924. She was elected to parliament at the 1929 state election with the support of the Queensland Women's Electoral League, but lost her seat after a single term when the CPNP suffered a landslide defeat in 1932. In parliament she concentrated on matters relating to women and children.

Early life

Longman was born on 24 April 1877 in

. She was the daughter of Mary Alice (née Frencham) and James Molineux Bayley; her father was a Congregationalist minister. Her brothers

and

also served as members of parliament. Longman was educated in Sydney, attending

Sydney Girls High School Sydney Girls High School (abbreviated as SGHS or Sydney Girls) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Single-sex school, single-sex Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective secondary school, secondary da ...

and Sydney Church of England Girls' Grammar School. She trained as a kindergarten teacher under Maybanke Wolstenholme, whose private institution Maybanke College taught

Friedrich Fröbel Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel or Froebel (; 21 April 1782 – 21 June 1852) was a German pedagogue, a student of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, who laid the foundation for modern education based on the recognition that children have unique need ...

's educational theory and also borrowed from

theosophy Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion ...

. She boarded with Wolstenholme's friends

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and

Edgeworth David Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David (28 January 1858 – 28 August 1934) was a Welsh Australian geologist and Antarctic explorer. A household name in his lifetime, David's most significant achievements were discovering the major Hunter ...

while completing her education; Wolstenholme and Cara David were feminists and leading proponents of educational reform in New South Wales. In 1895, Longman joined her family in Queensland, where she taught at Rockhampton Girls Grammar School. She married newspaper proprietor and zoologist Heber Longman in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 ...

in 1904; the couple had no children. They moved to

in 1911 where her husband joined the staff of the

Queensland Museum The Queensland Museum is the state museum of Queensland, dedicated to natural history, cultural heritage, science and human achievement. The museum currently operates from its headquarters and general museum in South Brisbane with specialist m ...

Community work

Longman was "interested in a wide range of social issues, including town planning and the preservation of native plants, but her work was principally in the field of the welfare of women and especially children". She "enjoyed her positions of leadership and focused her contribution on addressing meetings and attending functions rather than the more mundane task of fund-raising". Longman was the first secretary of the Playground Association of Queensland and was a supervisor and trainer for the Crèche and Kindergarten Association. She served as president of the

National Council of Women of Queensland The National Council of Women of Queensland is an umbrella organisation in Queensland, Australia. It unites other organisations with humanitarian and educational objectives for women and is non-party-political, non-sectarian, and not-for-profit. I ...

from 1920 to 1924 and was later made a life member of the organisation. She also held office in the Lyceum Club, the Queensland Women's Peace Movement, and the Association for the Welfare of Mental Deficients. Longman was a pioneer of

special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

in Queensland, in 1922 leading a deputation to the Department of Public Instruction which brought about the introduction of "opportunity classes" for children with intellectual disabilities. She advocated segregation of people with intellectual disabilities from the rest of the community and sterilisation of those who could not be separated from the community.

Politics

Irene Longman's parliamentary career began in the 1929 election. Representing the

, she was elected to the

in the electorate of Bulimba, a safe ALP seat, which she held for one term. While in Parliament, she was responsible for the first appointment of a Queensland woman police officer, and spoke about the welfare of children. Being a woman, she was never allowed to use the parliamentary dining room and had to eat her meals on the verandah. As well, there were no female toilets in the parliament building. Longman lost her seat in the 1932 election and did not re-contest it. Longman had two brothers who were also members of the Queensland Parliament: Percy Bayley represented

Pittsworth Pittsworth is a rural town and locality in the Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Pittsworth had a population of 3,294 people. Geography Pittsworth township is south-west of Brisbane via the Warrego Highway, so ...

from 1915 to 1920, and James Bayley was the member for Wynnum from 1933 to 1935.

Legacy

Longman was the only woman elected to the Parliament of Queensland in her lifetime. The federal electorate of

Longman Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publishing company founded in London, England, in 1724 and is owned by Pearson PLC. Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman brand is also ...

, created in 1996, is named after Irene, as is Longman Street in the Canberra suburb of Chisholm.

Later life

Irene Longman died on 29 July 1964 in St. Andrew's Hospital in Brisbane and was privately cremated.

Media

Singer/songwriter Kelly Chase released the song "Sticks and Stones" to accompany the History Detective Podcast Episode Season 2, Episode 7: Irene Longman the First Woman in Queensland Parliament.

References

External links

* — Irene Longman interview in 1953 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Longman, Irene 1877 births 1964 deaths Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Women members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 19th-century Australian women 20th-century Australian women