Beryl Alice Evans, née Williams (25 February 1922 – 16 May 2006) was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician.

Early career

Born to David Reginald Williams and Mabel Lawson in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, she was educated at Methodist Ladies' College in Burwood

Burwood, New South Wales

Burwood is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Burwood is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of Burwood Council....

 before joining the Royal Australian Air Force

Royal Australian Air Force

The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...

 (Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force) on 12 November 1942. She was a drill and physical training instructor, rising to the rank of Sergeant

Sergeant

Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....

 before her commission in 1944. When she was discharged on 25 September 1945 she had attained the rank of section officer.

She was subsequently a farmer and grazier; she had married Kenneth Graham Bowman in 1944, with whom she had two sons, Christopher and Gawain. In 1962 she was elected to Coolah Shire Council, where she remained until 1971. She was the unsuccessful Liberal

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

 candidate for the state electorate of Burrendong

Electoral district of Burrendong

Burrendong was an electoral district of Legislative Assembly of the Australian state of New South Wales, created in 1968, partly replacing Mudgee and named after the Burrendong Dam. It was abolished in 1981.-Members for Burrendong:...

 in 1973. Her first marriage ended in divorce in the early 1970s, and on 30 July 1976 she married Richard Evans, a Liberal member of the New South Wales Legislative Council

New South Wales Legislative Council

The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. The Assembly is referred to as the lower house and the Council as...

 until 1978.

State politics

In 1984, Evans was elected to the Legislative Council as a Liberal. She remained in the Council until 1995, when she was removed from the Liberal ticket and contested the election under the designation "The Seniors". She was unsuccessful. She also contested the Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

in 1996 for her new party, but was again unsuccessful, and she retired from politics.