Ellen Webster
Encyclopedia
Ellen Webster 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.

Born in Tenterfield
Tenterfield, New South Wales
Tenterfield is a town in New South Wales, Australia. It is located in the New England region at the intersection of the New England and Bruxner Highways. Tenterfield is a three-hour drive from Brisbane, 2.5 hours from Byron Bay, two hours from Armidale, New South Wales and 10 hours from Sydney....

 in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 to Irish immigrant parents (she was the sixth child of hawker Phillip Callachor and his wife Mary Fitzgerald), she was raised on the family property and educated at home. She later claimed to have studied medicine at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...

, but this was never proved. By 1920 she was living in Randwick
Randwick, New South Wales
Randwick is a suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Randwick is located 6 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Randwick...

, and she was married on 26 July 1921 to William Maule McDowell Webster
William Maule McDowell Webster
William Maule McDowell Webster was an Australian unionist and station agent.Born in Forbes to grazier Edward Webster and Ellen, née Crooks, he became a stock and station agent. On 26 July 1921 he married Ellen Callachor, who would later be one of the first women to sit in the New South Wales...

 at St Patrick's Catholic Church 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...

. After their marriage, the Websters moved to a farming property at Arcot near Forbes
Forbes, New South Wales
-Notable residents:*Carolyn Simpson - Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales; Member of the first all-female bench to sit in an Australian court*NSW Deputy Premier Carmel Tebbutt was born and raised in Forbes....

.

From 1927 to 1929 she was a member of the Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 central executive, and was delegate to various country conferences. On 26 November 1931 she was appointed to 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...

 by Premier Jack Lang
Jack Lang (Australian politician)
John Thomas Lang , usually referred to as J.T. Lang during his career, and familiarly known as "Jack" and nicknamed "The Big Fella" was an Australian politician who was Premier of New South Wales for two terms...

, joining Catherine Green
Catherine Green (Australian politician)
Catherine Elizabeth Green was an Australian politician.Born in Curban in New South Wales to farmer Daniel Diggs and Catherine Kain, she was educated at the Curban public school until the family moved to Dubbo when Catherine was fourteen. She was a domestic in a hotel before moving to Sydney around...

, appointed two days earlier, as the first women in the Council. She remained in the Council until 22 April 1934.

After the death of her husband in 1958, Webster ran the family property until the 1960s, when she moved to 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...

to live with her nephew. She died in 1965 and was buried in Randwick Cemetery.
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