Parliamentary Service |
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Electorates
- MLC Suburban Province, 22 May 1954–22 May 1965
- MLC North-East Metropolitan Province, 22 May 1965–21 May 1971
- Contested Suburban Province, 25 March 1950, 20 June 1953 (by-election)
Committees
- Member, Library Committee, 1958–1971
Historical Notes
- First woman elected to Legislative Council of WA
- Fourth woman elected to WA Parliament
- Following her marriage to FRH Lavery on 14 May 1966 she became the first woman to serve with her husband in an Australian Parliament
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Personal Information |
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15 February 1892 |
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Footscray, Victoria, Australia |
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17 December 1974 |
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Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Shenton Park, Western Australia |
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Karrakatta Cemetery, Western Australia |
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To WA 1896 |
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Daughter of John George Herbert, goldminer and bookmaker, and Florence Louisa Atherton |
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Married (1) 11 March 1909, residence of JG Herbert, Meekatharra to Daniel Joseph Buckley, miner, son of Daniel Buckley and Catherine Stone
Children: three sons and four daughters
Divorced: 5 December 1928
Married (2) 8 November 1938, District Registry Office, Perth to Alexander Hutchison, son of Alexander Hutchison and Grace Hudson
No children
Divorced
Widowed 28 February 1961
Married (3) 14 May 1966, St Peter’s Church, Bedford to Frederick Richard Hugh Lavery, son of William Hugh George Lavery and Mary Wilhelmina Frances nee Landgraft
No children
Widowed: 12 January 1971
Took out licence to retain name Hutchison, 7 September 1971 |
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Catholic |
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Educated Dominican College, Cue,
Stott’s Business College, 1941)
University of Western Australia (Summer School)
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Home duties |
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From early 1920s ran boarding houses, did some dressmaking in various parts of the city and inner suburbs |
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Posthumously inducted into the WA Women's Hall of Fame 'Roll of Honour', 2016 |
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Lived with family in Murchison area at Cue, Day Dawn and Meekatharra
After marriage raised family in Meekatharra, Perth and then Northam
Founding chairman, WA Epilepsy Association
Founding member, Australian Consumers Association in Western Australia
Active in work with Scouting and Girl Guides, founder and first chairman Women’s State Auxiliary Boy Scouts Association
Included in the Karrakatta Historical Walk Trail: Walking with Western Australian Women, 13 March 2024 |
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D Black and G Bolton, eds, Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia: volume two 1930-2010, Western Australian Parliamentary History Project, Perth, WA, 2011, p. 131.
Metropolitan Cemeteries Board website. Accessed 26 March 2024. https://www.mcb.wa.gov.au/our-cemeteries/karrakatta-cemetery/karrakatta-historical-walk-trails/karrakatta-walk-trail-three-points-of-interest/
WA Women's Hall of Fame website: https://wawomenshalloffame.com.au/roll-of-honour/ Accessed 20 March 2024 |
| Bibliography |
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David Black, 'Hutchison, Ruby Florence (1892–1974)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hutchison-ruby-florence-10582/text18797, published first in hardcopy 1996, accessed online 22 December 2015.
Daily News, 25 October 1962, 10 November 1962.
Reflections
Making a Difference, p. 75–80.
West Australian, 29 October 1967, 27 November 1970, 18 December 1974, 4 June 1981. |