Agnes Robertson

Agnes Robertson Robertson (née Keay; 31 July 1882 – 29 January 1968) was an Australian schoolteacher, community worker and politician who served as a Senator for Western Australia from 1950 to 1962. She was originally elected to parliament as a member of the Liberal Party at the 1949 federal election. In 1955, she was dropped from her party's ticket due to her age, but instead won the endorsement of the Country Party and was re-elected to a second term at the 1955 election; her final term ended a month before her 80th birthday. She was the first woman to represent the Country Party in federal parliament.

Early life Agnes Robertson Keay was born on 31 July 1882 in Adelaide, South Australia, the only daughter among eight children born to Mary Ann (née Thomson) and David Kelly Keay. Her father – born in Perthshire, Scotland – was a stonemason by trade, and after arriving in Australia became a successful building contractor. She completed her secondary education in Sydney, obtaining a leaving certificate from the Forest Lodge Public School in Glebe just before her 14th birthday. A short time later, her family moved to Perth, where she qualified as a schoolteacher via the monitorial system. On 1 July 1903, she married journalist Robert Robertson, the editor of the Western Mail; the marriage bar in place at the time required her to give up teaching.

Community work Robertson returned to teaching after her husband's death in 1912, working at the Thomas Street State School in Subiaco until 1943. She served on the executive of the Western Australian Teachers' Union (including as vice-president for a period), and was a member of an appeals tribunal for pay disputes. She was one of ten female candidates, but only she and Ivy Wedgwood of Victoria were successful. Their election brought the total number of women in the Senate to four (out of 60), the others being Dorothy Tangney and Annabelle Rankin. Tangney – 25 years Robertson's junior – was also from Western Australia, which became the first state to have multiple female senators. Robertson's first term began on 22 February 1950. She was re-elected to a second term at the 1951 election (a double dissolution), again running as the Liberal Party's lead candidate. After unsuccessfully attempting to have her non-selection overturned on procedural grounds, Robertson resigned from the Liberal Party on 7 September 1955. She initially sat as an independent, promising to continue supporting the government in the Senate to maintain its narrow majority, but on 28 September joined the Country Party – the first woman to represent the party in federal parliament. She was subsequently chosen to head its two-member Senate ticket.Efn|Western Australia was the only state in which the Country Party ran separate candidates in the Senate. In all other states there was a joint ticket with the Liberal Party.

Personal life Robertson kept a low profile in retirement. She died on 29 January 1968 while visiting family in Melbourne, and was cremated at Springvale Botanical Cemetery. She and her husband had three children together – John, Jessie, and Christie. Her father built them a house in West Perth when they married, which she would occupy for the rest of her life. Robertson became a widow at the age of 29; after several months of ill health, her husband died of tuberculosis on 24 May 1912. She raised her three young children with the help of her parents, and in 1935 adopted a fourth child, her 14-year-old god-daughter Beryl Grant (recently orphaned). while Beryl became a prominent social worker.