Elizabeth Couchman

Dame Elizabeth May Ramsay Couchman DBE (née Tannock; 19 April 1876 – 18 November 1982) was an Australian political activist. She served as president of the Australian Women's National League from 1927 to 1945 and oversaw its merger into the new Liberal Party of Australia. She was also the first woman appointed to the board of the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), serving from 1932 to 1943.

Biography She was born Elizabeth May Ramsay Tannock, the daughter of Elizabeth Mary (née Ramsay), and Archibald Tannock. Her father was a confectioner. She had a sister, Jean, who married Henry Mercer, Dean of Perth from 1912 to 1917. She was born and grew up in Geelong, and was educated to matriculation level at the Girls' High School. She matriculated in 1895. After a period of teaching at the Methodist Ladies' College and Tintern Grammar, another independent girls' school, she moved to Perth, Australia in 1916 to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Western Australia.

In 1917, aged 41, she married businessman Claude Couchman, but they had no children. He died ten years later. On his death she decided to devote the rest of her life to the pursuit of public interests, which included voluntary work and the duties of a Justice of the Peace. From 1927 to 1945, she was president of the Australian Women's National League, a conservative women's organisation established in 1904 to support the monarchy and empire, combat socialism, educate women in politics, and safeguard the interests of the home, women and children.

Honours and recognition She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1941 New Years Day Honours and promoted to Dame Commander in the 1961 New Years Day Honours for her public and patriotic services.

Couchman Crescent, in the Canberra suburb of Chisholm, is named in her honour.

The State Library of Victoria holds a collection of papers related to Couchman in its Manuscripts Collection. It comprises papers of the Australian Women's National League, 1920–1945, collected by Dame Elizabeth Couchman, and a history entitled "The Australian Women's National League, 1904-1945" by Elizabeth Couchman, 14 February 1969.