Grace Benny

Susan Grace Benny, née Anderson, (1872–1944) of Seacliff, South Australia, generally referred to as Grace Benny or S. Grace Benny, was the first woman elected to local government in Australia when she was elected to the Brighton Council in 1919.

She grew up on the family's sheep station "Springfield", located near Stansbury, Yorke Peninsula. She married her cousin, solicitor Benjamin Benny (21 October 1869 – 10 February 1935), eldest son of the Reverend George Benny, on 16 July 1896, and moved to Adelaide where he worked.

Benny was active in a range of community and political organisations, and during the First World War was the Honorary Secretary of the Seacliff Cheer-Up Society. She was also a member of the local Progress Association, and spinning and croquet clubs. a defeat welcomed by at least one (Catholic) commentator.

As a council member Benny successfully argued for public access to the beach, the installation of electric lights and the allocation of reserves for a children's playground and public garden. She also actively supported the abolition of segregated sea-bathing so that families could swim together. and in June 1926 was convicted of the fraudulent conversion of Treasury bonds to the value of £1,200, as well as various other trust funds. He was sentenced to three years' gaol, struck off the roll of the Supreme Court, of which he was a practitioner, and declared insolvent. The Benny home "Stoneywood", a property overlooking the Seacliff foreshore reserve, was put up for sale in 1925.

Later life Following her husband's imprisonment, Benny was forced to rely on money she had inherited to support her children. Although she had never worked for a living, she moved into her husband's law offices in King William Street, Adelaide and opened the "Elite Employment Agency", which enabled her to support her family through the Depression.

Benjamin Benny died in 1935. On 23 February 1940 in Melbourne, Grace married Cecil Ralph Bannister. 20 years her junior, Bannister was a tramway worker and clerk before moving to Adelaide to live with Grace.

Recognition Bronze bust of Grace Benny by Meliesa Judge, unveiled at Brighton in 2017.

Benny Crescent, South Brighton Susan Grace Benny Park, Seacliff Park Adelaide City Council plaque on North Terrace near the corner of King William Street, Adelaide Grace Benny Scholarship, awarded annually by the Australian Local Government Women's Association (South Australian Branch) Bronze bust on a sandstone plinth at 20 Jetty Rd, Brighton, by Meliesa Judge of Liquid Metal Studios. Completed 31 August 2017.