Joan Child

Gloria Joan Liles Child, (; 3 August 192123 February 2013) was an Australian politician. She was the first woman to be Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives. Up until the election of Anna Burke on 9 October 2012, she was the only female Speaker of the lower house. She was also the last Speaker to serve in the Old Parliament House, as the newly constructed Parliament House still in use today opened in 1988, under her Speakership.

Early life Child was born on 3 August 1921 in Kew, Victoria. She was the youngest of three children born to Hilda Cary (née Seedsman) and Arthur Liles Olle. Her father was a postmaster.

Child spent her early years in country Victoria, living in Yackandandah and Beechworth. Her family moved to Melbourne in 1932, settling in St Kilda East. She attended Camberwell Girls Grammar School, leaving school at the age of 15 and finding work as a receptionist.

Politics

Child became a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in 1964, having previously campaigned for the party while living in Tasmania. serving as a delegate to the ALP state council in Victoria from 1970 to 1973. She was the first woman to represent the ALP in the House of Representatives and only the fourth woman ever elected, after Enid Lyons, Doris Blackburn and Kay Brownbill.

Honours In the 1990 Birthday Honours, Child was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia. She was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.