Margaret Reynolds

Margaret Reynolds (; born 19 July 1941) is a former Australian politician. She was a Senator for Queensland from 1983 to 1999, representing the Australian Labor Party (ALP). She held ministerial office in the Hawke government as Minister for Local Government (1987–1990) and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women (1988–1990).

Early life and teaching career Reynolds was born on 19 July 1941 in Hobart, Tasmania. She was the only child of Jess (née Montgomery) and Walter Rodis "Rod" Lyne. Her father was a farm labourer and soldier who served in New Guinea during World War II. He died in 1947, after which she and her mother relocated to Launceston to be closer to her maternal grandparents. Both her mother and maternal grandmother were schoolteachers.

Reynolds attended Trevallyn Primary School and Launceston State High School, matriculating in 1957. She subsequently studied teaching for two years at the University of Tasmania. Her first teaching post was at the small rural locality of Natone in the state's north-west. She subsequently undertook further training in special education and taught at schools in Launceston, Devonport, and the Derwent Valley. Reynolds and her husband moved to England in 1964 and spent a year teaching at schools in London's East End. They returned to Australia in mid-1965 and settled in Townsville, Queensland, where her husband became a lecturer at Townsville University College. Reynolds also lent her educational experience to helping the school in its early stages, and wrote articles about it in journals.

She completed a diploma in education at James Cook University in 1977 and was appointed as a tutor in language and literature at the local College of Advanced Education. She subsequently completed the degree of Bachelor of Arts at the University of Queensland in 1982. She was the ALP's first female senator in Queensland. Prior to the 1984 election she narrowly avoided being allocated to an "unwinnable" position on the ALP ticket, as the right faction sought to install its preferred candidate John Black. However, the National Executive intervened in her favour and was given first place on the ticket.

In 1995, Reynolds published a book titled The Last Bastion: Labor women working towards equality in the parliaments of Australia, which is a compilation of biographical details about ALP women from the Party's inception till the year it was published. A further book, Living Politics, was published by University of Queensland Press in 2007.

Personal life Reynolds had three children with her husband Henry Reynolds, whom she married in 1963. Their daughter Anna was elected Lord Mayor of Hobart in 2018.