Shirley Walters

Mary Shirley Walters (née Harrison; 31 August 1925 – 18 June 2017) was an Australian politician who served as a Senator for Tasmania from 1975 to 1993, representing the Liberal Party. She was the first woman to represent Tasmania in the Senate, and was known for her social conservatism.

Early life Mary Shirley Harrison was born in Sydney, New South Wales, to Eric John Harrison and the former Mary Cook McCall. Her father was also a politician, serving as a government minister under Robert Menzies and later as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Her mother died in 1941 (when she was 15), and her father remarried a few years later. Harrison and her two sisters grew up in Rose Bay, and attended Kambala School. She became an accounts clerk with the Rural Bank of New South Wales after leaving school, but later trained as a nurse and began working at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPA). In 1949, Harrison married obstetrician David Walters, whom she had first met in high school. They moved to Hobart, Tasmania, after he had completed his residency at RPA, and had four children together.

Public life Walters had been required to give up nursing when she married, but returned to the profession once her children were older and became a senior nurse at St John's Hospital, South Hobart. She was a member of the state committee of the National Trust, and was prominent in the Right to Life Association. In 1975, she represented the RLA at a women's health conference at the University of Queensland; her advocacy of conservatism in sex education brought her to the attention of the public. She died in June 2017, aged 91.