Role Member of Parliament Nationality Australian Parents Colin Rankin | Resigned May 24, 1971 Name Annabelle Rankin | |
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Party Liberal Party of Australia | ||
Dame Annabelle Jane Mary Rankin DBE (28 July 1908 – 30 August 1986) was the second woman member of the Australian Senate, the first woman from Queensland to sit in the Parliament of Australia, the first Australian woman to have a federal portfolio and the first Australian woman to be appointed head of a foreign mission.
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Biography
Rankin was born in Brisbane, Queensland on 28 July 1908, the daughter of Colin Dunlop Wilson Rankin (a former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland) and Annabelle Davidson (née Thomson).
The family lived in Brooklyn House, Howard (now heritage-listed). She attended primary school in Childers and Howard. She attended secondary school at Glennie Memorial School in Toowoomba.
She was well known in the community for her public service though the CWA, Guides Australia, Red Cross and YWCA.
Rankin was elected to the Senate in the 1946 election, as a representative of the Liberal Party. Her term began on 1 July 1947. She was the first woman appointed as Opposition Whip in the Senate and, following the election of the Menzies government in 1949, also served as Government Whip in the Senate.
On 26 January 1966, Prime Minister Harold Holt appointed her Minister for Housing in his first ministry, responsible for the Department of Housing. She was the second woman to reach ministerial rank in the Federal Parliament. From 1968–71 she was a joint "Father" of the Senate. She resigned from the Senate in 1971 and was made High Commissioner to New Zealand, a post she held to 1974. Following her retirement she returned to Brisbane where she continued to be involved in voluntary organisations.
Death
Rankin died in Brisbane aged 78, on 30 August 1986. She was cremated following a State funeral at St John's Anglican Cathedral in Brisbane.
Honours
Annabelle Rankin was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) on 13 June 1957 for political and public services.
Legacy
The Electoral Division of Rankin, which came into effect at the 1984 election, is named in her honour.