Role Australian Politician Died February 3, 2002 | Nationality Australian Resigned October 25, 1969 Name Kay Brownbill | |
Born 21 July 1914Adelaide, South Australia ( 1914-07-21 ) Occupation Journalist, broadcaster Party Liberal Party of Australia | ||
Kay Cathrine Millin Brownbill (21 July 1914 – 3 February 2002) was an Australian politician. Born in Adelaide, she was educated at state schools before become a journalist, playwright, broadcaster and public relations officer. In 1966, she was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as a member of the Liberal Party of Australia, defeating Labor MP Pat Galvin for the seat of Kingston.
She was the first woman elected to the House since 1949, the first not preceded by her husband, and the third woman elected to Australia's lower house (the others being Enid Lyons and Doris Blackburn). She had lost to Galvin in a previous bid for the seat in 1963, but defeated Galvin on her second attempt as part of the massive Liberal landslide of that year on a swing of almost 13 per cent, enough to turn Kingston into a safe Liberal seat on paper. She was defeated in 1969 on an even larger swing—16.5 per cent—by Labor's Richard Gun, and left politics. Brownbill died in 2002.