The Hon. Dame Enid Muriel Lyons, AD, GBE, (9 July 1897 - 2 September 1981), Australian politician, was the wife of Prime Minister Joseph Lyons and the first woman to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives and appointed to federal cabinet. Insignia of a Companion of the Order of Australia. ... The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE) Knight Commander... July 9 is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 175 days remaining. ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... September 2 is the 245th day of the year (246th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... Judicial High Court Lower Courts Constitution State and territory governments Executive Governors and Administrators Premiers and Chief Ministers Legislative Parliaments and Assemblies State electoral systems ACT - NSW - NT - Qld. ... Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939), Australian politician, tenth Prime Minister of Australia. ... Australian House of Representatives chamber Entrance to the House of Representatives The Australian House of Representatives is one of the two houses (chambers) of the Parliament of Australia. ...

Lyons was born Enid Muriel Burnell in Smithton, Tasmania, and educated at the Teacher's Training College,Hobart and later became a school teacher. She met and married Joseph Lyons, then a young Labor politician, in 1915, when she was 18. They had twelve children, one of whom died in infancy. In 1929 Joseph entered federal politics as member for the Division of Wilmot. Smithton is a town in the far north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. ... Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. ... The Division of Wilmot was a former Australian Electoral Division in the state of Tasmania. ...

In 1931 he left the Labor Party and became leader of the United Australia Party and at the beginning of 1932 became Prime Minister. Enid and her children moved into The Lodge in Canberra, and she became an extremely popular political spouse. The United Australia Party or UAP was an Australian political party that was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For other uses, see Canberra (disambiguation). ...

Joseph Lyons died in 1939, aged 59, and Enid (who was created a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in the Coronation Honours of 1936, returned to Tasmania. She bitterly resented Joseph Lyons's successor as leader of the UAP, Robert Menzies, whom she believed had betrayed her husband by resigning from the Cabinet shortly before Joseph Lyons's death. Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, KT, AK, CH, FRS, QC (20 December 1894 – 14 May 1978), Australian politician, was the twelfth and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia, serving eighteen and a half years. ...

At the 1943 election Lyons won the Division of Darwin in north-western Tasmania for the UAP, which in 1945 became the Liberal Party of Australia. She was the first woman in the House of Representatives. (At the same election Dorothy Tangney (later Dame Dorothy) was elected as a Labor Senator from Western Australia.) The Division of Darwin was an Australian Electoral Division in Tasmania. ... This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ... Dame Dorothy Tangney Dame Dorothy Margaret Tangney DBE (13 March 1911 - 1 June 1985) was an Australian politician and the first woman member of the Australian Senate. ... Capital Perth Government Constitutional monarchy Governor Ken Michael Premier Alan Carpenter (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 15  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product ($m)  $100,900 (4th)  - Product per capita  $50,355/person (3rd) Population (December 2006)  - Population  2,050,900 (4th)  - Density  0. ...

As a conservative Roman Catholic from Australia's most provincial state, Dame Enid's speeches in Parliament generally espoused traditional views on the family and other social issues. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...

In 1949 the Liberals came to power under Menzies's leadership. Their frosty personal relations thawed very slightly when Menzies appointed Lyons Vice-President of the Executive Council, a largely honorary post which gave her a seat in Cabinet but no departmental duties. But her health, always delicate, declined under the strain of regular travel between Canberra and Tasmania, and she retired at the 1951 elections. The Vice-President of the Executive Council is a Commonwealth position, whose holder acts as presiding officer of the Executive Council in the absence of the President of the Executive Council. ...

In retirement, Dame Enid's health recovered. She was a newspaper columnist (1951-1954), Commissioner of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation(1951-1962) and remained active in public life promoting family and women's issues. She published two volumes of memoirs, which embarrassed the Liberal Party by reviving her allegations that Menzies had been disloyal to Joseph Lyons in 1939. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation or ABC is Australias national non-profit public broadcaster. ...

She was made a Dame of the Order of Australia on Australia Day 1980 and died in 1981. Dame Endi was accorded a State Funeral in Devonport, before being buried next to her husband at the Mersey Vale Lawn Cemetery. Insignia of a Companion of the Order of Australia. ... Devonport City Council shown in green in map of Tasmania Devonport is a city in the north-west of Tasmania, Australia, at the mouth of the Mersey River. ...

Further reading

• Dame Enid Lyons, So We Take Comfort (1965)
• Dame Enid Lyons, Among the Carrion Crows (1977)
• Kate White, Political Love Story: Joe and Enid Lyons (1987)

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