People Australia

Nola Isabel Constance Barber, née Griffiths (1901-1985) teacher, political activist, mayor and feminist 

Birth: 27 December 1901 at Woodend, Victoria, daughter of William Oswald Griffiths (1877-1956), a Melbourne-born builder, and Elizabeth, née Dick (1879-1965), who was born in New Zealand. Marriage: 12 Marcy 1940 to native-born David Reaburn Barber (1907-1971), a law clerk. They had one daughter and two sons. Death: 29 December 1985 at Colac. 

• She was educated at Mentone College; College of Domestic Arts, Melbourne; Teachers' Training College and the University of Melbourne.
• Active in local government, Barber was councillor of Chelsea, Victoria, from 1948 to 1972, and its first female mayor in 1962-1963 and initiated many community social welfare programs. She was a co-founder of the Australian Local Government Women's Association.
• Prominent in the Australian Labor Party, she was a central executive delegate to Japan and China, 1958, and president of the Women's Central Organising Committee in 1964-1965. Broadcaster 3KZ Labor Hour, 1955-1967.
• She contested the Victorian seats of Flinders (Federal) in 1953 and 1963, and Mentone (State) in 1967 and 1971.
• In 1970 Barber was appointed OBE. She was Victoria's first Senior Citizen of the Year in 1973.

Sources
Who’s Who of Australian Women, pp 58-59; Recorder,  August 1986, p.3.