People Australia

Emily Renshaw, 1959

Australian Women's Weekly, 20 May 1959, p 50

Emily Anastasia Renshaw (1924-1998) public servant, alderman and community activist

Birth: 7 September 1924 in New South Wales, daughter of native-born parents Reginald Pedro Leo Renshaw (1893-1973), labourer, and Ida Ann, née Wheeler (1896-1973). Unmarried. Death: 8 April 1998 at Parkes, NSW. Religion: Catholic. 

• Educated at Binnaway Convent School. Worked as a typist and clerk in the Postmaster General’s Department at Dubbo in 1952. Transferred to Parkes in April 1953.
• First woman elected to Parkes Municipal Council in 1956. Was an alderman in 1956-1959, 1962-1965 and 1971-1974.
• Secretary of Parkes branch of the Australian Labor Party; secretary of Dubbo State Electoral Council and of Calare Federal Electoral Council.
• ALP candidate for State Legislative Assembly in 1973 and for the Australian Senate in 1975.
• Records officer and treasurer of the Australian Local Government Women’s Association.
• First female director of Parkes Hospital Board, appointed in October 1958. Secretary of Parkes Old People’s Welfare Committee. Vice-president of Westview Subnormal Children’s Association.
• Member of Parkes Civil Defence Committee.
• With Molly Edwards, she founded the Meals on Wheels scheme in Parkes.
• Was a cousin of NSW premier Jack Renshaw (1909-1987). 

Sources
Information from S. Tracey 1997; ALP Women’s Diamond Jubilee p 33.