People Australia

Ellen (Nellie) Sheehan (1895-1959) secretary, political activist, community worker and mayor

Birth: 1895 at Castlemaine, Victoria, daughter of Michael Patrick Sheehan (1846-1909), a blacksmith, born in Limerick, Ireland, and his third wife, native-born Ellen, née Ferminger (1857-1939). Unmarried. Death: 19 July 1959 in Castlemaine Hospital, usual residence Clinkers Hill, Castlemaine. Religion: Catholic. 

• Lived all her life at Castlemaine. She was the younger sister of James Michael Sheehan, railwayman and Australian Senator, and may, like him, have been educated at St Mary’s Catholic School, Castlemaine.
• Nellie was secretary of the Castlemaine branch of the Australian Labor Party for many years. During World War II she was active in the Red Cross and became honorary instructor for the St John’s Ambulance Brigade. Fifteen years in Volunteer Aid Detachment, gaining long service medal.
• Commissioned justice of the peace. Elected to Castlemaine Borough Council in 1942, joining Mary Rogers as only Labor woman elected to municipal office to that point. Re-election overturned on recount in 1949. She was re-elected on a ticket with her brother, Senator James Michael Sheehan in 1953, retaining her position until her death. She was elected mayor of Castlemaine in 1954-1955, the first woman to hold the position, and she acted as mayoress to her brother in 1957-1958.
• Was a member of executive of towns and cities section of the Victorian Municipal Association. Served as her brother’s private secretary.
• Well known and widely respected for local community work, she was secretary of Castlemaine Elderly Citizen’s Welfare Committee and president of the local Blind Auxiliary and the local branch of Save the Children Fund.
• Cause of death: cerebral haemorrhage (hours), hypertension (years) and arterioclerosis (years); (certificate wrongly gives her age as 52).
• Nellie was commemorated with a bird bath monument in the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens.

Sources
Labor Call, 22 October 1942; Victorian ALP Central Executive, Report, 1959-60; Age (Melbourne), 20 August 1956, 16 September 1949, 20 July 1959; Castlemaine Mail, 21 July 1959.