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Joan Margaret Taggart (1917–2003)

This article was published:

Joan Taggart, n.d.

Joan Taggart, n.d.

ANU Archives, ANUA 225-1205

Joan Margaret Taggart, née Lamond (1917-2003) administrative officer and politician 

Birth: 2 April 1917 at Glebe, Sydney, New South Wales, daughter of native-born parents George Archibald Lamond (1875-1942), bill poster, and Margaret, née Melville (1880-1958). Marriage: 30 March 1940 at St James’s Catholic Church, Forest Lodge, to William Taggart (1913-1980), wharf tally clerk, born at Langley Moor, England. They had one daughter and one son. Death: 3 January 2003 at Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. 

  • Lived at Wollongong after her marriage. She was a member of the Business and Professional Women’s Club there and later in Sydney.
  • Her husband enlisted in the Australian Military Forces on 9 February 1942. He commenced full-time duty on 11 May 1942, transferred to the Australian Imperial Force on 22 February 1943, and was discharged on 21 February 1946 having served as bombardier mainly in the Kembla Coast Artillery.
  • Joan Taggart had moved to Manly by 1963 and was working as a clerk.
  • Member of the NSW executive of the Australian Labor Party from 1964 to 1971. In 1964 she moved to Griffith, ACT. She worked as an administrative officer at the Australian National University.
  • In 1972 she was elected national secretary of the Australian Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, having been active in the Canberra club since 1964. From 1974 she was an executive assistant for the Pipeline Authority, retiring in April 1982 on reaching the age of 65.
  • She was the first woman to be a member of the ALP National Executive, in office from 1974 to 1983. First woman national officer of the ALP, being junior vice-president in 1979 to 1982 and senior vice-president in 1982-1983.
  • President of the Australian Capital Territory branch of the ALP from 1977 to 1978.
  • Taggart was elected to the ACT House of Assembly for the electorate of Canberra on 5 June 1982 and was sometime deputy speaker. Her term as MHA ended when the house was abolished in 1986. She did not stand for the replacement ACT Legislative Assembly.
  • She was active in Zonta and was president of the Canberra Labor Club. She was also a council member of the ACT Schools Authority.
  • In January 1984 she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the community.

Sources
Information from S. Tracey April 1997.

Additional Resources and Scholarship

Citation details

'Taggart, Joan Margaret (1917–2003)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/taggart-joan-margaret-34850/text43898, accessed 4 December 2024.

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