Bishop, Mrs L.

The Hon. G.G. BROCK (Frome—Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Local Government) (14:03): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. G.G. BROCK: On 16 September 2015, a ceremony was held to celebrate the life of a very significant South Australian woman, Mrs Lenora Bishop, a former mayor of Mount Gambier. While I did not know Mrs Bishop personally, I think it is certainly appropriate that, as the Minister for Local Government, and indeed as a former mayor myself, I draw members' attention to just some of the achievements of Mrs Bishop. I understand that the member for Mount Gambier may speak a bit later about Mrs Bishop and perhaps outline more vividly the significant influence Mrs Bishop had on the local community.

I am informed that Mrs Bishop was the first woman in South Australia to become mayor and, at this point in time, is the only woman to have been mayor of Mount Gambier. I understand that Mrs Bishop was born in 1919, attended school locally and excelled in aspects that would have been expected of many young women at that time—needlework, cooking, and playing the piano. But Mrs Bishop's ambitions went beyond the social norms, as evidenced by her interest in medicine, a career option she was not able to pursue.

Not to be deterred from serving the community in jobs not typically apportioned to women at that time, I am told that Mrs Bishop's first job was in the office of the District Council of Mount Gambier before she moved on to work as a legal secretary to a solicitor, Mr Pyne, who later became mayor. Mrs Bishop created other firsts for South Australia in becoming a teller at the National Bank of Australia and a reporter at TheBorder Watch newspaper. Each of these roles brought Mrs Bishop into close contact with the activities of councils, and I suspect it may have been no surprise when she became a councillor for the first time in July 1959.

I understand that, just half an hour before nominations closed for mayor in 1964, Mrs Bishop lodged her nomination and, subsequently, became the first woman to become mayor in our state. In another first, Mayor Bishop was elected to the executive of the Municipal Association of South Australia, which as we all know, is the forerunner of today's LGA.

The community of Mount Gambier, indeed communities all around South Australia, owe a debt of gratitude to women like Mrs Bishop, whose courage, determination and vision underpinned social and economic progress and laid the foundation for other women to take up leadership roles in all levels of government. Mrs Bishop was a person who achieved many firsts as a woman, but her lasting legacy is that she was able to demonstrate the capacity of women to lead and to make significant contributions in all aspects of life.

I thank Councillor Penny Richardson, Deputy Mayor of Mount Gambier, for providing me with some of this information, and I join with Mrs Bishop's family and friends in celebrating a life well lived and full of achievement—a very, very significant South Australian life.