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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-10-26 Daily Xml
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MURIEL MATTERS

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:50): Today, I advise the house and the Premier that a significant anniversary will take place this Thursday: it is exactly 102 years since South Australian suffragist Muriel Matters became the first woman to speak in the House of Commons.

An honourable member interjecting:

Ms BEDFORD: This Thursday. Muriel was born in Bowden in 1877 and travelled to England in 1905 to further her theatrical career. A gifted elocutionist and musician, Muriel became involved with London's arts community, many of whom were actively involved in the cause of women's suffrage. British women had been seeking franchise since 1863 and, at the time of Muriel's arrival, the Pankhursts had just moved their activities from their base in Manchester to the British capital.

Muriel had already voted twice and soon became involved in the suffragist activities—and I say 'suffragist' because suffragettes who were violent had not yet entered the scene. The suffragists had many tactics to draw attention to their struggle: they chalked pavements, sold penny postcards and held meetings, rallies and demonstrations and chainings; usually, chainings were to the railings of prominent buildings, often outside No. 10 Downing Street. Muriel took this form of civil disobedience to parliament on the evening of 28 October.

With her friends Violet Tillard, who was armed with an A3-size proclamation banner, and Helen Fox, Muriel was escorted into the ladies' gallery by an unsuspecting MP sympathetic to women's suffrage. Helen and Muriel had belts attached to their bodies under their clothing, with chains and padlocks attached to them. The chains had been wrapped in wool and wound around their waist, under cloaks so they would not be detected.

During the licensing debate, which took place around 7.30 that evening, Muriel and Helen attached the padlocks to sections of the grille that separated those sitting behind it from the view of the MPs on the floor of the house. The grille had become a strong symbol of the exclusion women faced from the political process. At the pre-arranged signal, Muriel rose to her feet and spoke at the top of her voice about why votes for women was such an important issue.

Violet had the proclamation banner, which she lowered on a piece of string into the view of the Speaker's chair below. As she was not chained to the gallery, she was removed rather easily, but Helen and Muriel were attached by their chains and could not be taken out. As they could not have the chains removed, observing the conventions of modesty at the time, it was necessary to unscrew the partition from the wall, and that placed Muriel on the floor of the House of Commons, effectively making her the first woman to speak there.

Muriel and the grille will be reunited here in Centre Hall on Thursday. Through the wonderful work of the Clerk of our house, who approached the Westminster people, we now have a section of the grille here in Adelaide. We hope also shortly to have a set of chains from the Museum of London on display. However, on Thursday, we will be unveiling a display, and the Speaker has graciously agreed to officiate.

We will also have Muriel in attendance, because the play, Why Muriel Matters, which was commissioned by the Muriel Matters Society, will take place in the Old Chamber on Friday evening. The historic significance of the venue cannot be overlooked for it was in that chamber in 1894 that the vote was taken to allow South Australian women to have dual suffrage—something we claim as a world first.

Fabulous Adelaide actresses Teresa DeGennaro, as Muriel, and Carol Young, as Violet Tillard, will recreate the Cabaret Festival Fringe success of the re-enactment of Muriel's visit to Adelaide in 1910, which was held in June earlier this year. So, we will have here on Friday night Muriel reunited with the portion of the grille she has not seen for 102 years. We are very excited to be able to put this on display for visitors to Parliament House to have access to, and we very much look forward to having schoolchildren and members of the public at large come through to see the display, which will also highlight the many different depictions of the grille that was in the press at the time, a Punch cartoon and some caricatures of how suffragists were viewed by the public.

I think Muriel's role and legacy to this state mean that people who have a grievance can do something about it, take a stand and make a change to society. We know civil disobedience is something that causes great discomfort to a lot of people, but it is a way of bringing to your parliamentary leaders your dissatisfaction at anything that you see. I urge all members of the house and their staff to attend the play and look forward to seeing them at the performance.

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