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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-04-04 Daily Xml
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MURIEL MATTERS

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:15): This week marks the end of a special event here at Parliament House. For some months now, the Grille Exhibition has been on public display in Centre Hall, made possible through the generous loan of artefacts from the Museum of London. The exhibition has seen most of the historical items involved in the Grille Protest in the House of Commons on 28 October 1908 displayed together for the first time.

The protest centred on the actions of Bowden-born suffragist Muriel Lilah Matters and her associates from the Women's Freedom League, Helen Fox and Violet Tillard. As part of the campaign to put votes for women on the government's agenda, suffragists had protested outside Westminster whenever parliament was sitting. Women had rushed the house on many occasions, once getting almost as far as Central Lobby.

From that time on, women had to be escorted into the house or the Ladies Gallery. In the Ladies Gallery women were only afforded a peripheral vision of the chamber, obscuring their view of proceedings, and even the Prime Minister at the dispatch box. Women felt the brass grilles used to prevent not only them seeing into the chamber below but also MPs noting how many women were present and actively engaged in observing debates as offensive.

On the night in question, Miss Matters and Miss Fox were wearing thick leather belts under their clothing. Attached to the belts were heavy duty chains with which the women hoped to attach themselves to the grilles. Chaining was a popular suffragist tactic which would buy them time to voice their messages before authorities could detach them and move them on. So that the chains would not be heard rattling, the women wrapped them in woollen cloth, wound them around their waists and then hid them under their cloaks. Miss Tillard had a banner, A3 in size, wound up and concealed up her sleeve. All three women were taken to their seats in the gallery by an unsuspecting member of parliament.

Just after the dinner break, two gentlemen supporters took up their places on either side of the Strangers Gallery, ready to create a diversion to allow our hardy suffragists time to unwind their chains and attach themselves to the grille. When the first supporter stood up and shouted, 'Votes for women' and threw brochures onto the MPs below, he was soon set upon by chamber ushers. This was a signal for the women to spring into action.

As the first man was removed, the second followed suit, rising up to shout, 'Votes for women' and also throwing brochures onto the floor of the house. He suffered the same fate and, as he was dragged out, Miss Matters used her years of elocution training and acting experience to begin an oration on the reasons women should be enfranchised and the benefits that would flow. Miss Tillard lowered her proclamation banner, attached by string to bamboo sticks, to the Speaker's chair below.

As Miss Matters was eventually set upon by ushers, who soon discovered how difficult it was going to be to remove her, Miss Fox took over. Miss Tillard was not chained and was easily removed and put outside a back door. She returned to the protest in St Stephens, no doubt, to report progress from inside. Back upstairs in the Ladies Gallery, time was ticking by and Muriel was berating MPs for not giving women equal rights in voting, something she had already done twice before she left South Australia.

It was soon decided the fastest remedy was to remove the women while still attached to the grilles. By taking the grilles out of place, Muriel was technically placed on the floor of the house, thus making her speech that night the first by any woman in the House of Commons. The house's proceedings were eventually closed down, Hansard merely noting a disturbance, but no other detail.

After being taken to a nearby committee room, Muriel and Helen's chains were sawn through—and I presume they were able to undress in private to remove the belts, which were then confiscated by the Speaker, explaining their subsequent transfer to the Museum of London. The banner was held by the House of Lords archives, which also has the original police report. For our exhibition these items have been copied by generous permission. A section of the grille, located after significant investigation, is on loan, with the generous permission again, from Westminster.

That night, Helen Fox vanished, never to be seen again, but Muriel and Violet were among the 14 women who were imprisoned in Holloway. Muriel's Women's Freedom League prison badge is also part of our exhibition.

On behalf of the Muriel Matters Society, I would like put on record our appreciation to Dr Mark Collins, Estate Curator at Westminster and Mrs Beverley Cook and Mr Nickos Gogolos from the Museum of London. We are also indebted to the Clerk of the House of Assembly and parliamentary staff who have provided tremendous assistance in mounting the exhibition.

Many thousands of people, including our Governor-General and our Governor, have marvelled at the exhibition and the powerful statement the artefacts make in telling the story of the struggle for votes, something which women rightly saw as the only way to help change things for the better. I put this on record to say to everyone how important voting is and that I hope members who have had the opportunity to show people the exhibition will take it as an opportunity to also explain the story behind the struggle for franchise and why our democracy remains such a shining example in the western world.

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