Ruth Fairfax

Ruth Beatrice Fairfax OBE[1] (8 October 1878 – 1 February 1948) was a founding member of the Australian Country Women's Association and the first President of the CWA's Queensland branch.[2] The federal electorate of Fairfax is named in her honour.[3]

Biography

Fairfax was born Ruth Beatrice Dowling to Frances Emily Dowling née Breillat and Vincent James Dowling on 8 October 1878, in the small town of Lue, near the larger town of Rylstone, New South Wales, Australia.[2] She was educated at by home by governesses, and also attended Sydney Church of England Girls' Grammar School. Ruth Dowling and John Hubert Fraser Fairfax were married on 2 February 1899.[2]

The Fairfaxs moved to a "station" near Longreach, Queensland, then in 1908 to a station near Cambooya, Queensland on the Darling Downs.[2][1] In August 1922, in a meeting at the Albert Hall, Brisbane, Fairfax was elected President of the newly established Queensland branch of Country Women's Association.[2][1] She then went on a tour of six months around outback Queensland, establishing branches of the CWA and recruiting women to their local CWAs.[2] In 1929, Fairfax travelled to the UK where she studied at Women's Institutes in England and Scotland.[1]

In her later years, she was afflicted with diabetes. Fairfax died on 1 February 1948 from chronic nephritis in St Luke's Hospital, Potts Point, New South Wales.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Women's contributions to Queensland: 1920 - 1929, Office for Women (Queensland Government)". Government of Queensland. 23 March 2009. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Martha, Rutledge (1981). "Fairfax, Ruth Beatrice (1878–1948)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: Australian National University. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "Commonwealth Electoral Division of Fairfax (Qld)". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 24 September 2010.

External links


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