Australia's two first federal female politicians have had their legacies immortalised in the first female statues to appear in the parliamentary zone in Canberra. The statues of Dame Dorothy Tangney and Dame Enid Lyons will stand on one side of Old Parliament House in the nation's capital, not far from the Women's Suffrage Commemorative Fountain in the adjacent rose gardens.
Dame Enid, hailing from Tasmania, was the first elected woman to the House of Representatives and the first woman to serve in the federal cabinet, while Dame Dorothy was the first woman elected to the Senate for Western Australia, with both taking office in 1943.
The statues, sculpted by Lis Johnson, were inspired by an iconic photograph of the pair on their first day of parliament in September 1943.
