Annabelle Rankin
Dame Annabelle Jane Mary Rankin DBE (28 July 1908 – 30 August 1986) was an Australian politician and diplomat. She was the first woman from Queensland elected to parliament, the first woman federal departmental minister, and the first Australian woman to be appointed head of a foreign mission.
The Honourable Dame Annabelle Rankin | |
|---|---|
| High Commissioner of Australia to New Zealand | |
| In office 1971–1974 | |
| Prime Minister | William McMahon Gough Whitlam |
| Preceded by | Ted Hicks |
| Succeeded by | Brian Clarence Hill |
| Minister for Housing | |
| In office 26 January 1966 – 22 March 1971 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Holt John McEwen John Gorton William McMahon |
| Preceded by | Les Bury |
| Succeeded by | Kevin Cairns |
| Government Whip in the Senate | |
| In office 11 June 1951 – 8 March 1966 | |
| Prime Minister | Robert Menzies |
| Preceded by | Reg Wright |
| Succeeded by | Malcolm Scott |
| Senator for Queensland | |
| In office 1 July 1947 – 24 May 1971 | |
| Succeeded by | Neville Bonner |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Annabelle Jane Mary Rankin 28 July 1908 South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Died | 30 August 1986 (aged 78) South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Relations | Colin Rankin (father) |
Rankin was born in Brisbane, the daughter of state MP Colin Rankin. A member of the Liberal Party, she was elected to the Senate at the 1946 federal election, taking her seat the following year. She was the second woman elected to the Senate, after Dorothy Tangney. Rankin was the Liberal Party's chief whip from 1947 to 1950 and from 1951 to 1966; she remains the longest-serving whip in the party's history, in either chamber of parliament. In 1966, she was made Minister for Housing in the Holt government, becoming the first woman to hold a ministerial portfolio. She held that position until her retirement from politics in 1971. As High Commissioner to New Zealand from 1971 to 1974, she was the first woman to head an Australian mission overseas.