Three Parliamentary pioneers are to be honoured in a new round of sculptures to be placed among the trees and walking pathways in Canberra.
According to Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, the statues will depict the first two women elected to Federal Parliament and the first Indigenous Australian to take his place in Parliament, all of which will be placed within Canberra’s National Triangle near Old Parliament House.
Mr Morrison said Enid Lyons (pictured), Dorothy Tangney and Neville Bonner laid the path for those who had followed them and rightly deserved recognition.
“It’s important we never forget those who shaped our history so that ours and future generations are always reminded of the sacrifices they made and the courage they showed,” Mr Morrison said.
Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories, Nola Marino said the statues would join those of other prominent Australians in the National Triangle.
“The National Capital Authority will work closely with their descendants and family members in developing each sculpture and I hope we can see them completed in 2022,” Ms Marino said.
Enid Lyons was born in 1897 in Smithton, Tasmania and was the first woman elected to the House of Representatives and the first woman to serve in the Federal Cabinet.
She was also the wife Joseph Lyons, who was Prime Minister of Australia from 1932 to 1939.
Dorothy Tangney was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1907 and served as the first woman elected to the Senate for Western Australia from 1943 to 1968.
Neville Bonner was an elder of the Jagera people, born in 1922 in Northern NSW.
He was appointed by the Queensland Parliament to fill a casual vacancy and later became the first Indigenous Australian to be elected to the Parliament by popular vote.
