Weber, Ivy Lavinia (1892-1976)

Also known as
Filshie, Ivy Lavinia (1892-1976)
Field of activity
Parliamentarian, Political candidate and Women's rights activist; Member of Lower House; physical culturist; temperance advocate; women's activist
NLA Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-720091

Biographies

WEBER, IVY LAVINIA (1892-1976), physical culturist and politician, was born on 7 June 1892 at Captains Flat, New South Wales, third child of John Filshie, schoolteacher, and his wife Elizabeth, née Seaman, both native-born. Educated at Dungog and raised as a Presbyterian, she worked in Sydney, possibly at Reuters newsagency, and on 11 December 1915 at the Sacred Heart presbytery, Mosman, married with Catholic rites Thomas Mitchell, a stock and station agent. He was killed in action in France in May 1917, leaving her with a baby son. Living with her parents in Melbourne, Ivy enrolled in the Weber and Rice Health and Strength College and on 7 March 1919 married its principal, Clarence Weber, a widower with seven young children—they were to have three of their own. Domestic help with the children allowed Ivy to run the women's classes at the college.

View the full record at Australian Dictionary of Biography Online

Ivy Lavinia Weber was the first woman to be elected to the Victorian parliament in a general election in 1937. She stood as an endorsed candidate for the Women Electors’ League of Victoria for the seat of Nunawading. As an active member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, she was encouraged to stand for parliament as an independent candidate to represent women. She was re-elected on two occasions, but resigned her state seat in 1943 to contest the federal seat of Henty as part of the League of Women Voters Women for Canberra Movement. She was unsuccessful on that occasion and in 1945 when she again stood for state parliament. She retired from politics after the second defeat.

Ivy Weber was born in 1892 in New South Wales, the only girl in a family of five children. She married in 1915, but was widowed in 1917, when her husband was killed in action in World War One. She was left with a small child and moved to Melbourne to join her parents. In 1919 she married Clarence Weber, a widower with seven young children. They had three more children. Clarence Weber, a physical culturist, was principal of the Weber and Rice Health and Strength College and Ivy assisted with the administration of the College. In addition she was actively involved in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, the National Council of Women and the Australasian Women’s Association. Clarence Weber died in 1930 and Ivy had to earn a living to support her large family. She worked for Berlei the corset manufacturers, lecturing women on figure control through diet and exercise.

In June 1937 the League of Women Electors of Victoria was formed and endorsed three candidates, including Weber to stand for the state parliament. Their manifesto was ‘Mother, Child, Family, Home and Health.’ She was elected to the Victorian parliament in 1937 and was re-elected in 1940 and again in 1943, but resigned to contest the federal seat of Henty as part of the League of Women Voters Women for Canberra Movement.

Weber’s political platform was built on the premise that a true democracy should provide economic security and thus alleviate distress and unemployment. In her view the state should provide free education from kindergarten to university. She proposed a systematic national health scheme as a means of raising the national health standard, advocated the removal of slum dwellings and the erection of suitable homes for families. She also wanted to implement a comprehensive scheme of national insurance.

As a member of parliament she lobbied successfully for female representation on government boards and espoused equal pay for teachers, but she only approved of married women working in desperate circumstances. She believed that women should be on local councils and juries and advocated a homemaker’s allowance for women with families. She was an advocate for the Physical Education Course at the University of Melbourne, the first of its kind in Australia, and was one of the first members of the National Co-ordinating Council for Physical Fitness, later known as the National Fitness Council.

View the full record at Australian Women's Register

Related people and organisations

Resources for Ivy Lavinia Weber

Selected resources (10)

Australian Dictionary of Biography Online

Australian Women's Register

  1. Ivy Lavinia Weber150 Years: 150 Stories : Ivy Lavinia Weber
    McPhee, Peter and Flesch, Juliet
    [2003]
    Published: University of Melbourne
    Series: http://www.unimelb.edu.au/150/150 people/weber.html
  2. Weber, Ivy Lavinia (1892-1976)Australian Dictionary of Biography Online 12 : Weber, Ivy Lavinia (1892-1976)
    Browne, Geoff
    [2006]
    Published: Australian National University
    Series: http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120478b.htm
  3. Ivy Lavinia Weber MLAWorth her salt:women at work in Australia Margaret Bevege, Margaret James, Carmel Shute 453 : Ivy Lavinia Weber MLA
    Davies, Vicki and Hawker, Philippa
    [1982]
    Published: Hale & Iremonger
  4. Worth her Salt: Women at Work in Australia
    Bevege, Margaret, Margaret James, Carmel Shute
    [1982]
    Published: Hale & Iremonger
  5. Carrying on the Fight: Women Candidates in Victorian Parliamentary Elections
    Australian Women's Archives Project
    [2008]
    Published: Australian Women's Archives Project
    Series: http://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/cws/home.html
  6. Women in ParliamentParliament of Victoria : Women in Parliament
    [2003]
    Published: Victorian Government
    Series: http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/women.html
  7. Eleanor Glencross and Ivy Weber: In and out of parliamentDouble Time: Women in Victoria -- 150 years Marilyn Lake and Farley Kelly : Eleanor Glencross and Ivy Weber: In and out of parliament
    Browne, Geoff
    [1985]
    Published: Penguin
  8. Double Time: Women in Victoria - 150 Years
    Lake, Marilyn and Kelly, Farley
    [1985]
    Published: Penguin Books Australia Ltd
  9. State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection: Ivy Lavinia Weber, Victorian M.L.A, 1937-1943, [manuscript] (1979)
    Written by Ivy Weber's grand-daughter Vicki Davies in 1979. Also included are press cuttings relating to Lady Peacock, M.L.A.
    MS 11017

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    The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956) Wednesday 15 September 1937 p 6 Article
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