OCTOMAN, JANETTE HANNUM (1879-1971), community worker, was born on 14 November
1879 at Port Lincoln, South Australia, daughter of Caleb Provis, a farmer from
England, and his South Australian-born wife Janetta, née Patterson. Named after
her mother, Janetta was to change (1940) her name to Janette. She was educated by
her grandfather Joseph Provis, a schoolteacher who lived with them. At the
Methodist Church, Tumby Bay, on 11 April 1903 she married Charles Mashon Ochtomann
(Octoman from 1919), a 32-year-old blacksmith; they were to have four sons. About
1920 the family moved to Marden, Adelaide; Charles worked as a builder and farmer,
and the boys furthered their schooling.
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Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
Janette Octoman became a justice of the peace in Adelaide in 1927. She was elected to the state executive of the merged Liberal and Country League in 1932. In 1937 she stood for the seat of Flinders but was defeated by a local farmer. Octoman was a founding member of the Tumby Bay branch of the Country Women's Association. She stood for party endorsement three times at state level after the 1937 defeat, and once for the Senate, but was unable to win selection.
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Australian Women's Register