Elizabeth was born in Blumbury, South Australia which is now called Birdwood. She married William Joseph Byrne on 22 February 1890 at Palmerston (Darwin), arriving from Sydney on the day of her wedding. They had seven sons, but only the names of four are known. Elizabeth was one of the 82 women who enrolled to vote after the franchise was granted to South Australian and Territory women in 1894. Her husband was the proprietor of the Northern Territory Times & Gazette before it was sold to his brother. She and William then took up the lease of Bryneside (Burnside) Station near Brocks Creek and became very involved with the Brocks Creek racing club and the community. In 1906 Elizabeth and her husband had a Christmas party for residents of Brocks Creek. Elizabeth and her mother Elizabeth Spry raised money for the Red Cross during the First World War, sadly one of her sons was killed on the Western Front in France. Later the family moved to Tipperary Station. In 1922 her husband William stood in the first Territory election after Commonwealth control had been ceded and won, describing himself 'as a self made man who with wife Elizabeth and family business had demonstrated the practicability of the White Australian policy'.,
Subject
Women,
Suffrage,
Northern Territory,
History,
Related materials
James, Barbara. Occupation : Citizen. The Story of the Northern Territory Women and the Vote (1894 – 1896), Darwin : Barbara James, 1995. NTC 324.623 JAME,
Related links
http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=5485,
http://hdl.handle.net/10070/30633,
http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/5981629,
http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21594603,
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59857099,
http://hdl.handle.net/10070/30633 [PictureNT : Burnside Station Homestead garden],
http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21594603 [James, Barbara, Helen J. Wilson, and Joanne Van Os. Occupation, Citizen : The Story of Northern Territory Women and the Vote (1894-96). Darwin, N.T.: B. James, 1995.],
http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=5485 [Place Name Register : Byrne Circuit],
http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/5981629 [Carment, D. 1949-. Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography. Rev. ed. ed. Darwin: Charles Darwin University Press, 2008.],
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59857099 ['Another Pioneer passes.' Centralian Advocate, 11 March 1949, p.1.],