Elizabeth was born to William Edward Burton and his wife Elizabeth (nee Williams) at Mount Gambier, South Australia on 25 October 1864. At 22, Elizabeth married an engineer for the South Australian railways, John George Craig, at the Christ Church, Mount Gambier, on 20 April 1887. John hailed from Bendigo in Victoria. The couple had three children: Mary Kathleen Napier born 3 February 1888 in Mount Gambier; John Grahame Napier born 14 October 1889 in Quorn and Marjorie Sarah Napier Craig also born in Quorn, South Australia, on 8 October 1893. Elizabeth is registered on her birth certificate as Elizabeth Katie Burton. In 1895, Elizabeth she was one of the 82 women who enrolled to vote after the franchise was granted to South Australian and Territory women in 1894. Her age is not on the registration, but she would have been in her early thirties if this is indeed the same Elizabeth who left Palmerston with her child Marjorie on 15 April 1901 listing her age as 36. Elizabeth registered at the Palmerston polling place. Her occupation was listed as "governess." Research by Barbara James suggests that Elizabeth may have worked as a governess for H.W.H. Stevens and his wife Rosie.,
The July and September 1896 electoral roll revision notes that Elizabeth had left the district. However, there is evidence that she left in 1901. Her husband, and Marjorie's father John George, left on 8 July 1901. There is no evidence suggesting that either of their other two children came to Palmerston. Elizabeth and John were taken off the electoral roll in 1901 ad they had left the district. Their departure from Darwin may have been prompted by the death of their son John in Bendigo. Presumably the family returned to South Australia because by November of that year, newspaper evidence of John George working as an engineer with the South Australian Railways can be found again. He is listed as giving evidence at the Petersburg Coroner's Inquest for the fatal Walloway rail accident. John died in a car accident in Adelaide in 1910. Elizabeth's death was registered in 1957 at her residence in Mount Lofty, South Australia.,
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,
Australia Birth Index, 1788-1922 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.,
Australia Marriage Index, 1788-1950 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.,
Related links
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46094510 ['Family Notices : Marriage,' South Australian Register, 27 April 1887, p. 4.],
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3332843 ['Electoral Revision Court,' Northern Territory Times and Gazette, 25 September 1896, p. 4.],
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4283208 ['Schedule X. List of Persons Objected to,' Northern Territory Times and Gazette, 13 September 1901, p. 4.],