Edith Cowan

Edith Dircksey Cowan (née Brown), MBE (2 August 1861 – 9 June 1932) was an Australian politician, social campaigner and the first woman elected to an Australian parliament.

In 1984 the federal Division of Cowan was created and named after her, and in January 1991 the Western Australian College of Advanced Education was renamed Edith Cowan University (ECU).

Her portrait appears on the Australian fifty dollar note, a polymer banknote that was first issued in October 1995. In 1996 a plaque honouring her was placed in St George's Cathedral. There are references to her in a public art installation in Kings Park that was unveiled in November 1999 to commemorate the centenary of women's suffrage