32 Facts About Marie Breen

Dame Marie Freda Breen DBE was an Australian politician who, following her election in 1961, became the second woman in the Australian Senate to represent the state of Victoria and the sixth female senator in Australia overall.

Marie Breen was noted for her commitment to improving the wellbeing of Australian women, children, and family units, as well as her commitment to community service.

Marie Breen died in 1993; she was memorialised by senator Rod Kemp as a "remarkable woman with great strength of character".

Marie Breen Freda Chamberlin was born in St Kilda, Victoria, on 3 November 1902.

Marie Breen's mother, Jane Maud Conquest, was the Australian-born daughter of English parents and a native of Melbourne.

Marie Breen's father, Frederick William Chamberlin, was born in England; as a teenager, he immigrated from Devon to Australia and found employment as a town clerk in St Kilda.

Marie Breen intended to serve in World War I, but his enlistment was rejected due to a heart condition; he instead served in war fundraising efforts, in which Breen participated.

Marie Breen described her mother as "warm and sympathetic" and her father as "reserved".

Marie Breen labelled her childhood as "happy" and recounted having interest in her father's town council work as a child.

Marie Breen's practice did not materialise at that time and she moved on to be a law clerk for a solicitor firm, a career which she enjoyed.

In 1933, Marie Breen became the secretary of the Brighton Auxiliary for the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Marie Breen became the secretary of the Australian Women's National League's Brighton branch, where she met AWNL president Elizabeth Couchman.

Marie Breen was additionally a member of the Melbourne Marriage Guidance Council, which later became the Marriage Guidance Council of Victoria, and an executive member of the Victorian Baby Health Centres Association for 36 years.

Marie Breen was introduced to party politics by her husband, who she described as a "champion debater"; in 1935, he ran in the Victorian Legislative Assembly election for the seat of Collingwood, but was not elected.

Marie Breen served a term as the president of the party's Federal Women's Committee in 1952, was the president of the National Council of Women Victoria from 1954 to 1958, and was the party's vice president for the state of Victoria from 1955 until 1962.

Marie Breen initially had little interest in seeking election to the Senate, as she did not want to be separated from her family for long durations of time.

Marie Breen was a supporter of increases in welfare payments, especially to families, believing that familial stability was key to individual, and, by extension, national progress.

Marie Breen was an admirer of the first female Australian senator, Dorothy Tangney, due to her work on behalf of the people of Western Australia.

Marie Breen involved herself in the Colombo Plan, an international organisation providing humanitarian and financial aid to developing countries, especially in Southeast Asia.

Marie Breen believed that Australia had an obligation to help poorer countries attain a similar standard of living.

Marie Breen was in support of anti-communist efforts in Vietnam and Indonesia, and advocated for Australian intervention in the Vietnam War.

Marie Breen represented Australia at the 1966 conference of the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League in Seoul.

Marie Breen served on committees regarding topics such as housing, education, and immigration.

Marie Breen chose not to seek reelection in the Senate in order to continue caring for him, and retired at the end of her term on 30 June 1968.

Marie Breen later lamented the decrease in female representation in the Australian Senate following her retirement.

Marie Breen was the founder and president of the Victorian Association of the Citizens Advice Bureau from 1970 and 1978.

Marie Breen was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1958 due to her work as the Victorian president of the National Council of Women from 1954 to 1958.

Marie Breen was further appointed as a Dame Commander on 16 June 1979 in general recognition of her community service.

Margaret Guilfoyle, an Australian senator elected shortly after Marie Breen, described Marie Breen's time in the Senate as an "extension" of her long history of community service.

Marie Breen died on 17 June 1993, in Elsternwick, Melbourne, at the age of 90.

Marie Breen had still been living in Brighton at the time of her death.

Marie Breen was memorialised in the Parliament of Australia by senator Rod Kemp two months after her death, who called her a "remarkable woman with great strength of character".