Ann Symonds
{{Short description|Australian politician (1939–2018)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix =
|name = Ann Symonds
|honorific-suffix = AM
|image =
|caption =
|imagesize =
|office = Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
|term_start = 8 September 1982
|term_end = 30 April 1998
|predecessor = Peter Baldwin
|successor = Carmel Tebbutt
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1939|7|12}}
|birth_place = Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia
|birthname = Elizabeth Ann Burley
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2018|11|15|1939|7|12|df=y}}
|death_place = Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
|nationality = Australian
|party = Labor Party
|spouse = {{marriage|Maurice Symonds|16 January 1965}}
|children = Five
|alma_mater = University of New South Wales
}}
Elizabeth Ann Symonds {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AM}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|m|ə|n|d|z}}; née Burley; 12 July 1939 – 15 November 2018) was an Australian politician. She was a Labor member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1982 to 1998.
Biography
Born in Murwillumbah, Ann Burley trained as a teacher at Armidale Teacher's College and the University of New South Wales. On 16 January 1965 she married Maurice Symonds, with whom she had five children. She joined the Labor Party in 1967. In 1974 she was elected to Waverley Municipal Council, becoming the municipality's first female Deputy Mayor in 1977.{{cite NSW Parliament |title=Mrs (Ann) Elizabeth Ann Symonds (1939 – 2018) |id=1962 |former=Yes |accessdate=10 May 2019}}
In 1982, Symonds was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council as a Labor member following the resignation of Peter Baldwin, who was contesting the federal seat of Sydney in the upcoming federal election. She held her seat until 1998, when she resigned; the subsequent vacancy was filled by Carmel Tebbutt.
She was a founder of the Australian Parliamentary Group on Drug Law Reform (APGDLR), a cross party group of 100 MPs from State and Commonwealth parliaments. The group was set up in 1993 after a meeting in Canberra convened by Symonds and Michael Moore (ACT Assembly).{{cite web|url=http://adlrf.org.au/about/apgdlr/|title=Australian Parliamentary Group for Drug Law Reform|access-date=2011-11-02}}
Symonds was Patron of SHINE for Kids, a charity supporting children which family members in the criminal justice system, from 1999 until her death.{{Cite web|url=https://shineforkids.org.au/about-us/our-patrons/|title=Our Patrons|website=shineforkids.org.au|date=7 September 2015|language=en-AU|access-date=2018-11-20}} She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2015 Australia Day Honours for "significant service to social justice, particularly through drug law reform, and to the Parliament of New South Wales".{{Cite web |title=Ms Elizabeth Ann SYMONDS |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1150920 |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=Australian Honours Search Facility}}
Symonds died in St Vincent's Private Hospital, Darlinghurst, on 15 November 2018 after a long illness. The notice of her death ended with the epithet, "Well-behaved women rarely make history".{{Cite news|url=http://tributes.smh.com.au/obituaries/smh-au/obituary.aspx?n=ann-symonds&pid=190783928|title=Ann Symonds - Notices|date=2018-11-21|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=2018-11-21}}
References
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Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council
Category:Members of the Order of Australia
Category:University of New South Wales alumni
Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales
Category:Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Council