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TEHAN, Thomas Joseph (1916–1996)<br /> <span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1975–78 (National Country Party)</span>

TEHAN, Thomas Joseph (1916–1996)
Senator for Victoria, 1975–78 (National Country Party)

With his Irish Catholic heritage and ‘doubtful’ vocation as a ‘provincial lawyer’, Tom Tehan appeared to be an unlikely member of the National Party of Australia, much less its Victorian president and senator. Nonetheless, he firmly believed in the party’s ‘bread and butter philosophy’ and was adamant that rural enterprises were the lifeblood of regional families and communities. Thomas Joseph Tehan was born at

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TRENWITH, William Arthur (1846–1925)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1904–10 (Independent)</span>

TRENWITH, William Arthur (1846–1925)
Senator for Victoria, 1904–10 (Independent)

William Arthur Trenwith, bootmaker, federal father and the first Independent senator, was born on 15 July 1846 at Launceston, Tasmania. His convict parents, William Trenwith and Beatrice McBarrett, were not wed at the time, but seem to have married by 1850. His father, who came from Penzance, Cornwall, and was transported for life for burglary, arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1825; he was

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WADE, Harrie Walter (1905–1964)<br /> <span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1956–64 (Australian Country Party)</span>

WADE, Harrie Walter (1905–1964)
Senator for Victoria, 1956–64 (Australian Country Party)

Harrie Walter Wade, farmer, accountant and Country Party leader in the Senate, was born on 10 January 1905, at Clear Lake in the Wimmera district of Victoria. He was the son of Victorian-born parents, Harrie Walter Wade, farmer, and Ada Louise, née Edmonds. He attended the local primary and high schools at Horsham, then worked for a time as a schoolteacher and a clerk,

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WEBSTER, James Joseph (1925–2022)<br /> <span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1964–80 (Australian Country Party; National Country Party)</span>

WEBSTER, James Joseph (1925–2022)
Senator for Victoria, 1964–80 (Australian Country Party; National Country Party)

James Joseph Webster was born on Flinders Island, Tasmania, on 14 June 1925, the youngest of three sons of Leslie Leeder Webster and Eileen Dorothy, née Thorne. Leslie Webster was a farmer, chairman of the local butter factory, Justice of the Peace and a shire councillor. In 1929 the family moved to Dunhelen, a farm at Greenvale near Melbourne, where they lived for many

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WEDGWOOD, Dame Ivy Evelyn Annie (1896–1975)<br /> <span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1950–71 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

WEDGWOOD, Dame Ivy Evelyn Annie (1896–1975)
Senator for Victoria, 1950–71 (Liberal Party of Australia)

Dame Ivy Evelyn Annie Wedgwood, accountant and magistrate, was a founding member of the Liberal Party, and was the first Victorian woman elected to the Senate. Ivy was born on 18 October 1896 in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern, the elder of two daughters of Elizabeth, née Evans, and her husband, Albert Drury, both Victorian-born. Ivy grew up in the Melbourne working-class suburb of

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ZAKHAROV, Alice Olive (1929–1995)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1983–95 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

ZAKHAROV, Alice Olive (1929–1995)
Senator for Victoria, 1983–95 (Australian Labor Party)

Throughout her life Olive Zakharov was a grassroots campaigner for human rights and social justice. She eschewed personal publicity and political advancement in favour of promoting the causes and issues that she believed in. Born in Kew, Melbourne, on 19 March 1929, Alice Olive Hay was the youngest of four daughters of Robert and Alice Anderson Hay, née Dobie. Scottish-born Robert Hay was a

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ZEAL, Sir William Austin (1830–1912)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1901–06 (Protectionist)</span>

ZEAL, Sir William Austin (1830–1912)
Senator for Victoria, 1901–06 (Protectionist)

William Zeal was born on 5 December 1830 at Westbury, Wiltshire, England, the son of Thomas Zeal, a wine merchant and his wife Ann, née Greenland. Zeal was educated privately at schools in Westbury and Windsor, obtaining a diploma as a surveyor and engineer in 1851. In 1852, he migrated to Australia and headed straight to the Victorian goldfields. He worked for some two

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