Lady Bjelke-Petersen | |
|---|---|
 On her wedding day, 31 May 1952 | |
| Senator for Queensland | |
| In office 12 March 1981 – 30 June 1993 | |
| Preceded by | Glen Sheil |
| Succeeded by | John Woodley |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Florence Isabel Gilmour 11 August 1920 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Died | 20 December 2017 (aged 97) Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia |
| Political party | National |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
Florence Isabel Bjelke-Petersen (née Gilmour; 11 August 1920 – 20 December 2017) was an Australian politician. She was a member of the Australian Senate from 1981 to 1993, and was the wife of the longest-serving Premier of Queensland, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. She was styled as Lady Bjelke-Petersen upon her husband's knighthood, and was also known informally as Lady Flo.[1]
Florence Isabel Gilmour was born in Brisbane, as the eldest of two daughters of James Pollock Gilmour, an accountant and company secretary, and his wife Florence Mabel (née Low).[2] She was raised at the Brisbane riverside suburb of New Farm.[2] She started her schooling at the New Farm State School, and later attended the prestigious Brisbane Girls' Grammar School.[2] She was employed as a private secretary to the Queensland Commissioner for Main Roads when she met Johannes Bjelke-Petersen, who was then a Country Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland.[2] They were married on 31 May 1952.[3]
Bjelke-Petersen was preoccupied with home duties until well after Joh Bjelke-Petersen became Premier in 1968. In the 1970s, however, she assumed an increasingly public role, as part of the Queensland National Party's increasing promotion of a Bjelke-Petersen "personality cult". Her simple, homespun sayings and her recipes and affection for pumpkin scones were often associated with her in the media.[4]
At the 1980 federal election, against the wishes of party president Robert Sparkes, Joh Bjelke-Petersen arranged for his wife to be placed in the number one position on the National Party's Queensland senate ticket, ensuring her election. Her term was due to commence on 1 July 1981, however, on 6 February 1981, Queensland Senator Glen Sheil resigned, creating a casual vacancy.[5] She was appointed on 12 March 1981 for the remainder of Sheil's term, and then continued into her own term.
Bjelke-Petersen crossed the floor 18 times during her career, the 12th-most of any MP between 1950 and 2019 and the second-most by a woman after Kathy Sullivan.[6]
When Joh Bjelke-Petersen was knighted in 1984, Flo Bjelke-Petersen became Lady Bjelke-Petersen, and was officially known as "Senator Lady Bjelke-Petersen". She was frequently referred to as "Lady Florence" or "Lady Flo".[7]
She was re-elected at the 1983 and 1987 elections (both double dissolutions), and her term expired on 30 June 1993.[2]
On 20 December 2017, Bjelke-Petersen died at the age of 97 after suffering a short illness. She died in Kingaroy at Orana Aged Care where she had resided since August 2014.[8][9] Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk offered to hold a state funeral which was accepted by their son John Bjelke-Petersen. It was held in the Kingaroy Town Hall.[10][11]
She published a cookbook which included her recipe for her trademark pumpkin scones.[12]
