What is Edith Cowan?
[[File:Edith Cowan 1900.jpg|thumb|200px|Cowan in {{circa|1900}}]] '''Edith Dircksey Cowan''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|OBE}} (''{{nee}}'' '''Brown'''; 2 August 1861 – 9 June 1932) was an [[Australia]]n [[Social movement|social reformer]] and politician. She is best known as the first Australian woman to be a [[member of parliament]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cowan-edith-dircksey-5791|title=Cowan, Edith Dircksey (1861–1932)|author=Brown, Margaret|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=[[Australian National University]]|date=1981|accessdate=31 May 2021}}</ref> She served in the [[Western Australian Legislative Assembly]] from 1921 to 1924. She was a member of the [[Nationalist Party of Australia|Nationalist Party]]. Cowan's activism mostly covered the rights and welfare of women and children. She played a key role in the [[women's suffrage]] movement. In 1899, women were granted the right to vote in [[Western Australia]]. The federal [[Division of Cowan]] and [[Edith Cowan University]] are named in honour of her. Cowan has been featured on the reverse of [[Australian fifty-dollar note|Australia's 50-dollar note]] since 1995. Cowan was born at Glengarry [[Station (agriculture)|station]] near [[Geraldton, Western Australia|Geraldton]], Western Australia.{{efn|Glengarry station is now located in [[Moonyoonooka]], a rural locality on the eastern margin of Geraldton.<ref>{{cite web |title=Municipal Inventory of Heritage Places Place Record: Glengarry |url=https://www.cgg.wa.gov.au/Profiles/cgg/Assets/ClientData/Document-Centre/Planning/Heritage/Greenough/Greenough_Heritage_Place_Number-165-MCH126990.pdf |publisher=City of Greater Geraldton |accessdate=31 May 2021 |date=13 December 2018}}</ref>}} She married James Cowan in 1879. She died on 9 June 1932 in [[Subiaco, Western Australia|Subiaco]], a suburb of [[Perth, Western Australia|Perth]], Western Australia. She was 70.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mrs Cowan's death |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/83706829 |access-da