Dame Elizabeth Couchman DBE (1876–1982), political activist, grew up in in Geelong and gained a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Australia. She joined the Australian Women's National League (AWNL) in 1910 and was appointed president in 1927. In 1932 she was the first woman appointed to the Australian Broadcasting Commission board, serving until 1942. Elected to the National Council of Women's centenary council executive in 1933, Couchman helped to plan an international conference of women held in Melbourne; and represented Australia at the International Council of Women conference in Paris. Over the years she vigorously championed the interests of the AWNL at political level. Having brought the AWNL into the United Australia Party fold, Couchman stood (unsuccessfully) as the UAP candidate for Melbourne in the 1943 Federal election. In 1944, when the formation of the Liberal Party was under discussion, the influence of the AWNL, and Couchman, were publicly recognised. The following year she instigated the AWNL's merge with the new Liberal Party and in return secured equal representation for women at all levels of the party's Victorian division. In 1949 she became metropolitan vice-president of the Victorian Liberal Party, a position she held for six years, before serving on the party's state council into her eighties (she died at 106). Appointed OBE in 1941, she was made DBE in 1960. Sir Robert Menzies is said to have stated that Couchman 'would have been the best cabinet minister I could have wished for'. Although she was never elected to parliament herself, she was a mentor to several distinguished women including Dame Ivy Wedgwood, the first female senator for Victoria, and Dame Margaret Guilfoyle, who was elected to the Senate in 1970 and was the first female cabinet minister with a portfolio.
