Labour Australia

Agnes Chambers, n.d.

Agnes Chambers, née Foster (1883-1969) midwife, miners’ women's auxiliary pioneer, community worker 

Birth: 21 August 1883 at Holygate, Broxburn, Uphall, Linlithgowshire, Scotland, daughter of Joseph Foster (1855-1926), a labourer born in Northern Ireland, and Rachel, née Keilty (1861-1919). Marriage: 30 September 1904 at Broxburn, Scotland, to James Chambers (1875-1953), shale miner. They had two daughters and six sons. Death: 27 November 1969 at Wonthaggi, Victoria. Religion: Presbyterian. 

• Arrived in Melbourne with her family aboard the Baradine in October 1922. Her father, who had been an elder of the West United Free Church and a Sunday school teacher in Broxburn and worked for the local Labour Party there, followed her to Victoria in 1925.
• Pioneer and first president of Miners’ Womens Auxiliary, Wonthaggi, formed in 1934, the first of its kind. Represented Wonthaggi at First National Conference of Miners’ Auxiliaries in June 1940.
• Was a midwife. Maternity wing at Wonthaggi hospital named after her, opened in 1944. Active in the local kindergarten committee, and the school mothers club.

Sources
Merrifield papers LaTrobe Library, Melbourne; P. Cochrane, ‘The Wonthaggi Coal Strike, 1934’, Labour History, no. 27, 1974, p 28.