Local elections then and now
In August 1927 elections were held for three vacancies on the Port Melbourne Council. The Central Executive of the Labor Party endorsed three candidates: George (G.S.) Walter, Albert (A.E). Davies and Mrs Jennie Baines.
Baines was not successful. She polled 563 votes. She was undeterred by the result saying that ‘women were as necessary on the council as in the home’. Baines had been through tougher setbacks earlier in her life.
Successfully elected Walter had been a Councillor for 30 years, while William Howe, the successful non Labor candidate had served on Council 9 times.
Jennie Baines came to Australia from England in 1913. She was a militant suffragette. Repeated imprisonment and hunger strikes had affected her health as this photograph suggests.
Baines came to Melbourne to recover her health. At first, she and her husband George and family lived in Fitzroy. They moved to Port Melbourne in 1926 – next door to the Port Melbourne Police Station1.
While Jennie Baines may not have been successful in being elected to Council, she went on to serve as a special magistrate of the childrens’ court in Port Melbourne. She was a tireless worker for the unemployed and supported many families in Port Melbourne through the Depression.
Elections to the Port Phillip Council will take place in October this year by postal ballot.
Unlike in Baines’ day, support and resources are offered to people considering standing for election. The Victorian Local Governance Association issues an updated campaign toolkit for women each election. The Municipal Association of Victoria held a briefing for potential candidates in the south east region at the St Kilda Town Hall earlier this week.
In the 2020 Council elections, held during Covid lockdown, 43% of successful candidates in Victoria were women. (There are 4 women and 5 men on the 2020 to 2024 Port Phillip Council). In 2024, the Victorian Local Governance Association is aiming to see 50% women elected as councillors and mayors.
In an interview with the local paper when she was 77 years old, Jennie Baines held up a treasured possession – a window smashing bag from her suffragette days which she ‘wielded vigorously’.
The interview concluded: ‘Mrs Baines makes it a point of honor to be first to record her vote on election day. She believes that suffrage so hardly won, is not to be lightly regarded.’
Jennie Baines was an activist to the core. In an acerbic letter to Labor Call, she lists all the behaviours that can undermine an association:
– If you do come, come late.
– If the weather does not suit you, don’t think of coming
– if you do attend a meeting, find fault with the work of the officers and other members.
– never accept an office as it is easier to criticise than to do things.
– nevertheless, get sore if you are not appointed on a committee; but if you are, do not attend the committee meetings. And there’s more …
The Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society is working to ‘put her name on it’ by getting a worthy place in Port Melbourne named after the redoubtable Jennie Baines.
1 Now Schembri + McCluskys Lawyers
Resources
Election rolls close at 4 pm on Wednesday 7 August. Visit the Victorian Electoral Commission website to enrol or check your enrolment details.
Local Women Leading Change Campaign Toolkit, Victorian Local Governance Association, July 2024
Read more about Jennie Baines
Sarah Jane (Jennie) Baines 1866 – 1951 Judith Smart, Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1979
Family memories of Jennie Baines, Lyn McLeavy, Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society
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