Alicia O'Shea Petersen

Who was Alicia O'Shea Petersen?

Alicia Teresa Jane O'Shea Petersen was a Tasmanian suffragist and social reformer.

Alicia O'Shea Petersen was born in Tasmania. She became interested in women's and labor rights as a result of her own work in sweatshops. She was also influenced by her cousin John Earle, who founded the Workers' Political League and became the first Labor Premier of Tasmania in 1909.

She was the first woman in Tasmania to stand as a political candidate, contesting the federal seat of Denison in 1913. In 1922, when women were first eligible to stand for the Tasmanian House of Assembly, she was a political candidate in Denison.