Dorothy Jelicich

Dorothy Catherine Jelicich QSO (née MacDonald, 19 January 1928 – 10 April 2015) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. She served one term in the House of Representatives representing the Hamilton West electorate, and was afterwards a city councillor in Hamilton and then Manukau.

Dorothy Jelicich
QSO
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Hamilton West
In office
25 November 1972 – 30 October 1975
Preceded byLeslie Munro
Succeeded byMike Minogue
Personal details
Born
Dorothy Catherine MacDonald

(1928-01-19)19 January 1928
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died10 April 2015(2015-04-10) (aged 87)
Otahuhu, New Zealand
Political partyLabour
Spouse
Paul Stephen Jelicich
​
​
(m. 1949; died 2014)​

Early life and family

Jelicich was born in Sydney on 19 January 1928.[1] Her father was a semi-skilled labourer.[2] She was educated at Epsom Girls' Grammar School and the Elam School of Fine Arts. In 1949 she married Paul Jelicich, a bricklayer,[1] and, with family support, she opened a restaurant in the Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe.[2] Purchasing a small dairy farm at Bombay in 1964, the couple took up farming, but in 1970 she became a shoe store manager and then a trade union organiser.[2]

Political career
New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1972–1975 37th Hamilton West Labour

Jelicich, through her union job, became a member of the Labour Party and became a member of the executive of the Manurewa electorate and president of the Papatoetoe electorate committee. She stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for Hauraki in 1969.[3] In 1972 she won the seat of Hamilton West for Labour by defeating Hamilton City Councillor Derek Heather after the incumbent, Leslie Munro of the National Party, retired.[4] She became the first woman in New Zealand parliamentary history to open the Address-in-Reply debate.[5] In 1975 she lost her seat to Mike Minogue.[4]

Following her defeat she stood for the vice-presidency of the Labour Party at the 1976 party conference. She lost to Gerald O'Brien, placing second in the delegate ballot with a credible 344 votes to O'Brien's 585.[6] In early 1977 she stood as a candidate for the Labour Party nomination in the Māngere by-election. She had the backing of both the outgoing MP Colin Moyle, Labour leader Bill Rowling, but regardless she lost out to future Prime Minister David Lange.[7] She contested the Hamilton West electorate once more in the 1978 election.[8]

She briefly served on the Hamilton City Council after winning a by-election in 1979.[9] She unsuccessfully stood for the Labour nomination at the 1980 Onehunga by-election. Just as in Mangere she gathered much support among local members but again missed out, narrowly losing to Fred Gerbic.[10][11] In 1982 (via another by-election) she became a Manukau City Councillor, representing Mangere Ward until she retired in 1995.[12]

Honours and awards

In the 1986 New Year Honours, Jelicich was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services.[13] In 1993, she was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.[14]

Death

Jelicich died on 10 April 2015 at Middlemore Hospital, Auckland at the age of 87, having been predeceased by her husband in October the previous year.[15] She was survived by their three children.[16]

Notes
  1. "Jelicich, Dorothy". Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages. Thomson Gale. 1 January 2007. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  2. Phillips, Jock (15 November 2012). "Understanding class: Dorothy Jelicich". Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  3. "21 new members in House". The Press. 27 November 1972. p. 3.
  4. Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840–1984 (4 ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. pp. 208, 220. OCLC 154283103.
  5. "Obituaries — Dorothy Catherine Jelicich QSO, Hon Ronald Leslie Bailey QSO". Hansard (debates). New Zealand Parliament. 28 April 2015. p. 1. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  6. "Party Chief Plans to Seek Ideas". The New Zealand Herald. 12 May 1976. p. 3.
  7. "16 now chase Labour nod for Mangere". Auckland Star. 15 February 1977. p. 48.
  8. Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.
  9. "Former Hamilton West MP dies". Waikato Times. 14 April 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  10. "Labour's Onehunga line-up". The Evening Post. 9 May 1980. p. 1.
  11. "Gerbic Nod". The Evening Post. 10 May 1980. p. 1.
  12. "Dorothy Jelicich passes away". labour.org.nz. 10 April 2015. Archived from the original on 13 April 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  13. "No. 50362". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 31 December 1985. p. 31.
  14. "The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 – register of recipients". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  15. "Death Notice & Guest Book Preview for Paul Stephen Jelicich". The New Zealand Herald. 13 October 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  16. "Dorothy Jelicich obituary". The New Zealand Herald. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2015.

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dorothy Jelicich.
  • Women in Parliamentary Life 1970–1990: Hocken Lecture 1993 by Marilyn Waring, p. 32 (Hocken Library, University of Otago, 1994); ISBN 0-902041-61-4
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