Background
Craig was born in Perth, and went to Presbyterian Ladies" College in Mosman Park. In 1951, she married Frank Craig, the son of Les Craig, a member of the Legislative Council for over 20 years.
Craig was born in Perth, and went to Presbyterian Ladies" College in Mosman Park. In 1951, she married Frank Craig, the son of Les Craig, a member of the Legislative Council for over 20 years.
An excellent sportswoman, she represented Western Australia at tennis, and later studied physical education at the University of Western Australia and the University of Melbourne.
She was a minister in the Court and O"Connor governments. Her own great-grandfather, Robert John Lynn, had also sat in the Legislative Council. Following the Court government"s retention at the 1977 state election, she was named Minister for Lands and Forests, becoming only the second woman to serve in a Washington cabinet.
The ministry was reconstituted in 1978 after a portfolio reshuffle, with Craig now Minister for Local Government and Minister for Urban Development and Town Planning.
The latter portfolio was regarded by previous ministers as difficult, and Craig later wrote that she was disappointed she had failed to implement a "grand reshaping" of the town-planning system, despite the introduction of several smaller "technical" changes. Following the 1980 state election, at which the government was again returned, there was speculation that the premier, Sir Charles Court, would retire.
Craig was considered a potential candidate to replace him (along with Bill Grayden, Cyril Rushton, Ray Young, Jim Clarko, and his deputy, Ray O"Connor), but had little partyroom support. Court eventually resigned in early 1982, and was replaced by O"Connor, who retained Craig in his new ministry.
The seat of Wellington was abolished in a redistribution prior to the 1983 election, and was largely incorporated into a new seat, Murray-Wellington.
Despite this new seat being regarded as safer, Craig chose to contest another new seat, Mitchell, which incorporated areas on the outskirts of Bunbury. Craig was one of four ministers to lose their seat, along with Young, Bob Pike, and Richard Shalders. Both before and after her parliamentary career, she had been involved in community and charitable organisations, notably as the national president of the Save the Children Fund.
A member of the Liberal Party since 1950, Craig was elected to the seat of Wellington, in the state"s south-west region, at the 1974 state election, becoming the first woman in the Legislative Assembly since Dame Florence Cardell-Oliver"s retirement in 1956 (and the fourth woman overall).