Rosemary Follett (born 27 March 1948) is a former Australian politician who was the inaugural Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory, serving in 1989 and again between 1991 and 1995. She was the first woman to become head of government in an Australian state or territory. Early life Follett is the daughter of hansard writer Aubrey Follett, an Anglican, and his wife Judith (née Lusby), a teacher and Roman Catholic. Follett was born in Sydney in 1948, and moved with her family to Canberra in 1952. She took inspiration from female models of leadership in her own family from an early age - her mother was a teacher who had worked in naval intelligence with the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service during World War Two, while her aunt, Dr Gwen (Lusby) Fleming, had been a Major in the Australian Army Medical Corps, and aunt, Elizabeth Lusby was a school prioress in the Dominican Sisters. Follett attended Canberra Catholic Girls' High School. She joined the Australian Public Service after leaving school, and travelled to Darwin and Sydney. She returned to Canberra with the public service, but was made to resign when she married, as was the policy at the time. She studied stenography, and worked as a secretary for various politicians over the next ten years. The 1975 dismissal of the Whitlam government inspired Follett to join the Ginninderra branch of the Labor Party, serving as its president between 1983 and 1984. In the meantime, she returned to university, studying arts and administration at the Canberra College of Advanced Education, and rejoined the public service. Prior to her election to the Assembly, Follett was an elected Member for Fraser in the representative advisory ACT House of Assembly, serving between 1985 and 1986; and became President of the ACT branch of Labor in 1987. Political career Preselected to lead Labor in the period before the 1989 inaugural general election, Follett was elected to the inaugural ACT Legislative Assembly and, on 11 May 1989, was elected by the Assembly as the inaugural Chief Minister. The first Assembly was characterised by a hung parliament and significant political instability. Confidence was waning in the minority Follett Labor government. On 5 December 1989, Bernard Collaery, leader of the Residents Rally group (with four members in the Assembly) moved the following motion in the Assembly: The vote was resolved in affirmative (10 votes to 7 votes),