thereby "antagonized conservative businessmen by their pragmatic willingness to maintain state-owned industries and state intervention in price-fixing and other industrial activities". In his first term as premier, Mitchell's attorney-general Thomas Draper introduced legislation to allow women to stand for parliament and to liberalise the state's divorce laws. Draper was subsequently defeated by Edith Cowan at the 1921 state election, who became the first Australian woman elected to parliament. In 1922, Mitchell supported Cowan's successful private member's bill to allow mothers to inherit an equal share from their children who died intestate. He also supported her anti-sex discrimination bill to allow women to be admitted to the legal profession, although he opposed a clause eliminating the marriage bar. Mitchell's election to a second term in office coincided with the onset of the Great Depression. His government was defeated at the 1933 state elections, in addition to which he became the first Western Australian premier to lose both a state election and his parliamentary seat (of Northam). In November 1930, Mitchell declared his personal support for the secession of Western Australia. The movement for secession, led by the Dominion League of Western Australia, had accelerated following the Great Depression in response to perceived inaction by the federal government, with Mitchell describing himself as a "federalist who could not pay the price". In November 1931, his government introduced a bill for a secession referendum, which was ultimately passed as the Secession Referendum Act 1932. The referendum was held at the same time as the 1933 election and saw Western Australia vote to secede by nearly two-thirds, although it was ultimately unsuccessful. Governor As a result of financial difficulties during the Great Depression, Tasmania had appointed a lieutenant governor in the 1930s. With the approval of the major political parties, in July 1933 Mitchell was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Western Australia. This meant that, although he resided in Government House, Perth, and was governor in all but name, he drew no salary, thus making a reduced demand on the public purse at a time when ordinary people were under severe restraint. He held the position until he was finally appointed Governor of Western Australia in 1948. Mitchell was the first Australian-born Governor of Western Australia; he remains the only person to have served as both premier and governor of the state. He retired from the post in June 1951. One month later he died in