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.

Jelicich was born in Sydney on 19 January 1928. Her father was a semi-skilled labourer. She was educated at Epsom Girls' Grammar School and the Elam School of Fine Arts. In 1949 she married Paul Jelicich, a bricklayer, and, with family support, she opened a restaurant in the Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe. 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.

She stood unsuccessfully for Hauraki in 1969. In 1972 she won the seat of Hamilton West for Labour by defeating the incumbent, Leslie Munro of the National Party. She became the first woman in New Zealand parliamentary history to open the Address-in-Reply debate. In 1975 she lost her seat to Mike Minogue. She contested the Hamilton West electorate once more in the 1978 election.

She briefly served on the Hamilton City Council after winning a by-election in 1979. The following year she became a Manukau City Councillor, representing Mangere Ward until she retired in 1995.

In the 1986 New Year Honours, Jelicich was made a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services.

Her husband died in October 2014. Dorothy Jelicich died on 10 April 2015 at Middlemore Hospital, Auckland at the age of 87. She was survived by their three children.