Newcastle's Virginia Chadwick AO becomes first woman to have permanent marble bust in the Legislative Council Chamber

It's been 107 years since a new bust was placed in the chamber.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said her record as a member of the NSW Parliament, along with her many other achievements, reflected her unquestioned commitment to the state's people.

"The honour being bestowed on Virginia today is much deserved. I offer my congratulations to her family on this historic occasion," he said.

The sentiment was echoed by Legislative Council president Matthew Mason-Cox.

"A trailblazer of her time, Virginia achieved many important firsts during her 20-year parliamentary career and beyond - so it is incredibly fitting that a rare honour is added to the list, as her likeness joins fellow august figures from our history along the chamber walls," he said.

"During her time in NSW Parliament, Virginia smashed many glass ceilings, also having had a strong involvement in social and education reforms."

Notable achievements included establishing the independent Board of Studies, taking steps to address homophobic bullying and violence in schools and restructuring disability services.

A former Newcastle Girls' High School student who went on to teach there, Chadwick made a name for herself as a political pioneer, joining the Young Liberals at 15.

IN THE NEWS:

She went on to be considered one of the more effective ministers in the Grenier and Fahey governments, elected to the Legislative Council in 1978 where she served as a minister from 1988 to 1995.

She died from cancer in 2009, aged 64, and today became the eighth person to have a permanent marble bust in the Legislative Council Chamber, sculpted by renowned Australian artist Peter Schipperheyn from Italian Carrara marble.

Chadwick came from humble beginnings, the daughter of a Novocastrian housewife and unskilled labourer who traded her working-class roots to become the first female Opposition Whip and later NSW's first Liberal female Minister for Family and Community Services, Minister for Women and Minister for the Hunter in 1988.

Two years later she went on to do a stint at the first female NSW Minister for Education and Youth Affairs.

In 1998, she became the first female president of the Legislative Council - quitting after eight months and five days to become head of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority where she made notable strides - seeing the area of reef declared protected grow from 4.5 to 33 per cent.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: