Dame Lyons was born in 1897 and married J.A. Lyons in 1915, when she was a junior teacher under his administration in Tasmania. She converted to her husband's Catholic faith and bore him 12 sons, and as a result she suffered much ill health. She played a more active role in the affairs of the Australian nation when her husband became prime minister in 1923.

She encouraged her husband to form the United Australian Party, and she became the first female member of the House of Representatives in 1943, and the first female member of an Australian Cabinet when she was elected vice president of the Executive Council from 1949-1951.

She became a GBE in 1943, and retired from politics in 1951 due to ill health. In 1980 she was made a Dame of the Order of Australia. A year later she died.

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