Annita van Iersel

• Name — Annita van Iersel • Office — Spouse of the Prime Minister of Australia • Term Label — In role • Term Start — 20 December 1991 • Term End — 11 March 1996 • Predecessor — Hazel Hawke • Successor — Janette Howard • Birth Name — Anna Johanna Maria van Iersel • Born — 5 October 1948 • Birthplace — Oisterwijk, North Brabant, Netherlands • Children — 4 • Alma Mater — Australian National School of Arts • Occupation — artist

Anna Johanna Maria van Iersel, known as Annita, was born on 5 October 1948 in the Netherlands. Her home town in the Netherlands was Oisterwijk, North Brabant.

Van Iersel worked as a flight attendant for Alitalia.

While working with Alitalia, Van Iersel met Paul Keating, then an aspiring young politician. They married on 17 January 1975, in her home town of Oisterwijk, Netherlands. While her husband was Prime Minister of Australia (from 1991 to 1996), their four children spent part of their teenage years at The Lodge, the prime minister's official residence in Canberra. Annita was well travelled, and this, along with her knowledge of five languages, proved a valuable diplomatic asset, especially in support of Sydney's bid for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. In 1998, Van Iersel and Keating separated. They did not formally divorce until 2008, though she had resumed her maiden name of Van Iersel long before then. Annita revealed some years after the event, in an interview with her by The Bulletin, that Keating had broken off the relationship, not she, and had done it at a dinner party with friends.

Van Iersel studied at the National Art School in Darlinghurst, Sydney, graduating in 2002. In 2008 she was studying for a master's degree and went to Beijing as an exchange student at a major art college there. She is known for her photographic works. She was scheduled to exhibit a series of paintings – oils on Belgian linen – that she created in her studio on the Hawkesbury River, in the Palm House in the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney in August 2008, titled Reflections.