Page 1326 - Week 05 - Thursday, 25 June 1992
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ADJOURNMENT
Motion (by Mr Berry) proposed:
That the Assembly do now adjourn.
Deaths of Bishop Gordon Arthur and Mrs Pat Wardle
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (4.45): Madam Speaker, I would like to use the opportunity of the adjournment debate to note the deaths of two eminent Canberrans. The first person whom I would like to commemorate is Bishop Arthur, the Right Reverend Gordon Robert Arthur, who died earlier this month at the age of 82. Bishop Arthur, as many members here will know, was the Assistant Anglican Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn many years ago, from 1956 to 1961. He also served the church in England for a quite lengthy period. In fact, he served for five years in the diocese of Salisbury and in the diocese of Sheffield.
It really was not until after Bishop Arthur had retired to Canberra in 1980 that I came to know him and became aware of his work. He was very active in both church and community matters throughout his retirement. One of the positions that he held was that of chaplain to the obstetric ward at Royal Canberra Hospital during the early 1980s. Bishop Arthur is also given a lot of the credit for the acceptance of an Australian prayer book. He was a member of the community who gave a great deal of his time and work to improving our community. Madam Speaker, he was an extremely charming and humanitarian person and I believe that our community is the poorer for having lost him.
I would also like to pay a very brief tribute to Mrs Pat Wardle, who died in April of this year. She was just a couple of months short of 82 years of age. Mrs Wardle was another very well-known Canberran. She was involved in all sorts of aspects of Canberra life, including issues like the Canberra and District Historical Society. She was a great gardener. She was involved in her church. She was involved in the women's movement. She assisted in the setting up of Blundell's Cottage and she was, indeed, a very keen natural historian. Mrs Wardle's death is also a great loss to our community. She died as a result of an accident. Even though she was a good age, it was probably an untimely death.
Both Bishop Arthur and Mrs Wardle were buried from St John's Church, which I think both would have appreciated as they both had a great deal of connection with it. Mrs Wardle had been awarded the medal of the Order of Australia in 1989 in the Queen's Birthday list for her service to the community in the area of local history. Madam Speaker, I would simply like this Assembly to note the deaths of those two eminent Canberrans, both people who made a very real contribution to our community over a long period. They are a great loss to our community.
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