Page 1 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Next page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
MR SPEAKER (Mr Rattenbury) took the chair at 10 am, made a formal recognition that the Assembly was meeting on the lands of the traditional custodians, and asked members to stand in silence and pray or reflect on their responsibilities to the people of the Australian Capital Territory.
Death of Mrs Marjorie Turbayne AO, MBE
Motion of condolence
MR STANHOPE (Ginninderra—Chief Minister, Minister for Transport, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Minister for Business and Economic Development, Minister for Land and Property Services, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and Minister for the Arts and Heritage): I move:
That this Assembly expresses its deep regret at the death of Mrs Marjorie Turbayne, AO, MBE, long-serving board member of the National Australia Day Council, former president of Australia Day in the ACT, dedicated advocate of the Australian of the Year awards, founding manager of the National Press Club and tireless enthusiast for active citizenship and strong community life, and tenders its profound sympathy to her family, friends and colleagues in their bereavement.
Marjorie Turbayne’s long life was also a life of fulfilment and variety spent in the thick of the community and the city which she came to call home. On behalf of the Assembly, I offer my condolences to her children, David, Jane and Judith, and to her eight grandchildren.
Marjorie Turbayne was born in England in 1919, and her childhood was repeatedly marked by personal loss. By the age of 11, she had lost both parents. Within a short time, she had also lost the grandparents who had become her guardians. By the age of 15, she was working in a London factory. It was a far cry from the life she would make for herself decades later in her adopted home, Canberra.
The road to this city was a roundabout one. After a period of working her way up the ranks of the British civil service, starting from the typing pool, Marjorie Storey, as she was then, spent a number of years after the Second World War in Europe, Turkey, Czechoslovakia and later Germany, helping those displaced by the fighting. It was during this period that she met Keith Turbayne, an Australian working for British intelligence. They married in 1950.
In the early 50s, the couple came to Australia, where Keith took up a position with the newly formed ASIO. He would later rise to become deputy director-general of the organisation. The growing family lived mainly in Melbourne for the next two decades. The Turbaynes moved to the ACT in the 1970s, after Keith’s retirement from the commonwealth public service. Marjorie quickly established herself in the social circles of the day within Canberra. She was a founding member of the Woman of the Year luncheon and involved herself in causes such as “Red Cross Calling”.
Next page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video