Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to place on record my condolences to the Murdoch family on the passing of their wonderful matriarch, Dame Elisabeth Joy Murdoch AC DBE. Born five years before the start of World War I, Dame Elisabeth grew up in Toorak, the youngest of three daughters of Rupert and Marie Greene.

At 18 years of age, Dame Elisabeth met the influential journalist and media proprietor Keith Murdoch at a Red Cross dance in Melbourne. Keith had actually arranged their introduction upon glimpsing her photograph in his Table Talk magazine. Keith was 42 and their age difference set society tongues wagging. But they were married in a matter of months. They went on to have four children. Even though she was widowed only 23 years later, Dame Elisabeth always identified her loving marriage as the foundation of her long life. 'Happiness gives great strength,' she said.

A simple and practical woman, Dame Elisabeth believed that we lived in a materialistic age. Dame Elisabeth spoke of her family fortune and of philanthropy with the ABC's Andrew Denton. He asked her:

Is philanthropy about more than simply giving money?

She replied:

Oh you must be involved. I think if you've got money it's perfectly easy to give it away and nothing to be particularly proud of but it's being involved and knowing what you're helping. And you know, really being committed to whatever things you're helping.

Apart from raising her children, Dame Elisabeth devoted her life to philanthropy, supporting more than 100 different charities. She was devoted to the arts, to gardens and the landscape, to education and medicine, to the disabled and to the underprivileged. Her name is perpetuated at places like the Melbourne Recital Centre, the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and the former Langwarrin Secondary College. For her service as life governor of the Royal Women's Hospital, Dame Elisabeth was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Civil Division, CBE, in the 1961 Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Dame Elisabeth was keen to share her fortune. My sister Kate, who knew Dame Elisabeth, told me how she was very proud to give her support to less popular causes like children in care and those battling mental illness and substance abuse. Dame Elisabeth was also involved in an organisation to rehabilitate prisoners back into society. When asked in the interview with the ABC's Andrew Denton why she chose to support an organisation for prisoners, Dame Elisabeth said:

… you can help them to rehabilitate.

…   …   …

I find that the people who run them are so good. They're so selfless and so good giving their voluntary time. The world is full of good people.

Dame Elisabeth passed away at her home in Langwarrin in December 2012. She was 103 years old. On behalf of the people of the Ryan electorate, I pass on my condolences to Dame Elisabeth's family.

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