House debates

Monday, 4 December 2017

Statements by Members

Deslandes, Mr Timothy Nicholas

4:19 pm

Photo of Amanda RishworthAmanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | | Hansard source

I rise today to note the sad passing of Timothy Nicholas Deslandes, loving husband to Moira Deslandes, dad to Ann, Michael, Luke, Clare, Amelia, Zoe, Melody, Will and Alex, and grandpa to Archie. Tim was taken too soon. He died recently, on 19 October, aged only 59. But what Tim did with the years he had made a huge contribution to our local community and to many.

I first met Tim when he was the community development officer at the Hackham West Community Centre, an incredibly important centre that provides so many people in our community with support and assistance when they need it. He founded many services and programs that still run today. His contribution to our community touched thousands and thousands of local residents. I was always inspired by his work and found his energy and passion an amazing gift he gave to so many.

In his later years, when he was sick, Tim had to leave the Hackham West community. He turned his attention to running retreats and providing people with spiritual direction. Across his life, he helped many people in many different ways: in his younger years by doing youth work, then by providing people with education as a teacher, then through community development at Hackham West, and then, in later years, through retreats. His commitment, his passion and his love will be missed greatly.