Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to recognise a remarkable Western Australian, Ms Vyonne Geneve, and to congratulate her on her retirement as president of the Art Deco and Modernist Society of Western Australia, a role she has a fulfilled with unmatched dedication and scholarship. This year marks a truly rare conversion of milestones: the grand century of Art Deco and Ms Geneve's own entry into her 10th decade, celebrating her 91st birthday on 3 June. It is a fitting moment for her to pass the baton, for few have done more to champion and safeguard Western Australia's proud art deco and modernist heritage.

Western Australia's art deco story is unique. The post-depression recovery and the gold mining boom of the 1930s left Perth and regional Western Australia a rich architectural legacy, yet the demolition blitz of the 1960s and subsequent decades wiped out much of St Georges Terrace, including cinemas and beloved buildings that defined our city. It was in this climate that, in 1987, Vyonne Geneve stepped forward. Her research, advocacy and resolve led to the formation of the society and helped galvanise public awareness and Western Australia's architectural heritage. Under her leadership, the society became a founding member of the International Coalition of Art Deco Societies, hosted the 1991 World Congress on Art Deco, helped shape Western Australia's first heritage legislation and worked with the National Trust to create the most extensive inventory of art deco structures in the state. The society has saved iconic buildings, from the Raffles, Cottesloe and Swanbourne hotels, and today it leads the fight to preserve the Windsor Theatre in Nedlands. Ms Geneve's outstanding scholarship includes the acclaimed Picture Palaces of the Golden West, a definitive record of WA's golden age of cinema.

Her retirement follows a triumphant autumn program, including discovery walks and an exhibition, drawing over 3½ thousand visitors. Although she is stepping down as president, Ms Geneve will serve as presidentemeritus, contributing to the much-loved Dear Decophile newsletter. Tonight, I would like to thank my good friend Vyonne for a lifetime of stewardship and scholarship to Western Australia's built and cultural heritage.