CONDOLENCES › Churcher, Ms Elizabeth 'Betty' Ann Dewar, AO
Mr ABBOTT (Warringah—Prime Minister) (14:20): Madam Speaker, on indulgence, I rise to speak on the passing of Betty Churcher AO. On 31 March a lifetime's conversation with our nation on the power of art came to an end. Betty Churcher's enthusiasm for art was absolute and she wanted the whole nation to share in that joy. Her love for art started at a young age. She won a scholarship to study in England, where she received the Princess of Wales scholarship for the best female student at the Royal College of Art. Despite this early promise as a painter, she did not choose to continue down that path. As she reflected on her own work, she said: What I lacked is that particular quality that makes the difference between a good painter and an excellent painter and that is the vision and imagination that is going to keep pushing your art forward to the next square. I lacked that obsessional need to keep moving on. Nevertheless, while not continuing as a painter she did become an evangelist for art and because of that she was a woman of firsts. She was the first female head of a tertiary institution, as dean of the School of Art and Design at the Phillip Institute of Technology in Melbourne; she was the first female director of a state art gallery, at the Art Gallery of Western Australia; and, of course, she was the first female director of the National Gallery of Australia for much of the 1990s, as she presided over 12 international exhibitions which not only led to tremendous growth in attendance and revenue for the gallery but also inspired her nickname 'Betty Blockbuster'. Everything she did was in a great cause: to excite Australians to taste and experience art in a way they might never have done before. She knew that, even to the uninitiated, a great painting compels attention. For her services in educating the public about art on a grand scale, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1990 and in 1996 an Officer of the Order of Australia. She wanted Australians to know that art should not be the preserve of the few but the possession of us all. Her sons, Ben, Paul, Peter and Tim, have lost their mother—sadly, soon after losing their father. To them, and to all who knew Betty Churcher, we extend our deepest condolences.