Page 4352 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 8 December 1993
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I recall earlier this year when she invited my wife and me to morning tea with the Reverend John Smith, the motorcycle minister. The discussion we had, as you might well imagine, was lively and critical, but throughout Honor maintained a friendly and caring atmosphere which allowed us to explore each other's ideas and motivations. Recalling times like these highlights the great contribution that Honor made in my life, particularly since I became involved in politics.
In 1989, when I first became involved in politics, Honor and Michael were encouraging and assisting, as they saw the opportunity for a better Canberra for all Canberrans. As late as a few months ago, Honor was expressing her concern for the appalling situation at the Campbell shops. It was a concern not just about the relationship between landlord and tenant but also about the relationship of the people to their local shopping centre and the important role it played in the community.
Most fondly, I remember many a Sunday morning when, on their way home from St John's, Honor and Michael would drop in for a cup of tea. The Sunday morning mess in the house and the kids climbing everywhere with their neighbourhood friends did not seem to worry them at all. No wonder. They had four children themselves and a string of grandchildren. These Sunday morning visits assist me to recall the warmth and the kindness that were part and parcel of Honor Mary Thwaites.
In conclusion, this condolence motion is an appropriate chance to pay our respects to a woman who was an active environmentalist long before the word was even coined.
MR WOOD (Minister for Education and Training, Minister for the Arts and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning): Madam Speaker, there is a fairly limited number of citizens in Canberra of long standing who have made extraordinary contributions to life in the ACT. Honor Thwaites was one of those. She was truly a person who helped enormously to make Canberra the marvellous place that it is. She did that in physical terms - for example, her attention to Park Care, her founding of Park Care; and she did it in terms of spirit - her personality, her energy, her drive. That sort of person is too rare; nevertheless, a few people like that have helped to make Canberra what it is today.
Honor Thwaites was clearly an activist. If there was a cause in which she had a belief, as Mr Moore says, she did something. She was never passive. There is a long record of her activity in a whole range of areas. I know of her work around St John's Church. As Environment Minister, I am pleased to acknowledge the work she did in this area with her husband.
Her interest, her concern, her activity resulted in the protection of the area behind the War Memorial on Mount Ainslie - Remembrance Park, which was gazetted in 1978. The formal gazettal of Remembrance Park coincided with the sixtieth anniversary of Armistice Day. Mrs Thwaites intended that it should be a physical reminder of the contribution of all Australian defence personnel to their country. Honor Thwaites continued her involvement with Remembrance Park from the 1970s through to her death. She was a very early supporter of bush regeneration.
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