Tribute to woman who was a local politcial trail-blazer
Marion Richardson, the trail-blazer who in 1968 overcame more than a century of prejudice (and local politics of the time) to become Warragul Shire’s first woman councillor, lost a brief struggle with cancer when she died at home in Warragul on Sunday.
She was in her 90th year.
The Warragul community was very different 56 years ago and election of a woman sent shock waves through the shire, drew messages of congratulation from women’s organisations throughout Victoria and led The Gazette to proclaim in a bold front page headline, WOMAN WINS COUNCIL SEAT.
By ousting a long serving councillor who was expected to become shire president following his anticipated re-election, she became one of only 23 women council representatives in the whole of country Victoria, six of them in Gippsland.
Marion’s achievement at the age of 34 paved the way for other women to stand successfully at regular intervals throughout the 70s and 80s, including her good friends Ruth Jones and Hedi Kirkbride, to the point at which the gender of elected councillors is no longer noteworthy.
Born in Burwood in 1934, Marion was raised by English parents who were committed Methodists, and principles of direct and active community involvement, caring for others and a strong work ethic were inculcated in her from an early age.
Educated at Box Hill Grammar and Methodist Ladies College, Marion was fortunate to have her personality shaped by independent women teachers operating in an environment promoting full female autonomy, a principle to which she adhered throughout her busy life.
Until her marriage and move to Gippsland
in 1958, she worked in administrative and doctors’ assistant roles, as well as establishing and setting up X-ray facilities at Epworth and Freemasons hospitals, several of which roles she later repeated at the Churchill Community Health Centre during five years spent in Churchill before returning to Warragul in the mid-1970s.
Before, during and after becoming a councillor Marion combined the raising of two children with a full hand of community activity, serving on numerous committees and becoming president or secretary of many; joined with Dr Gill Mitra as the first women elected to the Warragul North primary school council, was inaugural secretary of the Warragul Little Athletics Association, and – during her council term – argued for and became the chairperson of Warragul’s first Festival of the Arts, an event taken over by Warragul Rotary Club in later years.
From the outset as a councillor she insisted on serving on mainstream committees, and as well as chairing Warragul Shire’s social welfare and finance committees, became the chairperson and a driving force behind establishment of the West Gippsland Social Worker Group.
Her ability to persuade reluctant councillors from several shires of the need for the service, and to calm tensions between the hugely dedicated social worker group co-ordinator Robert Lowell and member council representatives, was crucial in the group’s early years.
Marion always attributed much of the ease with which she embraced her council role to her experiences in various community groups and the advocacy skills she used to great effect on their behalf over a range of community issues.
Just as some community members, notably from the DLP – which accused her of being “too far left” at a time when the issue of abortion was being hotly debated – objected to her candidacy, it took councillors some time to fully accept a woman into their midst, and she endured many sexist remarks, though this swiftly changed.
During her term as councillor, she had to deal with one particularly unpleasant episode when council held a special meeting to discuss whether action should be taken against Marion’s husband, who – as editor of the Warragul Gazette – authored articles critical of some aspects of council decision-making.
Some councillors were keen to establish that the relationship gave Cr Marion Richardson a “pecuniary interest” which would debar her from debates and issues involving The Gazette. Her response, in typically forthright fashion, was to pay a visit to the then Premier of Victoria, Sir Rupert Hamer, who provided her with formal written confirmation that no such pecuniary interest existed.
Marion’s shire experience was cut short after one term when National Party politician Arthur Hewson defeated her by a small margin.
After her term on council, Marion formed and personally financed a volunteer assistance group which attracted 35 volunteers to work on behalf of the elderly and needy, a service she organised and ran from her home for almost four years.
She spent five years as a counsellor with the Victorian branch of Relationships Australia, and was a tutor for the YWCA.
In 1988, Marion joined with others in the establishment of Warragul’s VIEW Club, of which she was president in 1993, the year in which she began a two-year term as president of the Warragul Golf Club Women’s Committee. In recent years she was a highly efficient secretary of the former Probus Club of Warragul.
However, her main focus has always been on her family, son John – a computer engineer working on energy projects throughout Europe, currently in Los Angeles – Elizabeth, an architect and four creative grandchildren, Nikki, Julia, Calvin and Stella.
She was a woman of remarkable strength, unwavering resilience and infinite kindness, and will be remembered fondly by her family and friends as well as the many young women she mentored throughout a life fully devoted to family and community.
Arrangements are being made for a private family funeral.