Minute by the Lord Mayor
To Council:
I was saddened to recently learn of the death
of a former Parliamentary colleague, Elisabeth (Lis) Wilma Burton Kirkby on 20
April 2026 at the age of 105.
I first met Lis, then a Member of the
Legislative Council, when I was elected to Parliament in March 1988. We worked
closely together over the next 10 years, most significantly on my
Anti-Discrimination (Homosexual Vilification) Amendment Bill. This Bill had
easily passed the Legislative Assembly on 13 May,1993, 49 votes to 17, with
Labor and my Independent colleagues supporting it and several Liberal MPs
abstaining. The then Liberal Government had opposed my Bill, claiming they
would introduce their own. It then attempted to prevent it being considered by
the Legislative Council. Lis’ courage and persistence ensured it was debated,
voted on and became law, with the support of former Liberal Minister, the late
Ted Pickering AM. The following year, Lis was cheered when she joined me in the
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade.
Before she was a Member of Parliament, Lis
had a distinguished career as an actor, radio broadcaster, producer, director
and screenwriter.
She was born in Lancashire, UK on 26 January
1921, and grew up during the dark years of the Great Depression. She commenced
her theatre career in 1939 as an assistant stage manager and actor working in
English repertory theatre. During World War II she spent 3 years working with
the women’s branch of the British Army as an entertainer, writer and producer.
In the 1950s, she moved to Malaysia with her
then husband, Derek Llewellyn-Jones, when he took up a medical posting. Lis
moved into broadcasting, eventually becoming head of Radio Malaysia's Talks and
Features Unit.
In 1965, Lis, Derek and their 3 children
moved to Australia. Derek took a position at the University of Sydney and Lis
continued her radio work with the then Australian Broadcasting Commission. This
included producing and presenting Fact and Opinion, a series of radio
documentaries which focused on social issues. She also supported other women in
broadcasting, becoming active in the International Association of Women in
Radio & Television, serving on its international board from 1972 and as its
President from 1976-1980.
By this time, she had resumed her acting
career on stage and in television. In 1972, she was cast in the role for which
she was best known, the much-loved Lancashire immigrant Lucy Sutcliffe in the
ground-breaking TV series, Number 96. She remained with it until shortly
before it ended in 1977.
While appearing in Number 96, she
bought and moved to a farm near Martinsville, a small village south-west of
Newcastle. She was already politically active, having marched against
Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War and against the export of uranium,
being involved in the Women’s Electoral Lobby and serving as Vice-President of
Actors Equity.
In 1977, Lis joined the recently formed
Australian Democrats and was directly elected to the NSW Legislative Council in
1981. As the sole Democrat member of the NSW Parliament until 1988, Lis
contributed to debates on most legislation. She advocated for the most
vulnerable and marginalised in our community and for decriminalising
homosexuality, improving workers' rights, improving conditions for Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people, and establishing equal rights and
opportunities for women. She did much of this by moving amendments to
Government legislation, introducing private members bills and through her work
on Parliamentary Committees. On her final day in Parliament, she introduced a
bill to amend the De Facto Relationships Act to recognise same-sex
relationships.
Lis resigned from Parliament on 25 June 1998.
In her valedictory speech, she expressed concern about “the emergence in
Australian politics of a force that is not only simplistic but totally
divisive.” She was referring to the then new political party, One Nation. She
continued, “regrettably, it is appealing to the frightened and the helpless and
those with the least understanding of the political process and of world
events”.
Her speech was followed by tributes from
colleagues from across the political spectrum, who spoke about her cogent,
well-researched and original speeches and her enormous energy, commitment and
capacity to consult and to express the views of myriad people.
Lis did not retire. She bought a wheat and
sheep farm in the Riverina and served on Temora Shire Council from 1999 to
2004. She also began an Arts Degree by distance education at Charles Sturt
University, graduating with first class honours in history. Her honours thesis
was on the impact of the great depression in Britain as demonstrated through
the books, films and popular music of the era, a period she lived through and
remembered.
Returning to Sydney, she commenced a Masters
degree at Sydney University which soon evolved into a Doctorate of Philosophy.
She completed it at the age of 93, the oldest Australian to be ever awarded a
PhD. It was entitled “Will we ever learn from history? The impact of Economic
Orthodoxy on Unemployment during the Great Depression in Australia” and drew
comparisons with the global financial crisis. In speaking about her thesis she
explained:
"The
importance of linking the 1930s to the GFC is to ensure that past mistakes are
not repeated. It is now more important than ever for people to realise that the
economy cannot be run to suit the needs of the most privileged at the expense
of the least privileged", she says.
"As
long as you have a financial system that only looks at how banking interests
can make profit without any consideration of how this affects ordinary people,
or even other countries, the world is going to get in a worse and worse
state."
In 2012, Lis was awarded the national Medal
of the Order of Australia, for “…service to the Parliament of New South Wales,
to the community of Temora, and to the performing arts.”
In one of her last speeches to Parliament,
Lis quoted T. E. Lawrence:
“All
men dream, but not equally. For the dreamers of the night awaken to find it was
merely their vanity. But the dreamers of the day are the dangerous ones, for
they dream with their eyes open and they make things happen.”
Lis certainly dreamt with her eyes open and
made things happen.
the Rt HOn
CLOVER MOORE AO
Lord Mayor of Sydney
Moved by the Chair
(the Lord Mayor), seconded by Councillor Miller -
It is resolved that all persons attending
this meeting of Council observe one minute’s silence to commemorate the life of
Elisabeth (Lis) Kirkby and her contribution to social justice, civic life and
the communities of New South Wales.
Carried
unanimously.
S051491
Note – all Councillors,
staff and members of the public present stood in silence for one minute as a
mark of respect to Elisabeth (Lis) Kirkby OAM.