#50 - Maureen speaks about Philip and their life together

This gives some of Maureen's memories of life with Philip, as spoken at the celebration. It includes the couple of paras which unfortunately dropped out of the version she read from. It overlaps some of what is written about in the (unnumbered post) of 27 May, "My Later Life  - Philip's life: work, family and social involvement", which was coauthored by Philip and Maureen.

MAUREEN SPEAKS ABOUT PHILIP AND THEIR LIFE TOGETHER

I am sure I speak for you all when I say that it’s hard to believe that Philip has gone. We had a long-standing joke where I would say “Don’t you dare die before me because I don’t want to clear out your study or the garage.”  We both thought it a safe bet, given the rude good health Philip enjoyed right up to the end of last year. He was fit, took no medications and didn’t even have a regular GP until recently. His aggressive lung cancer – he was a life-long non smoker - was unexpected and brutally fast in its spread. But happily it did not spread to his brain and he retained his mental capacities until the day he died. He was amazingly stoical and accepting of his impending death throughout - something many people commented on - and in the end he felt he had completed his life’s work.

We first met at the then Department of Labour and National Service in the mid 1960s, in the era when the notorious Birthday Ballot Box was operating on the second floor of the Century Building in Melbourne, deciding whether 18 year olds would be sent to the Vietnam War.  As a Research Officer in Occupational Research Philip, a good looking young man, seemed full of energy.  I recognised that he had a sharp mind and wrote exceptionally well.  His work needed little amendment.

We were friends and colleagues but nothing beyond that until we started seeing more of each other after I left the Public Service to work with Australian Volunteers Abroad. We married in February 1969 and by 1972 had two beautiful daughters of whom Philip was inordinately proud. He was a loving father and husband and in later years took delight in his two grandchildren, Griffin and Vida.

Our first home was In Kew overlooking the Yarra river where we paddled our canoe, ‘Rockin’ Robin’, each weekend. Shortly before Jocelyn was born we moved to Burwood (now Glen Iris) where there was a bush block over our back fence in Maverston street. This became the focus of Philip’s first political campaign as he got up a petition for it to become public open space. This the pro-development Council rejected. So the campaign escalated into a Supreme Court writ against the Council, campaigns to get residents elected to Council over the developer/real estate incumbents and Philip standing for Council himself. This was what he ruefully later described as “the Maverston street follies”. The campaigns lasted six years and took their toll on Philip’s health. 

These years were our first introduction to nature study as we joined, with the children, the Junior Field Naturalists of Victoria. It had regular, child-focused meetings and we had many happy weekends on field excursions. We especially loved the yearly Easter camps. These activities formed the basis for the girls’ love of nature and Jocelyn’s eventual university degrees in Environmental Science and Law.

We moved to Canberra in 1980 and found Canberra a wonderful place for a family, with the bush so close at hand for nature activities. The Junior Field Naturalists of Victoria morphed into the Field Naturalists Association of Canberra – FNAC – in which we were founding members; although Canberra, being a university town, had a different and more academic emphasis.

We spent 33 good years in our house at Cook, eating on the deck with views of Mt Painter Nature Park over the back fence. The government had judged Mt Painter beyond redemption for government park care so Philip set up Friends of Mt Painter (FOMP) to remove grazing from the summit, horse riding from the trails and to generally regenerate it. Two of these aims have been successful.

We used our salt water swimming pool daily over the summer months. Philip was the ‘pool slave’: he quite enjoyed ‘playing the chemist’, diligently testing the water to ensure the chemical balance was just right. In his last weeks he joined the AIS but sadly was only able to use the spa pool twice.

We downsized from that two-storey home with large garden to our present townhouse in Aranda just in time. We were able to spend 2 1/2 years there together and again have been blessed with wonderful, supportive neighbours.

Over the years Philip and I developed individual interests but had a rare concordance in our political, social, intellectual and environmental views; so that many of our activities were shared in these spheres. Gardening was not one of these, worse luck, but Philip was always appreciative of my efforts.

Philip continued his political activism with involvement in Residents Rally during the 1989 ACT Legislative Assembly elections. And in recent years his consuming interests became his computer groups and efforts to achieve change in the mental health system.

We spent many years bushwalking with the Family Bushwalkers (FBI) and we both had eclectic tastes in music and the arts. We enjoyed orchestral and chamber music, choral concerts, opera, musical theatre, jazz performances, folk music festivals, theatre, art exhibitions, movies and U3A. Our many subscriptions will remain a sad reminder of times to be shared no more.

Philip was a loving husband and loved his family dearly. You will hear from some of them shortly.

So I say, ‘Vale Philip, farewell’. You will be missed but you live on in our memories of you.