The
following moving tribute was delivered at Margaret's funeral
Margaret
Janet Young-Hendry OAM (1930 - 2001) was a Fellow of both the
Australian and UK Institutes of Landscape Architects who directed
her professional
career to landscape design and teaching. Within that framework
she also took time to nurture the bonds of friendship, goodwill
and care
towards her family, friends. students and the wider community.
She lived a large and full life, appreciated beauty wherever she
found
it, fine food, symphony concerts, galleries, travel and had broad
interests in so many, many facets of life.
Margaret
was proud of her Scottish ancestry, many of whom were seafaring
men or shipowners.
Captain Benjamin Boyd was her great-great uncle. He had seven
brothers and three sisters. Catherine, one his sisters, married
George Young-Hendry.
Their son Charles, another seafaring man, came to Australia
and settled in the Strzelecki Ranges in central Gippsland in 1886.
He married
Janet & their eldest son, George, was born in 1867 George
married Blanche Faulkner. George & Blanche were Margaret's
parents, they had four children - Gordon, Hugh, Margaret and
Rosemary. A child
of the depression and 'a determination to try, and an iron
will to succeed' defined Margaret's formative years, She worked
hard as a
gardener and attended night school in order to save enough
money to attend one of the few full time courses in landscape
design available
at that time.
After
graduating in horticulture from Burnley Horticultural College,
Victoria in 1948, and teaching there for two years, she studied
Landscape
Design at Durham University in England & worked with Dame
Sylvia Crowe on town development.
She
travelled widely in Europe returning to Australia via the USA,
where she did a course at the University of California.
From
1963-74, Margaret
was a landscape architect for the National Capital Development
Commission (the first woman appointed and one of only five in
Australia at that
time). She played a very significant role in shaping the landscape
in the National Capital The Cotter Dam Recreational Reserve,
Gungahlin Cemetery, Belconnen Town Centre and many playing fields,
housing
areas and shopping centres were wholly or partially designed
by her.
From
1974-85 she was the inaugural Senior Lecturer, School of Environmental
Design, Canberra College of Advanced Education (University
of Canberra). In 1987, ill health forced premature retirement
on
her.
however,
in spite of regular chemotherapy and hospitalization, she
continued to offer her expertise in consultancy roles. With S.F.
Landscape
Consultants she participated in the project development and
report on the Maintenance and Management of the Parliamentary
Zone and
in 1991 was appointed a member of the National Capital Planning
Authority's
Tree Planting Committee in the Parliamentary Zone.
Margaret
received many awards for excellence and service during her lifetime
and in 1992 was awarded the Order of Australia Medal. In 1995
she was invited to join the Commemorative Tree Planting Committee,
Order
of Australia Association. To attempt to record the extent of
Margaret's involvement in the wider community is impossible, for
she did so
much behind the scenes.
She
had views on everything from girl guides to gardens, hospital-food
to how Scripture should be read
in church. She
felt so strongly about the latter that she wrote a hook to instruct
Lectors on how best to approach their task. Following the death
of one of her many friends, Mary Pickering, she worked to help
establish
the Motor Neurone Support Group in Canberra. She was executor
of Mary's estate and the outcome of that experience was her practical
publication, Wills and Winding Up, the proceeds of which go to
support
that organization. She spoke fondly of her association with the
Grail; she admired their ethos and was grateful for the companionship
and
spiritual enrichment she received from this group.
Over
the years, Margaret was an active member and President of the
Soroptimist Club in Canberra, President of the NSW Division 'of
the Business
and Professional Women's Clubs, a member of the Women's Advisory
Board to the NSW Government and under Premiers Lewis & Wran
she worked hard to improve the status and dignity of women and
lobbied
for many issues from equal pay for women to equal legal rights
for step-children.
In
1982 she chaired a session of the IFLA World Congress Heritage
Sites in Australia, Franklin River. In 1989-90 she was a member
of the
Committee to establish the Friends of the Australian Botanic
Gardens. Margaret has also been involved with the Heritage Council
and the
National Trust holds an oral history prepared by her. She published
professional papers, spoke publicly for a variety of organizations,
and was on the panel of judges for the design of the Kingston
Foreshore Development. She had a special interest in the Rose Garden
at Old
Parliament House and an ongoing concern for the integrity of
the original design of the Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery.
Over
the last decade of her life, Margaret and another dear friend
of hers, Margaret Corden, became friends of the Gathering Place
- a
centre for contemporary Australian spirituality in Dickson. It
is not church-based and responds to a variety of human needs in
the
community. As the name suggests, it is simply a place where people
gather for all sorts of reasons and are respected as they are.
Margaret encouraged its founders, Sr Lorraine Gatehouse csb and
Meryl Bollard,
in their unique pastoral ministry and asked that they prepare
this service of thanksgiving today. Margaret built a small garden
there
in memory of her friend and left plans for further development
of the grounds over time.
In
the closing months of her life Margaret had time to reflect.
At times she was troubled that she may have been too strong and
controlling
in her endeavours and asked that we forgive her human frailties.
She meant well, and with the benefit of hindsight, was aware
that perhaps some situations in life could have been approached
differently.
She suffered excruciating pain in the closing stages of life
when her primary illness was complicated by a clot in the lung,
pneumonia,
pleural effusion, cardiac arrest and numerous bone fractures
in the ribs and spinal vertebrae.
Margaret
died peacefully in her sleep 20 March 2001.
Her
life bestows an ongoing legacy far beyond what we can ever know.
For this strong
woman who
was larger than life we offer thanks.
Thank you Margaret!
