Dame Marie Bashir revolutionised the role of being a governor. Photo: Governor of New South Wales Facebook.
Dame Marie Bashir had a distinguished career as a respected psychiatrist, advocate for the LGBTIQ and Indigenous communities and the first female Governor of NSW.
But she never forgot the town where she spent the first 13 years of her life.
“[I had a] most wonderful childhood being born in Narrandera, in the view of the canal and the plain to the great river,” she told ABC when she retired in 2014.
“We lived in a beautiful house – my brother and sister-in-law still live in that house – and it’s embedded very much in my heart, that childhood.”
Narrandera Mayor Neville Kschenka was quick to pay tribute to an icon of his town after it was announced that she had died on Tuesday (20 January), aged 95.
“Despite her global achievements, Dame Marie never lost her connection to her roots, and Narrandera was always proud to count her as one of our own. Her legacy stands as a powerful reminder of what can be achieved through determination, service and a deep sense of responsibility to community,” he said.
Dame Marie Bashir (centre, with flowers) in Narrandera in 2015 at the park named in her honour. Photo: Lost Narrandera Facebook.
Dame Marie’s father was Lebanese-born Michael Bashir, who settled in Narrandera after migrating to Australia, where he ran a drapery business.
His daughter Marie attended Narrandera Public School for her primary education before she moved to Sydney to live with her grandmother and study at the selective Sydney Girls High School.
After graduating from the University of Sydney, Dame Marie pursued a career in psychiatry at a time when there were very few women in the profession. She quickly became active in the health bureaucracy, fighting to establish mental health services in hospitals.
In 1957, she married Sir Nicholas Michael Shehadie, a former Australian Wallabies captain who helped pioneer the Rugby World Cup in 1987 and also supported his wife’s advocacy work.
Dame Marie served as Governor of NSW from 2001 to 2014 and was groundbreaking in the way she handled the role, agreeing to become the Patron of the Gay and Lesbian Counselling Service on her first day on the job. She also launched an initiative to get more Indigenous students in the medical profession.
Businesswoman Katherine Maver, who also grew up in Narrandera, reflected on her interactions with the former NSW Governor.
“I had the privilege of meeting Dame Marie on several occasions at various functions over the years. Despite the countless people she met in her lifetime, she always remembered me. Without fail, she would smile and say — with that unmistakable warmth and cheeky sparkle — ‘Us Narrandera girls always stick together’. It was a small phrase, but it spoke volumes about who she was: gracious, grounded, and deeply human,” Ms Maver wrote on social media.
Narrandera’s most prominent park is named after Dame Marie, as is a school in Strathfield and sports centre in Mosman.
NSW Premier Chris Minns has announced that a state funeral will be held in her honour. Details will be provided over the next few days.
