Monash philanthropist turns 100

March 2009

Monash University’s most respected supporter, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE (HonLLD 2008), recently celebrated her 100th birthday.

Almost 600 family members and friends joined the notable philanthropist at her home, Cruden Farm at Langwarrin in Victoria, for a birthday lunch on Sunday 8 February.

Dame Elisabeth is one of Australia’s most celebrated philanthropists. She has been a long-time supporter of Monash and a host of institutions including the National Gallery of Victoria, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, the Australian Ballet, the RSPCA and many others.

Her most prominent gift to Monash is a tapestry that hangs in the foyer of the Robert Blackwood Concert Hall at the Clayton campus. Dame Elisabeth funded the tapestry in 2003 in memory of the University’s founding Vice-Chancellor Sir Louis Matheson KBE CMG MBE.

The tapestry is based on the painting ‘The Cross’ by major Australian artist Roger Kemp. The painting won the 1968 Blake Prize for Religious Art and is a significant work in the Monash University Collection. Measuring 5.40 x 4.05 metres, the tapestry – made by the Victorian Tapestry Workshop – took four full-time weavers seven months to complete.

Dame Elisabeth is patron of the Victorian Tapestry Workshop and was a close friend of Sir Louis Matheson and Kemp family.

In 2008, Monash University conferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on Dame Elisabeth in recognition of her passionate advocacy for a range of causes.