Dame Elisabeth Murdoch receives honorary Monash degree

4 July 2008

The honorary degree of Doctor of Laws has been conferred upon Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE by Chancellor Dr Alan Finkel at a ceremony at Government House in Melbourne. The ceremony was presided over by Governor of Victoria and Visitor of the University Professor David de Kretser AC.

The award recognises Dame Elisabeth's passionate advocacy for an extraordinary range of causes in health, the arts, education and many other fields. She has made important contributions to a host of important Victorian institutions, including the Royal Children's Hospital (serving as its President from 1954 to 1965), the National Gallery of Victoria, the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, the Australian Ballet, the Victorian Opera, the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Deafness Foundation, and the RSPCA, along with a number of Victoria's leading educational institutions.

In his Address of Presentation Vice-Chancellor and President Richard Larkins paid tribute to Dame Elisabeth's achievements.

"It is not only that the community, the state and the nation have received immeasurable benefits through all that Dame Elisabeth has done and continues to do in promoting research, in fostering health, in nurturing growth, and in creating beauty. It is also that her personal commitment and involvement has been made with a degree of warmth and humanity such as the world all too rarely sees," Professor Larkins said.

The award of an honorary degree from Monash University is the latest in a long list of distinctions that Dame Elisabeth has received for her lifetime of community service. In 1963 Dame Elisabeth was invested by the Queen at Government House as Dame Commander in the Order of the British Empire. In 1989 she was appointed as a Companion in the Order of Australia.

In 2003 Dame Elisabeth was awarded the Centenary Medal, and she received the inaugural President's Award of the Law Institute of Victoria, and was presented with the Keys of the City of Melbourne. She was named as Victorian of the Year in 2005, and as Senior Australian of the Year for Victoria in 2006.