Marie Wilkinson.

Hughes, Lesley

Marie Wilkinson died in May 2003, aged 51. She was a great friend and colleague to me and many others. She was also a feminist practitioner and educator, and it was at her instigation that a small group of women academics from Sydney organised the Women's Symposium at the 1996 Congress of the International Association of Schools of Social Work, in Hong Kong. Marie was also actively involved in the Australian Association for Social Work and Welfare Education (AASWWE) in the early 1990s and was a co-organiser of a very successful AASWWE conference in Sydney at that time.

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Marie had worked at Sydney University as a lecturer, then senior lecturer, since 1991. She came to the Department of Social Work, Social Policy and Sociology at Sydney University after some 16 years as a front-line social work practitioner, educator and policy maker, mainly in DOCS, but also in TAFE and mental health. She brought to all these roles a heightened sensitivity to the manifestations of disadvantage and injustice, which she always challenged fearlessly. Marie had a sharp intellect and a quick wit, which she used to great effect in her teaching and scholarship. In 1999 Marie was awarded a PhD for her thesis titled 'From Neglected to Protected: Child Welfare in New South Wales: 1945- 1988'.

Shortly after her death her former colleague and PhD supervisor, Professor Bettina Cass, wrote:

 In her research she engaged with welfare policy-makers and
 practitioners to ensure that an incisive, intelligent, informed
 and committed academic research voice was heard. She also
 contributed in an outstanding way to the administrative and
 collegial life of the Department of Social Work,
 Social Policy and Sociology, where she devised many new
 courses and supervised research students and organised and
 supervised for many years the field education program which is
 the professional heart of social work education.

Marie was also very involved in the work of the Faculty of Arts where she was Associate Dean for Community Relations and Development and Disability Liaison Officer. A mark of Marie's intellectual, creative and administrative abilities and her standing within the university is the fact that prior to ceasing work at the end of 2002 she was on secondment to the Faculty of Medicine with responsibility for developing social science postgraduate programs for doctors.

Marie's energy, generosity, humour and intelligence are sorely missed by her family, her partner Tom Kelly, her colleagues, students and friends.

Lesley Hughes, School of Social Work, UNSW