Obituary: Helen La Nauze.

Briskman, Linda

Helen La Nauze was a champion of women's rights, particularly in rural areas. Sadly, Helen died on 25 February 1998, at the age of 49, after battling cancer.

Since graduating with Honours in Social Work, Helen's career path spanned a number of areas including community work in the Albury-Wodonga area, and as an academic with the social work program at the Wodonga Campus of La Trobe University.

In the first edition of Women in Welfare Education, Helen's paper entitled 'Rural Welfare Practice and Rural Women: A Review of the Australian Literature' was published. In this paper, she called for the need for research and theory-building around women-centred rural practice. She heeded this call in her own MSW thesis, completed in 1996 under the supervision of Wendy Weeks, which conceptualised feminist community practice in the Albury-Wodonga region.

Illness prevented Helen's plans to publish extracts from her much-acclaimed thesis. At the time of her death, she was also co-editing a book on rural human services, and her name will remain as an editor and her work will be incorporated.

Helen's family and friends were with her when she died at home. At her funeral, longtime friend and fellow community worker, Shirley Rutherford, spoke of Helen's many achievements and how her sharp mind found a pathway through the most challenging problems. Being a feminist, academic and activist in a country community is not an easy task, but Helen performed each role with humour, dignity and competence.

Helen is survived by her partner, Jamie, and children, Jono and Andrea. Her many friends mourn with them and lovingly honour the memory of her friendship and achievements.

Linda Briskman