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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-11-24 Daily Xml
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THORPE, MS A.

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:29): On 15 October, South Australia lost a true radio legend and a very special person who had brought great happiness to many in her own unique way. When I attended the funeral service, officiated by her friend and celebrant, Stewart Leggett, it occurred to me how little we often really know about the people we value and who are close to us—the acquaintances we meet on our life journey.

Andy Thorpe married twice and was the proud mother of three boys she absolutely adored, but not necessarily, I am told, in a maternal way. Her son, David Gwynne-Jones, the eldest, spoke at her service. He and younger son, Tom Gwynne-Jones, live in Sydney, and I know how much Andy used to look forward to her trips away. She was the grandmother to their children, Lucy, Harry and Darcy. Her middle son, Sam Gwynne-Jones, lived in Auburn and visited her regularly while she stayed in Riverton Hospital.

One of the early true personalities in Adelaide, Andy worked in radio for decades. She started on 5DN, and worked short stints on the ABC, but broke all the rules and made a huge impact when she started at Radio 5AD when the new talk format started in 1967. Andy landed that job after an interview with our former colleague, Joan Hall, a pivotal force herself in radio, and from that time on a lifelong friendship began.

Andy became a pioneer of this new genre and an influential and important member of the top rating team at 5AD for more than 10 years, especially known through being part of Bob and Andy, when she was teamed with still well-known and loved by many radio personality, Bob Francis. Bob also spoke at the service and it was obvious that his regard and esteem for his friend, forged in the furnace of live radio, was still as strong as ever.

Sadly for us, many of his amazing recollections could not be shared as, in the true spirit of camaraderie, what happened in the studio stayed in the studio. These two complete opposites had a rarely witnessed magic when the microphone was switched on, and they adored each other. This was in part because Andy was known specifically for her colourful language, wicked laugh and sense of humour, and feisty, outspoken and quarrelsome ways, which in those days were called feminism.

Andy was a passionate traveller and a champion for the promotion of backpacking. She loved Bali and India and returned there many, many times. This leads me to how I first met Andy, through a former member of this house and state attorney-general, the Hon. Peter Duncan. Peter has fond memories of Andy and their travels together and tells me of Andy’s love for Kashmir, where she eventually lived on a houseboat for over six months, I am told, after selling everything she owned to go there in the late 1970s, after her retirement.

Back to radio, though, and over the years Andy interviewed numerous celebrities, politicians, actors and, particularly, journalists. David shared with us in his contribution how he often met these people in the studio after school. Andy was one of the very beautiful and very glamorous photographic models in the early years after her move to Adelaide in the mid-sixties, and she established the Andy Thorpe Fashion and Modelling Studio, before her move to radio. When she retired from the radio in the seventies, she continued her travelling ways and on one occasion travelled to London on a crop duster with two friends.

She also worked with our former premier Don Dunstan in Victoria on South Australian tourism for about 12 months. Through her I met Don and became one of a group of people who spent much time with him towards the end of his life. She was a great person in promoting people to come forward with ideas and speak with Don, and it was through those times that I became close to him, and I am always grateful to her for that.

Through her, too, I met her Chinese 'godson', Jai Xiao, and his wife, Lei, and their children. She also had a close bond with our mutual friends, Sue Dyer and Chris Ball, and their beautiful daughter, Tian. I remember how ecstatic we all were when Tian arrived home to Adelaide and our special counter lunch with Andy not long after she moved to Riverton.

The latter years of her life were, of course, spent at Riverton Hospital, where the nursing staff and medical team cared for her with great compassion and kindness between laughing at her language and the many stories she told. I am sure they had difficulty believing them, but I know they were all true.

Another person who spoke at her funeral was her sister, Peg. Peg had travelled to Adelaide with her daughter, Andrena, Andy’s namesake, and although I had to leave early to go to the airport and did not have time to speak with them then, it was wonderful to know, through Peg's contribution, how much of their life had been shared with love and happiness.

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