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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-02-22 Daily Xml
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Kelly, Mrs M.H.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson) (15:16): I rise today to pay tribute to a wonderful local woman, Marjorie Kelly, who unfortunately died on Sunday night. She was just 32 days short of her 100th birthday. I know that her son Doug, his wife, Julie, and their daughters Georgia and Megan were very much looking forward to that big 100th birthday celebration next month, as were many of us in the town of McLaren Vale.

Marjorie was a fantastic woman. She was part of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force in World War II, after she moved to Canberra to work in Treasury. She was a big fan of John Curtin and Ben Chifley, and a lifelong Labor supporter—a wonderful woman who was very much respected, obviously, by her family and by everyone in our local area. My one big regret is that on Remembrance Day last year, when I saw Doug wheel Marjorie into the memorial (I was over in the official part) I thought I must say g'day because I knew her 100th birthday was coming up in a few months' time, but someone spoke to me at the end—it was a pretty hot day—and Doug and Marjorie had gone by the time I went over to say g'day.

To Doug, Julie, Megan and Georgia, please accept my condolences. I spoke to Doug yesterday. He said that, because so many family live interstate, they are going to hold off on having the funeral until Marjorie's birthday: she was very pragmatic and she would not have wanted everyone having to change their flights and incur added costs, so they will wait until March to have a celebration of Marjorie's life. We wish the Kelly family all the very best over the days and weeks leading up to that time.

Just before Christmas, we lost another great person, Francis d'Arenberg Osborn, better known as d'Arry Osborn. He died just a few days short of his 96th birthday. This would have been his 80th vintage. D'Arry was third generation on the vineyards at McLaren Vale and someone who worked with other families right from those early days in the establishment of McLaren Vale and in the growth of McLaren Vale. He moved the business that he took over in 1959 from a bulk wine maker to a maker of great dry reds, which were sold largely in flagons and then later in bottles.

In 1969, he won the Jimmy Watson trophy, and 1959 was when he came up with the red stripe. Anyone who knows the d'Arenberg label will know the famous red stripe. He travelled the world. He was relentless in getting on planes, going around the world and selling into I think about 80 countries in the end. I remember in 2006 I was in Moscow, and I went to a restaurant that did not have an English version of their menu, but on their wine list they had d'Arenberg wine. It just showed the reach that d'Arry had and the lengths that he went to.

To his son, Chester, and Chester's three daughters and to d'Arry's daughter, Jacki, again we offer our condolences for someone who did so much not just for his own business, which is a global brand, but for McLaren Vale as well. Right back to the years of Don Dunstan, d'Arry was fighting to preserve the agricultural lands around McLaren Vale, and of course we finally achieved that in 2013.

I worked with d'Arry, not that he ever voted Labor in his life. He was always proud to say, 'Young fella, you are doing a really good job, but I just can't vote Labor.' I said, 'I don't need your vote, d'Arry. I just love the fact that you have so much wisdom, and I appreciate what it is you have learned and that you have passed that on to others like me.' Whenever we had a meeting about the character preservation of McLaren Vale, d'Arry was always sitting front and centre, usually with Alec Johnson on one side and a few of the other established families, like the Kays, on the other side. Preserving the agricultural landscape of McLaren Vale was always really important to d'Arry Osborn.

Vale, d'Arry, and we will miss you.

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