1996
CITATION
Mr Chancellor,
Her Excellency Leneen Forde, though born in Ottawa and receiving her first tertiary qualification, a Canadian Diploma in Medical Technology from the Ottawa General Hospital, came to Australia in 1954 and graduated as a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland, which has subsequently claimed her as its own. She worked, 1954-1956, as a Medical Laboratory Technician in the Haematology Department of the Royal Brisbane Hospital before embarking on the legal studies that were to lead to a successful professional career with a well known firm of Brisbane solicitors and a most prominent role within organisations associated with the legal profession. These positions have included membership of the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal, Founding President of the Queensland Women Lawyers' Association, Chair of the Queensland Supreme Court Probate Rules Review Committee, 1988-1990, committee membership of the Estate Division of the International Bar Association, 1984-1986, Queensland Representative on the Australian Women Lawyers' Forum, and lecturer in Legal Practice at another of Brisbane's Law Schools.
Outside the profession she has been a member of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Committee; a member of the Women Chiefs of Enterprise; Chair of the Social Security Tribunal; Convenor of the Queensland Women's Consultative Committee in 1992; Chair of the Office of Economic Development for the City of Brisbane, 1991-1992, Chair of the Brisbane Business Investment and Development Advisory Committee, Queensland Small Business Corporation, 1990-1992, Zonta International Foundation, 1982-1992, and International President, 1990- 1992; Chair of the Status of Women Committee, 1984-1986; and a member of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties, the Institute of Modern Art, the Australian Brain Foundation, and the Ethics Committee of the Holy Spirit Hospital. This list is far from comprehensive, and her recognition as Queenslander of the Year in 1991 is only one of many such acknowledgments that she has received. In 1992 her preeminence among the citizens of Brisbane and the people of Queensland was confirmed when she became Governor of Queensland, an office that she has filled with dignity and distinction.
Mr Chancellor, in recognition of outstanding services to Women and to the Community, particularly in the role of Governor of Queensland, I present to you Leneen Forde, Companion of the Order of A.ustralia, Bachelor of Laws of this University, Doctor of the University of Griffith University, and Doctor of the University of the Queensland University of Technology for the conferral of the award of Doctor of Letters honoris causa to which she has been admitted by the Senate of the University.
