
individuals and community groups to air their ideas and problems. Through this medium and through membership of various committees and organizations, Helen was to fight for equal pay for women, and the removal of the marriage bar from the Commonwealth Public Service.
From 1962-65 she was President of the Australian Federation of University Women, and from 1968-71 was Chairman of the ACT Child Welfare Advisory Committee; and this at the same time as bringing up three young children, and entertaining Fin’s students to afternoon tea at home on weekends. Both Fin and Helen were keen golfers and regularly had Sunday lunch with friends at Royal Canberra Golf Club. Helen returned to full time employment with the public service in 1971, and was deputy head of the Capital Territory Health Commission from 1974 to 1977.
Of all the many worth while causes which Helen Crisp championed, the one which was closest to her heart was the Canberra College of Advanced Education, now the University of Canberra.
She had served on a number of committees investigating and promoting the need for a tertiary institution for the ACT, to train students
for professional careers, and was appointed by Senator John Gorton in 1965 to be a member of the Burton Committee, which subsequently recommended such an institution. Helen was deputy chairman of the interim council that planned the college, and served in various capacities with the college council, including chairman, for the next twenty years. She became an Honorary Fellow of the college in 1976, and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1981.
After retirement Helen, a keen swimmer, was able to spend more time with her family at their beach house on the NSW South Coast. The story of the buying of that cottage seems to typify to me, the drive and determination which Helen Crisp displayed all her life. Once again to quote her son Gerry; “Helen had always loved beach holidays with the family, but unfortunately Fin was not a beach person. One Saturday morning in 1968 she saw a little cottage at Broulee advertised in the Canberra Times. She said nothing, but waited until Fin had gone to golf, then hopped into the car with her daughter Marg, drove to the coast, bought the place and was back home getting dinner ready when Fin returned from the club!”
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