Unnoticed
by the media , a passionate campaigner for the environment and social issues , Shirley Prout , 84, died on May
24 at Malanda ,North Queensland. Over the years
Shirley wrote thousands of letters
to politicians and government departments to save
and protect the natural
environment and its inhabitants. Shirley
always wrote her letters in longhand, shunning typewriters and computers.
She believed that politicians had become so used to multiple typed letters from groups all saying the same
thing that they no longer read them. So she kept on with longhand, believing that they
were more likely to come to the
attention of the intended recipient.
Many politicians acknowledged her many letters when they met her and commented on how they
always picked them out of a bundle and read them. In the International Year of the Volunteer , Shirley
received an award for her tenacious and extensive representations. She
was proud to receive the award and proud to
be sitting with a woman from
Palm Island who was receiving an award
recognising her work in women's
groups on the island .
Apart from environmental politics, Shirley's most
important ideals revolved around social justice, particularly for Aborigines. From Yamba and
Wollongong in NSW, her husband was an army officer who for
a number of years was stationed at Woomera, South Australia. It is
understood he was killed in
a car accident , leaving her a widow with
five children.
Shirley lived in Northern Queensland for most of her later life- a lot of that time in a remote part of the rainforest near Cooktown. On
leaving there , she made sure that her land was sold to a local Aboriginal clan who had been waiting for a grant,
and set the price at an affordable level . For a time she lived on Magnetic
Island and was a member of the ALP, making numerous , strong contributions to discussions
on a wide range
of issues . Shirley objected
strongly to rangers burning
off around a lagoon used by wildlife on the
island . She was active in local environmental
groups right up to the end and in her abode she had an L-shaped desk on which was kept correspondence . NOTE : It has been suggested that Shirley was actually 87-no further correspondence shall be entered into on this subject.
