Vale Dame Marie Bashir

From 2001 to 2014, Dame Marie Bashir served as the 37th Governor of NSW. Notably, she was the first woman, first person of Lebanese descent, and first professor to hold the office of Governor. At Grammar, Dame Marie Bashir was unique in holding two concurrent honorary positions at the School as both the NSW Governor and the Chancellor of the University of Sydney (2007–2012), earning the title Official Visitor. However, her relationship with the School went back even further: both her brothers attended, and she provided counselling to the boys at the request of Headmaster Alastair Mackerras during the 1970s and 1980s.

Pictured: Dame Marie Bashir in 2012, speaking at the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea. Credit: AAP Image

Dame Marie Bashir had an extensive and varied career. She was a trained psychiatrist and violinist, an academic, and an advocate for the marginalised, those suffering from mental health issues, youth, the LGBTIQA+ community, the unhoused, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, amongst many others.

In her address at the 2002 Speech Day, Dame Marie Bashir reflected on the privileges and benefits given to us as members of the Grammar community. She noted that these come with obligations to those less fortunate, but that we should consider it a challenge worth rising to rather than a burden. She stated that it is “worthy of contemplation that we are not powerless, that being active participants in seeking to make our world a better place, brings joy and energy to one’s studies and to one’s professional life.”

Pictured: Dame Marie Bashir speaks at the opening of the portico at Speech Day in 2002. Credit: Sydney Grammar School Archives