Cleland, Rachel, (Dame)

Also known as
Cleland, Rachel (1906-2002)
Field of activity
Community worker
Libraries Australia
http://nla.gov.au/anbd.aut-an35028951
NLA Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-459150

Biographies

Born in Perth in 1906, Dame Rachel Cleland lived an active life which was centred around politics and community organisations. At one time considered the matriarch of the liberal party, in her later years Dame Rachel was very vocal on her opposition to the logging of old-growth forests. She insisted that the Liberal party under Menzies would never have taken the same stance as the current party on such issues. Dame Rachel’s community work with women and children was recognised in 1959 when she was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and again in 1966 when she was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). In 1980 Dame Rachel became the only western woman to be appointed as a Dame of the British Empire (DBE) by the government of Papua New Guinea for the volunteer work she did for many Papua New Guinea organizations and for helping involve women in public affairs.

'I enjoy now whatever is happening - my idea is you can't enjoy tomorrow, and you can only enjoy yesterday if you are enjoying today.'

At 90, Dame Rachel Cleland was still keeping audiences entertained with her words of wisdom born of a life of political activism and community work.

Born in Perth beside the Swan River, the oldest of six children, Rachel Cleland remembers her childhood as being happy and free-ranging. She, like her brothers and sisters, was encouraged to take an interest in social issues from an early age and was given a range of regular chores to do that encouraged them to be independent and resourceful.

Dame Rachel's background and her later training and work as a kindergarten teacher stood her in good stead for the expatriate life she eventually embarked on in Papua New Guinea. Her husband, Sir Donald Cleland, was Administrator of Papua New Guinea for 15 years from 1951. Like many expatriate wives in the 1950s, Dame Rachel identified with her husband's work, which in turn provided her with the opportunity to get to know and help the local people. She was well liked and respected by the local people who appreciated her contribution to organisations like the Red Cross, Girl Guides, Country Women's Association, and Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) as well as the integral role she played in establishing pre-schools throughout Papua New Guinea. Not surprisingly perhaps, recent research also indicates that Dame Rachel was more involved than was earlier thought in Papua New Guinea affairs via her husband's work.

After Sir Donald's retirement the Clelands decided to remain living in Port Moresby, never seriously considering moving back to Australia. Sir Donald died in 1975, two weeks before Papua New Guinea's independence ceremonies. Dame Rachel stayed for a further three years before eventually returning to her extended family in Australia, where she felt herself to be something of a displaced person. She had, by then, lived in Papua New Guinea for 27 years. She continued to make trips back to her expatriate home country for the rest of her life, making a total of eight visits between 1979 and 2000.

Dame Rachel was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1959 and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1966 for her work with women and children. In 1980 Rachel Cleland became the only western woman to be appointed as a Dame of the British Empire (DBE) by the government of Papua New Guinea for services to the country she had lived in for so much of her adult life. She was honoured for the volunteer work she did for many Papua New Guinea organisations and for helping involve women in public affairs.

Dame Rachel died peacefully in Goondiwindi, Queensland, aged 96, on 18 April 2002, after a heart attack. She had only a week earlier moved there from Perth to be near her son Evan and his family.

View the full record at Australian Women's Register

Resources for Rachel Cleland

Selected resources (26)

Australian Women's Register

  1. Papua New Guinea: pathways to independence: official and family life 1951-1975
    Cleland, Rachel
    [c1983]
    Published: Artlook
  2. Grass roots to independence and beyond: the contribution by women in Papua New Guinea 1951-1991
    Cleland, Rachel
    [1996]
    Published: Dame Rachel Cleland
  3. Caring Grand Dame who went at life full tiltThe Age 9 : Caring Grand Dame who went at life full tilt
    Farquarson, John
    [2002]
  4. Liberal Matriarch Dame Rachel Cleland diesWest Australian : Liberal Matriarch Dame Rachel Cleland dies
    [2002]
  5. Liberals lose matriarchWest Australian 6 : Liberals lose matriarch
    [2002]
  6. Dame Rachel, 78, still calls Papua New Guinea homeThe Advertiser 2 : Dame Rachel, 78, still calls Papua New Guinea home
    [1984]
  7. Dame Rachel Cleland dies at 96The National : Dame Rachel Cleland dies at 96
    [2002]
  8. Obituary [Dame Rachel Cleland]Australian : Obituary [Dame Rachel Cleland]
    [2002]
  9. Lady Cleland to Live in PerthWest Australian 44 : Lady Cleland to Live in Perth
    [1978]
  10. Conscience of the LibsAustralian 13 : Conscience of the Libs
    [2002]
  11. Making a difference [Dame Rachel Cleland]West Australian 38 : Making a difference [Dame Rachel Cleland]
    [2002]
  12. The Dame Who Was Game for AnythingSydney Morning Herald 27 : The Dame Who Was Game for Anything
    Farquarson, John
    [2002]
  13. Obituary [Dame Rachel Cleland]Canberra Times 9 : Obituary [Dame Rachel Cleland]
    [2002]
  14. PNG friend diesPost Courier : PNG friend dies
    [2002]
  15. Condolences to Cleland Family
    [2002]
    Published: Prime Minister's Office, Papua New Guinea
    Series: http://www.pm.gov.pg/pmsoffice.nsf/7/f3
  16. Liberals mourn the loss of Dame RachelThe Age : Liberals mourn the loss of Dame Rachel
    [2002]
  17. Who's who in Australia 2002
    Herd, Margaret
    [2002]
    Published: Crown Content
  18. Stalwart won praise of party leaderWest Australian 6 : Stalwart won praise of party leader
    [2002]
  19. Faith, Hope and Charity Australian Women and Imperial Honours: 1901-1989
    Australian Women's Archives Project
    [2003]
    Published: Australian Women's Archives Project
    Series: http://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/honours/honours.html
  20. Mayman, Jan, Old-growth forests inspire old-guard crusaderThe Age : Mayman, Jan, Old-growth forests inspire old-guard crusader
    [1999]
  21. Cleland, Sir Donald MacKinnonAustralian Dictionary of Biography Online 13 : Cleland, Sir Donald MacKinnon
    Nelson, H N
    [2006]
    Published: Australian National University
    Series: http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A130486b.htm
  22. Poverty requires “community help”West Australian 44 : Poverty requires “community help”
    [1996]
  23. National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection: Papers of Dame Rachel Cleland (1990s)
    Dame Rachel Cleland instigated a campaign to try to stop the logging of old growth forests in Western Australia. The collection comprises correspondence, family letters, drafts, speeches, reviews, photos and albums, files relating to the Save the Forests campaign and the Kimberley Land Case.
    MS Acc02/53
  24. National Library of Australia Oral History Collection: Interview with Dame Rachel Cleland (1983 - 1985)
    Interviewer Nancy Luton
    ORAL TRC 1871
  25. National Library of Australia Newspaper Microcopy Reading Room: Biographical Cuttings on Dame Rachel Cleland
  26. JS Battye Library of West Australian History, State Library of Western Australia: Community Kindergartens Association [Records] (1973 - 1990)
    Circulars, chiefly from the Pre-School Education Board (1974-1979); letters from Ministers for Education and Dame Rachel Cleland, as well as sample letter sent to the Premier and Minister for Education (1981-1985); minutes, including council minutes of Pre-School Education Board (1973-1976) and AGM minutes of Kindergarten Association (1973); reports (1980-1981); notices; article entitled "The advantages of remaining a community based kindergarten or a pre-school"

Resources by Rachel Cleland (5)

  1. Papua New Guinea : pathways to independence : official and family life 1951-1975 / Dame Rachel Cleland
    Cleland, Rachel Dame
    [ Book : 1983 ]
    At 45 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 67.734)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 67.734)

  2. Grass roots to independence and beyond : the contribution by women in Papua New Guinea 1951-1991 / by Rachel Cleland
    Cleland, Rachel Dame
    [ Book : 1996 ]
    At 19 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 27.487)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 27.487)

  3. Across the decades
    Cleland, Rachel, Dame
    Carrying the Banner: Women, Leadership and Activism in Australia
    [ Article : 1999 ]
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.847)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.847)

  4. Port Moresby, Papua and New Guinea. / [Story: Rachel Cleland. Photos.: Clive Hyde.]
    Cleland, Rachel Dame
    [ Book : 1969 ]
    At 4 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.646)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.646)

  5. [Papers concerning the Kimberley land cases and the Kimberley Land Council]
    Cleland, Rachel Dame
    [ Unpublished : 1992 ]
    At AIATSIS Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.897)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.897)

Resources about Rachel Cleland (9)

  1. Papua New Guinea : pathways to independence : official and family life 1951-1975 / Dame Rachel Cleland
    Cleland, Rachel Dame
    [ Book : 1983 ]
    At 45 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 65.203)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 65.203)

  2. Grass roots to independence and beyond : the contribution by women in Papua New Guinea 1951-1991 / by Rachel Cleland
    Cleland, Rachel Dame
    [ Book : 1996 ]
    At 19 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 26.871)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 26.871)

  3. Dame Rachel Cleland : Liberal Party matriach & conservationist
    Film Australia
    [ Video : 2001 ]
    At 14 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 21.861)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 21.861)

  4. [Biographical cuttings on Dame Rachel Cleland, Community worker and wife of Sir Donald Cleland, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals]
    [ Published : 1900-1990 ]
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 20.128)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 20.128)

  5. Dame Rachel Cleland
    [ Video : 2005 ]
    At Deakin Uni Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.014)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.014)

  6. Across the decades
    Cleland, Rachel, Dame
    Carrying the Banner: Women, Leadership and Activism in Australia
    [ Article : 1999 ]
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 10.968)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 10.968)

  7. Never an old woman: Dame Rachel Cleland, 1906-2002
    Lutton, Nancy
    The Journal of Pacific History
    [ Article : 2003 ]
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.095)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.095)

  8. Nothing like a dame
    [ Video : 1999 ]
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 5.514)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 5.514)

  9. The lucky colony. -Book review-
    De Guise, Dolly; Lawrence, Peter
    Quadrant (Sydney)
    [ Article : 1985 ]
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 2.339)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 2.339)

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  1. Papers of Dame Rachel Cleland
    Cleland, Rachel Dame, 1906-2002
    [ Unpublished : 1900 ]
    View online
    At National Library
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  2. Records of Rachel Cleland
    Cleland, Rachel
    [ Unpublished : 2000 ]
    View online
    At John Curtin PM Lib
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  3. Papers of Sir Donald Cleland
    Cleland, Donald Sir, 1901-1975
    [ Unpublished : 1960-1990 ]
    At National Library
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  1. Rachel Cleland interviewed by Nancy Lutton
    Cleland, Rachel Dame, 1906-2002
    [ Sound : 1983-1985 ]
    View online
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  2. Dame Rachel Cleland
    [ Video : 2004 ]
    At UQ Library
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  3. [Interview with Dame Rachel Cleland] [interviewed by Nancy Lutton]
    Cleland, Rachel, 1906-2002
    [ Sound : 1983-1986 ]
    At WA State Library
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.817)

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  4. Celebrate : one hundred years of women's suffrage in Western Australia / producer, Kate Akerman ; co-directors & research, Kate Akerman, Michelle Syme
    [ Video : 1999 ]
    At Murdoch University
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.004)

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  1. Dame Rachel Cleland; Obituary.(Features)
    The Times (London, England)
    [ Article : 2002 ]
    View online (conditions apply)
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  2. My Dearest Brown Eyes: Letters Between Sir Donald Cleland and Dame Rachel Cleland during World War II.(Book review)
    Melrose, Craig
    The Australian Journal of Politics and History
    [ Article : 2007 ]
    View online (conditions apply)
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.292)

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  3. Lib matriarch dies.(Features)
    The Australian (National, Australia)
    [ Article : 2002 ]
    View online (conditions apply)
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.003)

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  4. Conscience of the Libs.(Features)
    The Australian (National, Australia)
    [ Article : 2002 ]
    View online (conditions apply)
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.003)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.003)

  1. My dearest brown eyes : letters between Sir Donald Cleland and Dame Rachel Cleland during World War II / edited by Nancy Lutton
    Cleland, Donald Sir, 1901-1975
    [ Book : 2006 ]
    At 28 libraries
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  2. Pathways to independence : story of official and family life in Papua New Guinea, from 1951 to 1975 / Rachel Cleland
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    [ Book : 1985-2012 ]
    At 34 libraries
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    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 3.973)

  3. [Pathways to independence by Dame Rachel Cleland]
    Cleland, Rachel, 1906-2002
    [ Book : 1986 ]
    At WA State Library
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  4. Ancient family of Cleland : being an account of the Clelands of that Ilk, in the county of Lanark; of the branches of Faskine, Monkland, etc.; and of others of the name
    Cleland, John Burton
    [ Book, Article : 1905 ]
    read online at Open Library/Internet Archive
    View online
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    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.134)

  1. STELLA POWER’S CONCERT.
    The Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954) Saturday 5 October 1918 p 8 Article
    ... Douglas ToUey, Miss Ursula Lloyd, Misses Amv and Rachel Lux moore, Mrs. E. 'E. Cleland, Mrs. G. A. ... [?]londay night, when a concert, under the auspices of Dame Nellie Melba, was given in aid of Red Cross Funds fay Miaj Stella Poorer - Dame Melba's protegee - and Mons. F. de Baurguigaon, the 3-oung ... 811 words
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  2. THE JUVENILE COSTUME BALL.
    South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900) Friday 19 October 1888 p 6 Article
    ... Claxton, Tennis Player; Glen Cleland, Page; Harry Cleland, Jack Tar; Bentley Conner, Tom Tem the ... Gipsy;. Leifia Lovely, Dame Hubbard : Lucy Lucas, Jeannette ; Ethel L. Lyons, Castilian Girl ... Ghl ; Lilian MeTaggart, Harvest ; Gussle Mildred, Kate Hardcastle; Millie Mildred, Romin Girl; Rachel ... 3519 words
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    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.011)

  3. MALT PRINCE WINS NATIONAL: EASILY WON JUMPING RACE FROM TRIREME AND TWO KINGS AT PARK Valleyacre And Beau Silver Take Welter Divisions PANELLO (12/1) IN FULHAM PLATE
    The Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954) Saturday 18 August 1934 p 10 Article
    ... Cummings, but is now under the care of J. Bell, who pre pared him for Mr. R. G. Cleland. Mr. Cleland won the ... (Wilson). £34 5/. Wotana. 9 3 (Winks). £34. Dame Spasa, 9 3 (Power). £31. SeaveUle. 9 3 (McMahon). £11 ... Rafatol. HALT PRINCE. 10 Spanish Queen. Dame Spa: a. 12 Wotana, Sea vetlle. 16 Puringa, Cyproni. 20 ... 3865 words
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