Betty Byrne Henderson

Last updated
Betty Byrne Henderson
Born1932 [1]
Other namesBetty Byrne; Betty Henderson
Occupationautomotive dealer (retired)
Known forachieving success as an automotive dealer and for her philanthropy in the tertiary education and health sectors

Elizabeth Anne Byrne Henderson AM (born 1932) is an Australian philanthropist and retired businesswoman.

Contents

Byrne Henderson is perhaps best known for her work in the automotive industry, but is also known for her advocacy in the health sector and for her financial benefaction to tertiary education. [2] [3] [4]

Early life

Byrne Henderson attended All Hallows' School in Brisbane. [1] After leaving school, she worked as a stenographer, a book keeper and as a junior sales clerk. [1]

Career

Byrne Ford

Henderson established a Ford dealership called Byrne Ford in Brisbane with her husband Bernie Byrne in 1969. [2] [3] When her husband died in 1977, she took over the business as sole owner and governing director, despite experiencing sexism in a male-dominated industry. [2] [3] Under her guidance, the company rapidly expanded and grew from having a staff of 35 workers to having over 140 employees. [3] In October 1991, the company became the first Australian car dealership to attain Quality Assurance accreditation. Henderson handed over the company to her son Peter Byrne in 1995. [3]

Philanthropy

In 1987, Henderson commenced an ongoing philanthropic relationship with the Queensland University of Technology when she gifted a substantial amount of money to the university to establish a fundraising course. [4] Among other things, Henderson's donations are credited with assisting medical research, providing student scholarships, and enabling the restoration of Old Government House. [4]

In 1997, Henderson was awarded an honorary Doctor of the University degree from Griffith University, in recognition of her contribution to society. [1] [5]

Her community involvement also extended to being a board member of the Brisbane City Council's Transport Committee and the Queensland Harness Racing Board as well as a member of the Brisbane Cricket Ground Trust and the Queensland Corrective Services Commission. [1] She was also a foundation member of the State Library of Queensland Foundation, and a member of the Ronald McDonald House Committee and Zonta International. [1]

Health

Henderson is also known for her work in the health sector. [3] She had a lengthy association with the Royal Brisbane Women's Hospital, chairing the hospital board from 1982 to 1991. [3] A women's health centre located within the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital is named in her honour. [3] Henderson is credited with helping introduce mammography buses for women in remote areas as well as supporting the development of a midwifery system in Aboriginal communities. [4]

Politics

Henderson contested the 1989 Merthyr state by-election which was triggered after the resignation of Don Lane in the wake of the Fitzgerald Inquiry. [6] [7] As the National Party candidate, Henderson bore the brunt of a substantial swing against the government, polling third behind Santo Santoro (Liberal) and Barbara Dawson (Labor). [8]

Awards

In the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of her service to the community and to women's health. [9]

In 2011, she was named as a Queensland Great. [10]

In 2022, Henderson received the Queensland Community Foundation's Board of Governors Award for Outstanding Achievement. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oodgeroo Noonuccal</span> Aboriginal Australian poet, artist, teacher and campaigner for Indigenous rights

Oodgeroo Noonuccal ( UUD-gə-roo NOO-nə-kəl; born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska, later Kath Walker was an Aboriginal Australian political activist, artist and educator, who campaigned for Aboriginal rights. Noonuccal was best known for her poetry, and was the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of verse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Ahern (Australian politician)</span> Australian politician (1942–2023)

Michael John Ahern was an Australian National Party politician who was Premier of Queensland from December 1987 to September 1989. After a long career in the government of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Ahern became his successor amid the controversy caused by the Fitzgerald Inquiry into official corruption. Ahern's consensus style and political moderation contrasted strongly with Bjelke-Petersen's leadership, but he could not escape the division and strife caused by his predecessor's downfall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Joseph Byrnes</span> Australian politician

Thomas Joseph Byrnes was an Australian politician and barrister. He was Premier of Queensland from April 1898 until his death in September of the same year, having previously served in several ministerial positions in his parliamentary career. He was the first Roman Catholic Premier of Queensland and the first to die in office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brisbane Girls Grammar School</span> Independent secondary day school in Spring Hill, Queensland, Australia

Brisbane Girls Grammar School is an independent non-denominational secondary day school for girls, located in Spring Hill, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1875, the school is one of eight grammar schools in Queensland that were established under the Grammar Schools Act of 1860. The school originally opened as a branch of the Brisbane Grammar School with fifty students under the direction of a principal, Janet O'Connor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Campbell (judge)</span> Australian judge, administrator and governor

Sir Walter "Wally" Benjamin Campbell, was an Australian judge, administrator and governor. He was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland, Chancellor of the University of Queensland and the 21st Governor of Queensland from 1985 to 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Farm, Queensland</span> Suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

New Farm is an inner northern riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, New Farm had a population of 12,454 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1989 Queensland state election</span>

The 1989 Queensland state election was held in the Australian state of Queensland on 2 December 1989 to elect the 89 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. This was the first election following the downfall of seven-term premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen at the end of 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcia Langton</span> Australian Aboriginal scholar and activist

Marcia Lynne Langton is an Aboriginal Australian writer and academic. As of 2022 she is the Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne. Langton is known for her activism in the Indigenous rights arena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Arnison</span> Australian Army officer

Major General Peter Maurice Arnison, is a retired Australian Army officer who served as the 23rd Governor of Queensland, in office from July 1997 until July 2003. He graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1962, and served as Land Commander Australia from 1994 until he retired from the Australian Army in 1996.

Leisha Teresa Harvey is a former Australian politician. She was a National Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1983 to 1989, representing the electorate of Greenslopes. She served as Minister for Health in the government of Mike Ahern government from 1987 until her sacking in January 1989. She lost her seat at the election that December, and was not long out of Parliament when she was charged with numerous counts of misappropriation of public funds concerning her usage of her official credit card. After a high-profile trial in 1990 and subsequent conviction, she spent five months in prison and a further seven months in home detention.

The 1989 Merthyr state by-election was a by-election held on 13 May 1989 for the Queensland Legislative Assembly seat of Merthyr, based in the inner Brisbane suburb of New Farm.

Elizabeth Anne Webby was an Australian literary critic, editor and scholar of literature. Emeritus Professor Webby retired from the Chair of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney in 2007. She edited The Cambridge Companion to Australian Literature and was editor of Southerly from 1988 to 1999.

Ian Brusasco AO, AM(4 October 1928 – 13 May 2021) was an Australian businessman who served as chairman and director for WorkCover Queensland, Queensland Investment Corporation, Gladstone Ports Corporation, Foodbank Qld, Port of Brisbane Corporation, Australian Soccer Federation, Queensland Soccer Federation, Oceania Football Confederation, Brisbane Strikers, Radio Station 4TAB, Radio Station 4KQ, and Labor Holdings. Brusasco also served as an alderman in the Brisbane City Council for 14 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Jones (writer)</span> Australian writer

Anne Patricia Jones is an Australian writer, editor, and administrator. She is one of two working directors of ToadShow Pty Ltd, a Brisbane-based design company, where she is managing partner and company chair. In 1981 she was co editor of Semper Floreat the University of Queensland student newspaper.

Julianne Schultz AM FAHA is an Australian academic, media manager, author and editor. She was the founding editor of the Australian literary and current affairs journal Griffith Review. She is currently a professor at Griffith University's Centre for Social and Cultural Research.

Angela Mary Doyle, AO is member of the Order of the Sisters of Mercy in Australia and is nationally recognised for her work as a hospital administrator at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Brisbane and for her early advocacy for the support and care of Queenslanders with HIV/AIDS.

Carol McGregor is an Indigenous Australian artist of Wathaurung (Victoria) and Scottish descent, internationally known for her multi media installation pieces bringing together ephemeral natural fibres, metal, and paper. She is also deeply engaged in the creation of and cultural reconnection to possum skin cloaks, a traditional form of dress and important biographical cultural item.

Betty Taylor is an Australian community advocate and domestic violence prevention campaigner.

Jena Woodhouse is a Brisbane-based Australian novelist and poet.

Honor Dell Cleary was an Australian early childhood educator and community leader.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Elizabeth (Betty) Byrne Henderson - Doctor Of The University Occasional Speech (1997)". Griffith Archive. Griffith University. 8 September 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2023. Betty Byrne Henderson was born in 1932...
  2. 1 2 3 Tuckey, Bill (12 March 1993). "A woman's place is in the dealership". Australian Financial Review . Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Dr Betty Byrne Henderson". State Library of Queensland . 30 April 2009. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "QCF 2022 Board of Governors' Award for Outstanding Achievement". Queensland Community Foundation. 15 June 2022. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  5. ↑ "Doctor of the University". Griffith Archive. Griffith University . Retrieved 8 June 2023. Ms Elizabeth (Betty) Byrne Henderson, AM: 17.09.1997
  6. ↑ Roberts, Greg (11 May 1989). "Nothing between Qld parties in dirty-tricks department". The Sydney Morning Herald . p. 3. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  7. ↑ "Ahern warns Merthyr voters". The Sydney Morning Herald. 13 May 1989. p. 2. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  8. ↑ Roberts, Greg (15 May 1989). "Ahern in strife as voters reject Govt". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 4. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  9. ↑ "Award: 872090". Australian Honours Search Facility . Departent of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 12 June 1995. Retrieved 8 June 2023. In recognition of service to the community and womens health
  10. ↑ "2011 recipients: Dr Betty Byrne Henderson". Queensland Greats Awards . Queensland Government. 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.