Warrnambool: Beautiful one day...industrialized the next.

                                 WARRNAMBOOL

BEAUTIFUL ONE DAY

                           INDUSTRIALIZED THE NEXT!

This is a story about Warrnambool in Victoria....on the Great Ocean Road. We are struggling to stop heavy industrial development right in our town, about 9 blocks from the CBD! The people who live in Merrivale, the little community directly under the factories, are struggling to be heard.

I spent a bit of time on this map so I hope you can read it.

1:     Proposed Midfield's 12 storey milk factory  
2:     Propose Midfield's 11 storey freezer storage unit  
3:     The Warrnambool Hospital and Cancer Center, servicing 120,000 people
4:     Merrivale Primary School  
5:     Liebig St centre of CBD ( the actual centre is located near the word Warrnambool ) 
6:     Merri Wetland  
7:     Near my house  
8:     Brauer Secondary College 
9:     Lake Pertobe
10:   City Council offices, Lighthouse Theatre, Fun4Kids Venue: Civic Green, Art Gallery and restaurants 
11:   Childcare centre 
12:   Whale nursery

Between 8 and 12 are another 3 childcare centers, 3 secondary colleges, 4 primary schools, 6 medical centers, 3 dentists, 6 churches, sports centers, shopping centers and so on. In short, the entire township of Warrnambool is concentrated into a small area.



Merrivale Primary School is a mere six houses away from the proposed factory and freezer unit. Some students are anaphylactic, asthmatic and have other allergies. Because a number of the Merrivale school parents work at Midfields the  school has not voiced one single concern about the erection of a huge, 12 storey milk factory emitting at least 16 kg of milk dust per day into the air their students will breathe.

Currently, there are three huge milk factories all just a short drive from the Warrnambool CBD; two just west of Warrnambool in Koroit and Dennington and another on the Eastern fringe, in Allansford. Do we really need one more large milk factory and freezer unit right in the heart of Warrnambool? That would make four factories...all emitting more than 16 kg of milk dust into our air every day.

Do you know about the milk dust and what it does to those who live within a twelve block radius and even further afield on windy days....which is almost always? It settles on roofs and cars, stops solar energy production, contaminates water tanks and irritates our lungs.

Many of the people of Merrivale are worried and stressed about the effects this heavy industry will have on their health. Some are already suffering from anxiety and depression. All the other industry in Warrnambool is, so far, light industry. It will change the nature of our town...just a few blocks from the CBD.

Colin McKenna employs many overseas workers in Midfield Meats abattoir. This despite the fact that Warrnanbool has the highest rate of youth unemployment in Victoria. I have been told by a reliable source that many young people who have applied for work at Midfields and have been accepted, are turned away everyday in favour of overseas workers.

McKenna will import milk from Queensland....because there is not enough local milk to supply him....So it will not be sourced locally.

The demand for power is so great the grid is not enough. Even now McKenna runs gas generators to supply peak power to the abattoir.  The generators are heard across Merrivale and on still night can prevent residents from falling asleep. Though gas is better than coal it's still a fossil fuel and is by no means sustainable. How much more electricity will be needed to run the 12 storey milk factory and 11 storey freezer unit?



Merrivale in Warrnambool, is an inappropriate place for such heavy industry, that will be bigger than Fonterra, Dennington. Go to the abattoirs and see for yourself where it will be built. See for yourself how close to town it will be and to the residences, school, kinders, day care centers and the hospital. There will not be just one factory but two huge factories,towering over the community of Merrivale, polluting their air, creating noise pollution and changing the nature of our beautiful, tourist city.

Another group of people own house blocks in Eccles St. The Warrnambool City Council Planning Department has deemed the road too narrow for subdivision though before the owner bought the land, it promised to widen the street, to open the way for house blocks. So the owner was given permission to subdivide the land.

Since then Council has sold land to Colin McKenna to build the two huge industrial buildings and the Eccles St. property owner is either no longer permitted to subdivide or he realizes he won't be able to sell the land as residential. So he's hoping to turn it into more industrial land, just a few blocks from our restaurants, motels and beaches. It's insane.

And by the way...I'm not responding to this as a Green...though I'm sure the Greens who live both here and elsewhere, being a reasonable group of people, will agree with these points. I'm responding as someone who lives here and will also be effected by such inappropriate developments. Both my son and I have asthama and other allergic responses as do probably half the population.

Colin McKenna has land all over SW Victoria. Perhaps he could build his factories away from residential areas....perhaps somewhere near Woolsthorpe or Mortlake, where there are paddocks on which the milk dust can settle and biodegrade....and where there is bore water to access. He could create settling ponds and whatever else is required to treat the waste it will produce.  There are places on the rail line where he could build sidings to use cargo trains. It is possible.

I'm not saying I'm against milk factories or industrialization but the time for deliberately allowing such developments to bring harm to humans, wild life and surrounds and to ruin a whole town and communities for the sake of a few jobs or for anything else...is well and truly in the past....or so it should be.

This is the Dennington milk factory just a couple of kms West from the proposed new Midfields milk factory in Warrnambool.

This is the factory the East side of Warrnambool in Allansford.

And here's the milk factory further West, in Koroit.

And the Warrnambool Council Planning Department want to allow another one, right in the town. All of this for just 30 jobs, that could be 30 jobs 30km north...away from any harm!

Can you help us fight this? Please contact me if you can help in any way.

Malcolm Turnbull

Malcolm Turnbull may have a better public profile than Tony Abbott but he is no hero and certainly doesn't deserve support from outside the Liberal Party.



# The NBN!

# He supports offshore cruelty for refugees:
 
# He supports Liberal policies! Cutting funding to higher education, education in general, health, the arts, ABC and SBS HELLO!
 
# He fought the price on carbon and towed the party line beyond belief!
 
# He supports coal seam gas mining, uranium mining, coal mining and doesn't give a rats about Abbott Point or Mega factory ships in our waters or the pollution of our waters in so very many ways!
 
# He doesn't support renewable energy or renewable industry!
 
# He supports the East West link over better public transport and follows through throughout Australia.

Just because once upon a time he supported an emissions trading scheme (dumped that idea when Labor actually introduced one thanks to the Greens)
and just because he's for equal marriage rights and wears a leather jacket does not mean he deserves our support!

Where did the Malcolm Turnbull propaganda come from? He's very marginally better than Abbott because he presents well but then again, so does the big bad wolf in Little red Riding Hood!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=784238001612763

Help! Goodman Fielder, 'Praise', has just converted all glass containers to toxic plastic! Please email them!

Please friends, write to Goodman Fielder 'Praise' and tell them you'll stop buying their product due to the recent conversion of glass to plastic product containers. Perhaps you could copy and paste this letter.  cac@goodmanfielder.co.nz

It is with much distress that after 20 years of buying Praise Whole Egg Mayonnaise, I find that Goodman Fielder executives have discontinued their products in glass.

This product contains no maltodextrine, dextrose, corn syrup, genetically modified ingredients or other toxic chemicals.

Unfortunately, now that you've put it in plastic jars, it is toxic to both humans and the Earth and all its species.

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/cookware-plastics-shoppers-guide-to-food-safety

Plastic contains many chemicals that are poisonous to humans and the residue of these chemicals are a problem in the food we eat. Goodman fielder has just made that so much worse. When I was a child 1 in 50 people would develop cancer. Now it is 1 in 2 people.

Non-biodegradable plastic is clogging up all our waterways and oceans, being eaten by birds fish and other animals as it breaks into ever smaller pieces, eventually turning into a toxic soup, sludge in which nothing can live.

There are five huge floating plastic rubbish waste vortexes in our oceans, each being between the size of Tasmania and continental USA. The plastic waste vortexes take up the entire depth pf the ocean and nothing lives in them and they're contaminating all the oceans of the Earth, contributing to the destruction of our most important resource. The oceans are the most import of Earth's life support systems. Plastic pollution amongst other chemicals and climate change are creating a toxic lifeless sea.

Micro non-biodegradable plastic is contaminating the oceans and our air threatening the health of all living creatures.How much destruction is a few extra dollars worth to you?

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/oct/27/toxic-plastic-synthetic-microscopic-oceans-microbeads-microfibers-food-chain

There is also the issue of climate change and fossil fuels. All the plastic your food comes in is made from fossil fuels. So you are contributing to runaway climate change. Many companies that recycle plastic in Australia send it overseas where workers are exploited under terrible conditions, in order to assuage the collective conscience of our wealthy, plastic society.

Recycling is not a solution to plastic waste as it uses too many resources and exploits too many people and is too hazardous to be sustainable.





The best solution is to reduce this toxic substance upon which we have all become so dependent!
This is a part of a greater campaign to urge Goodman Fielder to stop using plastic and to revert back to healthier, more easily recycled glass containers.

In the mean time, more and more people will stop using your product! So the money you saved by changing to plastic containers and much more, will now be lost to you!

So who was the bright spark who decided to convert all Praise food containers to plastic? He should be sacked and then sued!

'Craigellachie' If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you'll be amazed at the results. George S. Patton

If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you'll be amazed at the results.
George S. Patton

Thirty two years ago, David and I embarked on an overseas holiday; our maiden voyage. Many people who were born in our generation were lucky enough to travel overseas regularly but this was our first time and we were very excited. Just before exiting through the boarding gate, my father asked me to look for a town in Scotland where his ancestor, George Morison, was born.

He couldn't remember the name but knew it started with C and scribbled Crieth on a lolly wrapper. David said 'Oh God! We're not changing our plans to go off on a wild goose chase for a town with no name!' My father often did this to me. He would never, ever allow me to relax and enjoy the moment without asking me to do something complex and frustrating at the very last minute.

Dad is a clever man despite being slightly dyslexic, which always complicated matters. An opportunist with remarkable timing, he confidently manipulated his daughter's guilt by making what seemed at the time, crazy and unreasonable demands and... I always jumped through hoops to oblige. My desire to gain his approval, along with an insatiable curiosity meant he usually got his way!

Remember, thirty two years ago there were no mobile phones, no lap tops and no way of contacting home other than an expensive long distance phone call. Anyway, we did look for the mysterious town in Scotland that started with C because given a challenge like this I couldn't resist the urge to follow through. The search took us on the highland railway and across the center of Scotland, from Inverness to the River Spey. How I knew where to go, I'm not sure, but it felt I was being guided by intuition.

David kept saying 'You'll never find it! It's impossible. You don't have enough information!' But I was determined and felt sure I was on the right path. The quest created a wall of tension between David and I and on the banks of Loch Ness we had a blazing row. I got out of the car and started hitchhiking in the other direction. I waited for half an hour but the road was deserted, so eventually we reached a truce and agreed that if in two days we hadn't found the Morison town, I'd abandon the search.

At Abelour I made some inquiries and then our B&B proprietor mentioned the name 'Craigellachie'. Why did that name sound familiar? I know it sounds impossible but somehow I knew that Craigellachie was the place beginning with C and at the little Church of Scotland (or was it the Presbyterian Church?), near the bridge across the Spey, I found records of our famous ancestor who it would appear was my great, great, great grandfather.

Painting of the Telford Bridge, Craigellachie by Rob Wigham.

There was a reference to an illegitimate son but my research was limited by a lack of time and finances and I thought the rest could wait for my father to find at a later date. Needless to say this was not what my puritanical father wanted to hear but the truth did eventually win out. David thought it served him right and so did I.

David managed to make up for lost time at the local Glenfiddick distillery and we both enjoyed the beautiful journey along the Spey and into the hills, eventually arriving in Edinburgh on a hot August night!

My first overseas holiday was a Scottish magical mystery tour spurred on by my grumpy old Dad leading us up the garden path to a beautiful place called Craigellachie.

Hmmmmm. Sounds like Greens policy....

Hmmmm. Sounds like Greens policy!

Australian Conservation Foundation

 ·

In Bolivia, the Law of the Rights of Mother Nature gives the environment equal rights to human beings.

How is that the President of Bolivia can be so aware on this issue and our PM so extraordinarily ignorant? Why are so many Australians so ignorant?

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2014/12/06/greg-hunts-hostile-attack-the-environment/14177844001333#.VIUR68mt_IV

I think it's partly because Australian scientists and many environment and social justice groups are frightened to support the only political party that has the right policies and the right people to make them a reality. Like President Evo Morales, the Greens are willing and ready to fight for mother earth in parliament but to do it we need more Greens MPs. It won't be until all the groups we already represent in parliament come forward and openly support us that we'll be able to help save the earth from human pollution.

Recently the Catholic Diocese of Melbourne advised Catholics not to vote Green and if the Catholic Church can tell it's people not to vote Green, then the environment and human rights groups should be able to encourage their people to do the opposite. When these groups openly support the Greens, I believe we'll be able to form Government.

When you realize what's at stake for Australia and the earth, surely this is the next logical step! Why aren't groups such as The Conservation Foundation supporting the Greens and fighting for Green governance?

Come on people. Together, let's do this thing!

 ‪#‎Greens‬ ‪#‎CatholicDioceseVictoria‬ ‪#‎WindAlliance‬ #350.org ‪#‎GasfieldFree‬ ‪#‎AYCC‬ ‪#‎StopCoal‬ ‪#‎GreatNationalForest‬ ‪#‎AustralianConservationFoundation‬ ‪#‎AsylumSeekerResourceCentre‬ ‪#‎AnimalsAustralia‬ ‪#‎ViolenceAgainstWomen‬ ‪#‎DomesticViolence‬ ‪#‎SaveOurOceans‬

Here is a FB comment and my response.
 

Megan Nicolson I think that's really unfair and kind of ridiculous to put blame of an ignorant govt on scientists and enviro groups. Most are doing the work with little or no support from any political parties. Why should they align themselves with one and ostracise themselves from the necessity of govt funding to do the work, not just campaign for it's future. Most would vote green as individuals, why should their business need

27 mins · Like

Megan Nicolson, valid points which are the reasons groups give for not openly supporting the Greens. So here are my responses to the points you make.

1/ I'm not blaming scientists or groups for our ignorant Govt but for being politically neutral when we all know the environment and human rights are determined by legislation and therefore politics. Therefore those groups have a vested interest in helping the right party gain governance

2/ The problem with Govt funding is that, the perception that science must be seen to benefit the goals of the sitting government, potentially compromises the objectivity of scientific processes and may also effect scientific outcomes!!

3/ Govt funding to climate scientists will go up or down depending on who is in Govt whether that groups supports Greens policies or not and the same applies to all other scientific endeavours. Funding swings back and forth according to the predilection of whomever is in power. Look what happened to the Climate Council and the Environment defenders Office when Abbott was elected.

4/ If groups are genuinely dedicated to their cause, ie fighting climate change, then why not openly support the party that is also genuinely committed to the same cause? Surely that would be the best way to achieve goals.

5/ Such groups have broad levels of support from voters. Someone told me that there were Coalition and Labor supporters in their groups who would never vote Green. That to me is simply prejudicial ignorance. Why remain in a party that is fighting against what you're fighting for? Does that make any sense? Why not raise political awareness within your group of supporters?

It would be understandable if the Greens had questionable environmental policies like Labor and the Coalition: ie logging native forests, fracking, uranium mining, coal and coal fired power stations etc.... But our policies on the environment and human rights are spot on. (And I, of course, believe that all our policies are spot on!)

With the help and influence of of these groups and scientific bodies, the Greens would already be working their Green magic in Government. Get Up, AYCC, Sea Shepherd, 350.0rg & many more have huge followings...and many of the followers are voting their futures away and defeating the purpose of belonging to those very groups!

Again good points and I thank you for sharing them with me but sadly the environment is a political issue.

I worked for a social justice group and also an environment group...over about an 8 year period. We were practically burnt out...well we were burnt out. But we were encouraged because it looked as though we were making headway. We disbanded one of the groups with a change of govt because they promised to do the right thing. Then they didn't...and we had wasted 8 years of our lives...with our cause actually going backwards.

It was then I realized we had to get the right people into Govt because Govt makes the laws that regulate the people and the environment. I approached the people who ran the environment group and asked them about supporting the Greens. They gave all sorts of reasons for not supporting the Greens and so I left them and joined the Greens instead. In the end Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund and the Wilderness Society and the Climate Council do not make the laws of the land. You cannot vote for them. The Greens you can vote for and depend on.

Showing support for the Greens doesn't require a group to demand anything of their members but rather a declaration of support from the core group for another group that shares it's values and aims. It is that simple. That simple act, helps people recognize the value of the Greens and encourages people to vote for us! The unions support Labor! The corporations support Coalition. No-one supports the Greens yet we are the most worthy political party to run the country.

I met a young Green volunteer during the election here. He had travelled from Canberra to hand out early voting HTV cards at Hamilton. He is an excellent young man who had been a public servant in Canberra during the Gillard Govt and worked on the the Clean Energy Act which the Greens negotiated with the ALP. The Greens spent years working on this proposal and he said he felt like he was walking on air as he went to work each day. Then Abbott won and he found himself in the position where he had to dismantle that same legislation. He couldn't do it. So he left and joined the Greens because he realized that you can't vote for the Climate Council, or Wilderness Society and in the end it's who is in Canberra who makes the difference.

Sure the Climate Council is worthy. I gave them hundreds of dollars to re-form their organisation and I'm glad they did. But they have NO POWER TO CHANGE LEGISLATION! Only if you have the balance of power or a majority in parliament can you do that! And from now on that's where my energy will go...but our numbers will never grow until our sibling organisations openly support us! It's up to people like you and all the good organisations really. You want to keep bashing your head against a brick wall and put up with ridiculous Govts and the devastation they reek on the environment and on human rights....then don't openly support the Greens.

Liberal and Labor sell their souls for power. Greens are only ethical alternative.

Our democracy is possibly the best functioning democracy in the world, yet the desire for power often leads to a lowering of standards.  

It’s a sad day when a supposedly ‘left wing’ party, such as the ALP, preferences extreme right, racist, climate change deniers over candidates representing social justice, a sustainable environmental and clean energy prosperity.  We expect the Liberals to preference the Greens last, but it always saddens me when the very party the Greens are accused of being in collaboration with, also preferences us last!  

No wonder so many have lost respect for politics and politicians and are now referring to the two tired parties as the ‘Laberals’ with the Greens being the only true opposition. Many voters are now thinking for themselves and despite what it says on HowToVote cards, they are directing their preferences to the party with decent, inclusive and egalitarian values. Even though the ALP has lowered its standards, many of their voters are bright enough not to follow suit! And that goes for a growing number of concerned Liberal voters as well.

All candidates are worthy of respect but bad policies deserve no such respect. Here in the South West Coast electorate of Western Region, both ALP's Roy Reekie and the Liberal's Denis Napthine, our  Premier, belong to parties that have been responsible for the potential rise of fracking in SW Vic, that threatens our farmland and the underground water upon which it all depends.

We all know that the Liberals want an eleven storey milk factory close to the heart of Warrnambool and we all know that even though Roy Reekie says he’s against it, his Party is not.  Only the Greens are 100% committed to fighting this inappropriate industrial development. The local Greens and Greens at all levels of government work with and fight for our community not just during elections, but all the time.

We all know that both Liberal and Labor are responsible for the sad situation of our training sector. Local Green residents have been participating on boards and as teachers, trying to help save and rebuild this vital part of our community. If you want to save TAFE, then you can only truly trust the Greens to stick to their ideals and follow through.

Only the Greens are 100% committed to fighting for renewable energy and local industries such as Keppel Prince. We're determined to keep fighting the climate denying and fossil fuel funded Liberals and ALP.

We are you. We are the SW community. We come from and fight for every walk of life, race and creed and that includes farmers, small business people, community groups and organisations, local government, trainers and teachers, artists, fishers, hospitality, tourism, blue collar workers, ambulance drivers, nurses, doctors, fire fighters and all residents. Many who read this know from personal experience, that it's all true. Support those who support you and Vote 1 Green!

http://greens.org.au/vic/ten-reasons

Eileen Joyce

Last night David and I watched the old Australian movie 'Wherever She Goes'.
 

http://www.ozmovies.com.au/movie/galleries/photos/wherever-she-goes

Made in Sydney at the Ealing Studios in 1951, this was a biopic tale of the early life of famous Australian pianist Eileen Joyce. Typical of Australian movies made during this time, it is a bit rough round the edges but the acting is full of nostalgic Aussie charm. The lead actress, Suzanne Parrett, is naturally graceful and believable as she skips through the Australian bush and then manages to maintain her optimism as the family moves to the harsh environment of the Australian outback. She is entirely unaware of her family's penury until she discovers her passion for music and more specifically, the piano.

The story finishes abruptly as Eileen says goodbye to her family and boards a train to follow her dream at the conservatorium in Perth. Wanting to know more about this remarkable woman I was hoping for a sequel but unfortunately the film ends here. Before we saw 'Wherever She Goes' I'd never heard of Eileen Joyce but now I'm fascinated.

She was born into abject poverty, never having worn a pair of shoes. Her clothes were truly 'Sound of Music', with her mother making her dresses from old curtains. Set in Tasmania where Eileen was born,  early scenes were filmed in the Blue Mountains where the bush revealed scenic vistas and was full of exotic wildlife. The vibrant mountains contrasted with the ugly desert town of Kalgoorli where her father moved in his search for gold. Kalgoorlie was home to an army of riff raff miners and larrikin adventurers whose favourite pass times of gold digging, drinking and two up games reflected another era in the Australian psyche, of mateship, swaggies and gold digging dreamers.

Environmental degradation caused by mining is surprisingly obvious even in this early depiction of an outback mining town. I wonder what the workers and miners from the early 20th Century would make of more recent mines, with city sized holes in the earth and monstrous trucks with wheels the size of houses.

The kindness of strangers and pure, serendipitous luck combined with Eileen's extraordinary, innate gift and obsession, under extremely unlikely circumstances, created one of Australia's best loved and world acclaimed musicians.

What makes this story even more remarkable, is that she was born in a time when expectations of women were vastly different to today. Women were not expected to leave the home to excel at anything, other than perhaps nursing, typing and maybe teaching. it seems hard to believe now that in those times and even until the 1960's, women were asked to leave their professions when they married. 

Eileen Joyce at St.Joseph's, Boulder.

Eileen Joyce's full story should be told.  In these 'hard nosed', mean spirited economic times, Australia could do with some education on the possible life changing effects that being generous, looking out for neighbours and performing small acts of kindness every day can have on children and families. Such actions can have life enhancing consequences on those around us, as demonstrated by this forgotten Australian classic.

Life was desperately hard for the miners of Boulder and elsewhere  in Australia, yet they were aware of and encouraged and supported this talented young girl. Despite our hardships, when we focus on our shared humanity, notice the little things and pull together in community, we all benefit and it especially benefits our children. 

Something must also be said about the nuns of the outback. The sisters travelled to remote places and set up schools for the bedraggled populations of these mining towns in the middle of the desert. Thanks to those nuns, the miner's children were educated and Eileen Joyce learnt to play her beloved piano.

 Joyce, Eileen Alannah (1908–1991)

by Ava Hubble

The Australian pianist Eileen Joyce, who died in England on March 25, rose from poverty-stricken obscurity to become one of this century's most famous concert stars.
She was one of the four children of Irish immigrants, Joseph and Alice Joyce, and she was born in a tent at Zeehan, Tasmania, in 1912. She spent most of her childhood in Boulder, Western Australia, where her father worked as a miner.
The family lived opposite a miners' saloon run by a relative and it was there that Eileen first began experimenting at the keyboard, tinkering on a battered old piano in the bar. Her love of music was encouraged by nuns at the local convent school and when she was about 10 they recommended that she be sent to develop her talents at a larger convent in Perth.
She was never to forget her father's embarrassment when he was forced to admit that he could neither read nor write when enrolling her at the city school.
When Percy Grainger was invited to the convent to hear her play, he pronounced her "the most transcendentally gifted child" he had ever met.
Another visitor, the touring German pianist Wilhelm Backhaus, insisted that she be sent to further her studies in Leipzig. The miners of Boulder passed the hat around to help her parents pay her fare and expenses.
Years later, during an interview, she recalled her long, lonely sea voyage to Europe, and her arrival in Leipzig in the 1920s, "a homesick waif and stray without warm knickers". The reception party, she said, was disappointed to find she was not an Aborigine.
But she also recalled the magnificent musical education she received in Leipzig, where her tutors included "the emperor" of pianists, Artur Schnabel.
From Leipzig she went to London. She was then about 20 and not only an exceptionally gifted young musician, but an extremely beautiful, red-haired young woman. Throughout her career she was to be admired almost as much for her beauty as her performances.
She made her London debut at a Proms Concert conducted by Henry Wood. Shortly after, the resourceful young pianist made a recording in London, at her own expense, and sent copies to all the leading conductors of the day. Offers of engagements with top orchestras followed.
In 1936 she made her first ABC tour of Australia. During that visit her proud father asked her to play his favourite Irish air, Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms. By then she knew dozens of concertos and sonatas by heart, but she had to admit she did not know the score of her father's favourite song.
"Then all your schooling's been wasted," he furiously complained at a reception in her honour. She quickly learned the piece to please him.
Although she left Australia in her early teens and never returned to make her home here, she always made a point of expressing her pride in Australia and its people overseas and she never attempted to gloss over her own humble beginnings.
Perhaps that is why she was regarded with such affection by her Australian contemporaries.
She was certainly never a victim of the tall poppy syndrome. In fact, throughout her glittering international career Australia constantly held her up as "a magnificent ambassadress" and a fine example to young Australians.
Following her return to London after her 1936 ABC tour she married an Englishman, Douglas Legh Barratt, and gave birth to their son, John.
But her first husband was killed while on active service during World War II; in 1945 she married again, this time to the immensely wealthy British film magnate Christopher Mann.
The same year she was featured playing on the sound track of two major British films, The Seventh Veil, starring Ann Todd, and the classic, Brief Encounter, directed by David Lean.
A children's book about her early life was published in 1949 by the English writer Clare Hoskyns-Abahall, who described the miners of "Boulder City" as"cowboys" in sombreros and chaps and reported that Eileen had often roamed in the hills of "West Australia" leading her pet kangaroo Twink by a chain attached to his "beautifullystudded collar".
But although the book provoked plenty of guffaws in Australia, it inspired the extremely popular 1951 film, Wherever She Goes, which consolidated Joyce's reputation as a first-rate ambassador.
It starred Suzanne Parrett as the young Eileen, and the famous pianist appeared as her herself, the grown-up star, in the final reel.
In addition to constant reports in the Australian media about her triumphs at Carnegie Hall and other famous concert venues, there were lavishly illustrated magazine articles about her increasingly glamorous lifestyle.
But even accounts of her Mayfair apartment, her seven grand pianos, her country home, Chartwell Farm ("right next door to Sir Winston Churchill's Chartwell Manor") and her concert gowns designed by the leading couturiers of the day failed to provoke widespread envy or acid media comment.
Australia always seemed of the opinion that the daughter of the battling Boulder miner had earned her place in the sun.
She ended her career in Aberdeen in 1960 by closing the lid of the piano after a recital and announcing that she was in pain from muscular problems in her shoulders and "utterly exhausted" after a lifetime of extensive touring.
There was talk of a comeback following her brief, dazzling guest appearance at a charity concert in London in 1967, but she thought better of it.
In 1971 she received an honorary doctorate of music from Cambridge University and in 1979 a doctorate from the University of Western Australia. In 1981 she was created a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.
The same year she visited Australia to adjudicate at the Sydney International Piano Competition and to attend the official opening of the Eileen Joyce Studio at the University of Western Australia.
She donated the $110,000 cost of the studio as a tribute to her parents, but during that trip she confessed that she had virtually lost touch with her siblings over the years.
She also attended the 1985 Sydney International Piano Competition and made her last trip home to Australia in 1989 when she attended an ABC concert in her honour at Sydney Town Hall.
Following the death of her husband, Christopher Mann, in 1983, she made her home at White Hart Lodge, a converted 14th-century monastery in Limpsfield, Surrey.
It was there that she suffered a fall on March 24. She died the following day in hospital. She had been in poor health for several years and friends report that she was particularly distressed by the increasing loss of her short-term memory. "Mummy's going dottie", she frequently complained during her last trip to Australia.
Her funeral was held yesterday in Limpsfield. She is survived by her son, John, her daughter-in-law, Rebecca and her grandson, Alexander.
A studio at the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's new headquarters at Ultimo is to be dedicated to her memory.

Original publication

• Sydney Morning Herald, 9 April 1991, p 14