Human Rights, Gay Rights

Michael Kirby

“The first school that I ever attended was a local kindergarten conducted by Mrs Church. I have no idea of her first name. Back in 1943, schoolchildren never became familiar with their teachers. Certainly not in kindergarten.

One day, we were all lined up on Parramatta Road, outside St Andrew’s Anglican Church at Strathfield, a suburb of Sydney. We were given flags and told that we would be expected to wave them. A very important visitor was shortly to pass by. The visitor was a woman: Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt. She was the wife of the President of the United States of America. Although I knew little about her or about her husband Franklin Delano Roosevelt for that matter, I knew that she was important. So I waved the Australian flag and cheered as the motorcade went passed …”