Hansard debates

                             Brighton: beach mural

  Mr  PULLEN  (Higinbotham)  --  I  congratulate  the  166  Mayflower Retirement
Community  residents and staff on the production of  a beautiful mural, Brighton
Beach, which was unveiled last week. Mayflower Retirement  Community is situated
in Centre Road, East Brighton, and all 166 people contributed to the mural which
is in the foyer. The unveiling was  to be performed by the mayor of Bayside,  Cr
Craig Tucker, but he took  ill, and the member for Brighton in the other  place,
the Honourable Louise  Asher, stepped in to  perform the unveiling. The  artwork
has been made possible by the generous assistance of the Helen Macpherson Schutt
Trust and artist-in-residence Julie Gross McAdam.

The chairman of the Helen Macpherson Schutt Trust, Darvell  Hutchinson, told the
fascinating  story of Helen and how  the trust was set up  in 1951 following her
death in France, where she was living,  and that she left an estate of $550  000
for the benefit of Victorian charities.  She was buried in a pauper's grave. The
trust today has around  $70 million and last year  paid out more than $5 million
to  Victorian  organisations  covering  disabled  care  and  support,  community
support,  education,  health, age persons  care and support,  arts,  culture and
heritage, employment and the environment.
Helen Macpherson Schutt was a remarkable woman who still brings hope and joy  to
so many people some 54 years after her death, as she has to the residents, their
families and staff at Mayflower.