Celebrating Nillumbik Women 2009 - Nillumbik Shire Council

Lois Loftus-Hills
(1927- 2006)
Nominated by Sue Dyet
Lois - humanitarian and idealist - was the
daughter of a soldier settler and grazier who
was able to trace her family back to the First
Fleet. After her schooling in Horsham, Lois
was awarded a scholarship to Melbourne
University where she studied Dietetics. Her
professional life included working at the
Alfred Hospital, Peter Macullum and also
the Hammersmith Post Graduate Hospital in
London. She returned to Melbourne to work
at the CSIRO where she met her husband
Geoffrey.
Lois and Geoffrey, lived all their married life
in Lower Plenty. Lois was active in many
local groups and national organisations,
working towards peace, disarmament and
environmental activism.
The Vietnam War catapulted the forthright
Lois into practical action. She was drawn
to the Australia Party, devoting herself to
its agenda of world peace, the environment
and human rights. Later, Lois and Geoffrey
became founding members of the Australian
Democrats and worked on policy documents
for the party. From 1977, within three years,
32 policy documents were developed and
voted upon. Lois was the editor of the
Democrats National Journal.
While working on the national scene, Lois
was also active in local groups setting
up the Lower Plenty Neighbourhood
House, Eltham Gateway Action Group and
volunteering as secretary for the People
for Environmental Protection, until shortly
before her death.
Lois was essentially a quietly determined
activist with a strong sense of justice and
the need to take individual responsible
action. She wrote many submissions to
government committees on subjects as
wide ranging as the Regional Forests
Agreements, appointments to the Board
of the ABC, meeting the digital challenge,
Otway Forest Management Plans, the
Victorian Environmental Assessment
Committee on Marine and Coastal Parks
and Box Ironbark Forests. Articles by Lois
have appeared in the Australian Journal of
Nutrition and Dietetics.
When Lois died, obituaries appeared
in national as well as local papers, to
recognise the commitment that she made
by working all her life, for a better world for
all of us.