Jane Elias June Power I knew June in the 1980s, in Townsville, when we were both studying for our BAs at James Cook University. We met in 1985 when I was a first-year student, fresh out of high school and we were in a few of the same classes over the next few years, including Politics, Australian History and Crime and Punishment in Colonial Australia. I particularly remember our Politics 101 tutorial group which was a dynamic and vocal group of people. June was one of about 3 mature age students in that group who enlivened the discussions with their own recollections and opinions of political events that had happened in Australia’s Post-war years. The spirited discussions that started in the tutorial often continued afterwards at the JCU student refectory. June was fun, engaging, interesting, cosmopolitan. Always stylish and elegantly dressed – if I remember correctly she was a dress designer before her marriage. A group of us bonded and as we got to know June, we heard about her husband, Ralph, who was an architect and her daughter, Vanessa, who was then living in Brisbane and studying a Fine Arts degree. She was a good friend and confidante who took us all under her wing and shared stories about her childhood in Melbourne and her Greek family from the Ionian Islands. Her father had a café in the city which was frequented by some high-profile Melbourne identities who when June was born apparently told him not to give her a Greek name but something Australian – like June! She also told us about meeting Ralph in Brisbane while recovering from a broken romance, the early days of her marriage and moving to Townsville to assist him in establishing his career. At that time my family lived in Murray St and I soon discovered that June lived virtually around the corner from me in Stokes St and often gave me lifts to or from Uni if we were there on the same days. I remember theatre visits with June and the others and drinking my first cocktail at what was then the Sheraton Hotel-Casino with June, Donnelle and Karla – I don’t remember what I had but I remember June ordering a Black Russian and thinking how exotic that sounded! On my 20th birthday in 1987, June gave me a book from the local Antiquarian bookshop, Tonnoirs, by Frank Clune that was called “The Kelly Hunters” because I was writing an essay at the time on Ned Kelly. I still have that book on my shelves and it always reminds me of June. When June and Ralph decided to relocate to Brisbane circa 1988 they very generously hosted me at their East Brisbane house so that I could visit the Queensland State Archives to carry out research for my Honours thesis on Townsville in the Great Depression. Expo 88 was underway at the time and I was able to visit it with June. I also remember going to see The Royal Ballet perform ‘Swan Lake’, courtesy of June and going to Rumpoles restaurant in the city with June, Ralph, Vanessa and her cousin, Dimitri, who had just arrived from Melbourne for a visit. June was a gourmet cook and while staying with her in Brisbane I first learnt to cook Roast Lamb with garlic and rosemary – I still cook it that way today, all these years later, thanks to June! Vale, June – it was my privilege to know you and my regret that I didn’t stay in touch with you in the intervening years or look you up on my sporadic visits to Townsville over the past 35 years. Vanessa – my deepest condolences to you, as I lost my Mum in 2007 so can empathise with you losing your Mum now. Your Mum was a wonderful lady so her death must leave a huge hole in your life – doubly so as I read in the death notice in Saturday’s SMH that your Dad has also died. The only photo I have of June is from my visit to Brisbane – sitting on the front verandah with Vanessa and their two poodles, April and (Biddy??)

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