BCNA CEO Lyn Swinburne pays tribute to Sir Peter Derham:
Sir Peter Derham passed away in Cabrini Hospital on 24 September, 2008.
For those of you not familiar with the story, Sir Peter was my ‘knight in shining armour’, who stepped in and made the logistics of our very first Field of Women happen in Canberra.
Our partnership started when I had the concept of planting 10,000 hot pink silhouettes on the grounds of Parliament House, back in early 1998. It was a great concept, but an enormous logistics challenge, especially as we had NO money at the time! Everywhere I turned I was met with brick walls: Who could produce the silhouettes? How could we pay for them? How could we get them to Canberra? Would we be allowed to do such a thing?
As chance had it, one Sunday morning I was attending a junior football match for the Glen Iris Gladiators (“Tougher than Alligators!”) where I was cheering on my son James from the sidelines. I struck up a conversation with the grandfather of one of the other boys. It started to rain and I suggested we hop into my nearby car. I stress it is not my usual thing to invite met I have never met before into my car (especially not grandfathers!)
We talked about all sorts of things including “what I was up to”. I explained my concept of the Field of Women and told him I wasn’t getting far with making the dream into a reality. He was shocked to learn that 10,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer each year (back in 1998) and offered his help. He asked me to identify the biggest hurdle. I said “Paying for the materials. I want to use coreflute – a fabric which is light, strong and weather resistant – but the quote is for $30,000 and it only comes in white!” He turned to me with a smile on my face and said, “I know coreflute. It is produced by Nylex. Before I retired I was the CEO of Nylex in Australia. I will get it for you for nothing!”
He became an evangelist for the Field of Women event, speaking to me on a daily basis, calling in favours, making things happen. I could not believe his drive and energy and I knew that without him, this event would not happen. Amongst other things:
True to his word, he secured the coreflute without cost
He introduced me to John Doyle who owned The Print Centre, a printing company which screenprinted the coreflute pink without cost
John introduced me to Alf Puglia who cut the material into the pink lady shapes without cost
Sir Peter arranged for a donation of the steel spikes and organised a team of volunteers to insert the 10,000 spikes into the silhouettes
He then found a company to donate us the boxes for storage and transport, and secured Naughton’s Transport to store the boxes and carry the silhouettes from Melbourne to Canberra.
Then we had a really big hurdle to overcome – convincing the ACT authorities to give us permission to use the grounds in front of Parliament House. Again it was a case of Sir Peter to the rescue! He introduced me to Sir Laurence Muir (who has now become a champion of BCNA) who introduced me to Senator Margaret Reid, who was then President of The Senate. Margaret gave her wholehearted support and secured permission from the Speaker of the House of Representatives and it was all systems go!
Following the final session of the First National Breast Cancer Conference for Women held in Canberra in October 1998, we travelled to Parliament House in cars and buses. Anna Wellings Booth from Canberra had organised a team of school students, scouts and community volunteers to plant the silhouettes in the lawn in the shape of BCNA’s new emblem – the pink lady. We turned the corner to see the magnificent and moving sight of 10,000 pink silhouettes and 2,500 white silhouettes highlighting the impact of breast cancer within Australia. We launched BCNA amid this first Field of Women and vowed to work towards ensuring that women with breast cancer received the very best information, treatment, care and support.
That afternoon, as I stood amongst the silhouettes, I rang Sir Peter who was back in Melbourne. We shed a tear together – a tear for all the women who stood behind the silhouettes, and also a tear of pride that we had achieved our dream of the Field of Women.
Over the past 10 years, Sir Peter has helped BCNA in a score of other ways – helping to secure philanthropic grants, attending events and spreading the word.
On Thursday I visited him in hospital and took him a pink lady silhouette which I put up on his wall to let him know that we’d never be far away from him.
We will forever be grateful to Sir Peter for his dedication to our mission – a dedication which grew from a simple chat on a rainy Sunday morning.
Vale Sir Peter Derham!
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