Jeanne Pratt named Victorian of the Year
COMMUNAL icon Jeanne Pratt was awarded her state’s highest honour this week but the newly minted Victorian of the Year for 2013 seemed determined not to rest on her laurels, announcing a new scheme to attack youth poverty in rural Victoria.
COMMUNAL icon Jeanne Pratt was awarded her state’s highest honour this week but the newly minted Victorian of the Year for 2013 seemed determined not to rest on her laurels, announcing a new scheme to attack youth poverty in rural Victoria.
Pratt told The AJN: “I am thrilled to be named the 2013 Victorian of the Year. I feel honoured and am very grateful to the Victoria Day Council for the award.”
Accepting her accolade as Victoria’s premier citizen, Pratt told an awards ceremony in Melbourne on Monday: “My award is for whatever I’ve been able to contribute to the community in the past.
“But today I want to say something about this state’s future. Which means talking about the most valuable resource we have: our young people.”
The philanthropist and widow of businessman Richard Pratt unveiled plans for a partnership between the Pratt Foundation and children’s charity the Smith Family to support 100 secondary-school students in country Victoria.
Students will have their basics – such as books, shoes, school uniforms, course materials and school excursions – paid for.
Each student will be matched with one of the Smith Family’s Learning for Life workers, who will support them during their schooling.
“I’m doing this because I know that when I first came to Australia as the child of a refugee family, education changed my life, and shaped my future,” said Pratt.
“It gave me the opportunity to feel that I belonged to the community, so that when I became an adult, I wanted to contribute to it.
“I’ve had the great good fortune to be able to do some of that.
“And I’m sure that across rural Victoria we’ll find 100 students who’ll grasp the same opportunity to change their futures through education,” she said.
She was honoured along with Nichole Hussey, a youth suicide prevention campaigner, who was named Young Victorian of the Year.
The trustees of the Victorian Day Council, who select the annual winners, said Pratt “has been a keen promoter, not only of art galleries but also of theatre, youth theatre and opera”.
Born Jeanne Lasker in Poland, Pratt emigrated to Australia and worked as a journalist. She married the late Richard Pratt in 1959 and the couple has three children, Anthony, Heloise and Fiona.
For decades, she has been an avid supporter and promoter of the arts and chairs The Production Company, a not-for-profit theatre company that showcases Australian theatrical talents and is now in its 15th season.
Pratt and her husband were long-time supporters of the Carlton Football Club, of which she is now the vice-president.
In 2002, she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday honours and in 2008 the United Israel Appeal Women’s Division conferred on her its Lion of Judah award.
PETER KOHN
Victorian of the Year for 2013 Jeanne Pratt.
comments