Vale Roselynne Anderson
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 126 No 6, 3 September 2021, page no.6
The QTU family was devastated at the news that QTU Life Member Roselynne Anderson has passed away suddenly following an unexpected illness.
Roselynne made a significant contribution to the QTU since first becoming a member in 1989. She held various QTU positions, including workplace rep, branch delegate to Area Council, State Council Rep, President and Vice-President of the Mt Gravatt Branch and Beenleigh branch of the QTU, and was a delegate at AEU Federal Conference and AEU Women’s Conference on multiple occasions, always advocating for members in special education settings.
She commenced her membership of the QTU’s Special Education Committee in 1992, and according to our records, is the longest serving QTU member to have enjoyed continuous membership of a QTU standing committee, with close to 30 years of involvement.
Roselynne was a member of Education Leaders Committee for 17 years (2003-2020), Women Teachers and Girls Education Committee for 13 years (2004 – 2017), and a member of QTU Executive for five years. She was the QTU-endorsed representative on the Board of the Queensland College of Teachers from 2006-2008 and again in 2011, and played an active role in the Queensland Council of Unions.
Roselynne was one of several QTU women who founded the Association for Women Educators, and was President of that organisation for more than 17 years.
On the national level, Roselynne attended AEU National Principals Committee over many years and was a very valued and well-regarded member of that group, particularly ensuring that the issues faced by principals in special school settings were continually put on the agenda. She also was a Federal Conference delegate from 2008-2015 and attended as an observer in 2016 and 2019.
She has advocated for women’s economic security at the national level as a member of Economic Security 4 Women. She was a member of the National Women's Alliance from its inception in 1999.
She served as the President of Queensland Association of Special Education Leaders from 2015 – 2020, and before that, as Vice-President from 2005-2014, on the management committee since 2003 and a member of QASEL since 2000. In her role at QASEL, she worked closely with QTU senior officers and administrative officers, and her contribution to the QTU has been significant.
Roselynne was, in many ways, larger than life, and it is the ultimate cruel irony that her life was cut short just when she had taken steps to fully retire from work to enjoy her retirement. She was so thrilled to receive QTU Life Membership at the recent Biennial Conference, and those who were present will recall the mix of gratitude and humility in her thank-you speech to conference delegates.
Our thoughts go out to her family, her husband Trevor and daughter Nikki. Like many of her friends and colleagues, I will miss her smiling face, her warm heart, and her kind deeds. I will also miss the red rose emojis embedded in her many text messages.
The QTU wishes to acknowledge her commitment, her compassion, and her contribution to the Union for more than a quarter of a century, but more than that, her humanity, her compassion, and her inherently caring nature. She will be deeply missed.
Vale Roselynne.