Farewell Sara
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 126 No 7, 8 October 2021, page no.6
QTU members across Far North Queensland were devastated at the news that activist Sara McCarthy had passed away suddenly following a stroke, aged just 45.
Sara made a significant contribution to the QTU after becoming a member in 2011. She was a proud Workplace Representative, always advocating for members’ rights. Sara participated in the LGBTIQ+ peer network and working party and the LGBTIQ+ action group back in 2017 and 2018 respectively, and she had also shared her intention to run for a position on the new LGBTIQ+/Rainbow Standing Committee, which was formally ratified at Conference earlier this year.
Sara was, in many ways, larger than life, and it is the ultimate cruel irony that her life was cut so short.
Staff at Freshwater State School, where Sara had taught since 2014 and where she’d also been a student, came together on 16 September to celebrate Sara’s heavenly birthday. Staff wore rainbows and purple and shared memories of their beloved friend (see below). Sara had been training for the Cairns Half Marathon, and although she never made it to the start line, a number of friends and colleagues competed as a tribute to her.
Our thoughts go out to her family. Sara was a sole parent and we especially think of her two children, Georgia and Jack. Like many of her friends and colleagues, I will miss her smiling face, her warm heart, and her kind deeds. The QTU wishes to acknowledge her commitment, her compassion, and her contribution to the Union, but more than that, her humanity, her compassion, and her inherently caring nature. She will be deeply missed. Fly high Sara.