On behalf of the Royal Societies of Australia I would like to express my great appreciation for the encouragement and support given by Major General Jeffery to the Royal Societies of Australia (RSA). It was General Jeffery who, as Governor-General at the time, encouraged the six separate Royal Societies in Australia to establish an umbrella body which could advocate for and on behalf of each on a national basis. He later accepted Patronage of the RSA while he was Governor-General.
His foresight and enlightened encouragement continued right through until his last days, with my invitation to him to be the Patron of the RSA's 'Stewardship of Country' symposium series, an invitation accepted with enthusiasm. It was unfortunate that this was never to be realised due to the postponement of the event to 2021 and General Jeffery's illness.
I do remember with great fondness visiting Michael and Marlena's home in October 2019 to discuss the seminar series and despite his treatment having only just begun, being overwhelmed by the amount of research General Jeffery had done in preparation for my visit.
Michael took great delight in being awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Society of NSW, Australia's oldest learned Society and a foundation member of the RSA, in July 2018 for his scientific advocacy. He was pleased to be able to attend meetings of that Society in Sydney when he could, the most recent being on 7 August 2019 when he listened to a talk by Professor Peter Shergold AC FRSN on “Democracy under challenge: how can we restore a sense of citizenship?”. General Jeffery rose to the occasion quite literally and at the end of the talk gave the audience the unexpected benefit of hearing his own insights into this topic, about which he knew a great deal.
The RSA sends its condolences to Marlena and her family in the knowledge that Michael has done so much for the encouragement of intellectual inquiry and human endeavour. We are proud to be able to continue his legacy.
John Hardie FRSN FHEA FGS
President, Royal Societies of Australia
29 December 2020