Death
At the time of her death, on the 16 August 2004 she was doing a Murdoch University degree course (which she helped establish) in "Gaia philosophy and environmental ethics". That year she won the Vice Chancellor's Award for Academic Excellence.
From her deathbed, Elanta suggested that cancer is a breakdown in the communication between the cancerous tissue and the body of the person carrying the illness. It draws attention to the similarity between cancer and our present condition, and suggests that cancers "come as messengers, to come home to our bodies and come home to the Earth".
In the adjournment speech of the Western Australian Parliament, Dr Christine Sharpe quoted one of Elanta's poems and added, "Members can see that this was a remarkable and wise woman whom we will all miss greatly."
About 250 friends and relatives celebrated her life at a funeral service in Kings Park, Western Australia where a rainbow coloured bracelet was given to everyone. Part of the blessing was; "Wear it constantly and use it as a catalyst for personal activism in your daily life. May you draw strength and inspiration from her outrageous courage, passion and love of the Earth and all her creatures, human and more than human".
To honour her memory as "an enthusiastic and excellent student" who designed her own degree in environmental ethics, and because "her example continues to inspire and enlighten. In memory of Elanta the ISTP has set up a new award for academic and environmental excellence called The Vivienne Elanta Yummy Book Fund." This award started in 2005.
There is a street name been proposed to honour Vivienne in the Canberra suburb of Wright.
Read more about this topic: Vivienne Elanta
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Go; and if that word have not quite killed thee,
Ease me with death by bidding me got too.
Oh, if it have, let my word work on me,
And a just office on a murderer do.
Except it be too late to kill me so,
Being double dead: going, and bidding go.”
—John Donne (1572–1631)
“In the death of my son, now more than two years ago, I seem to have lost a beautiful estate,—no more. I cannot get it nearer to me.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“if thou slip thy troth and do not come at all.
As minutes in the clock do strike so call for death I shall:
To please both thy false heart, and rid myself from woe,
That rather had to die in troth than live forsaken so.”
—Unknown. The Lady Prayeth the Return of Her Lover Abiding on the Seas (l. 19–22)