Valentine Leeper - Views

Views

Eccentric and conservative in style, but liberal in many of her views, Valentine acquired from her father the spirit of a controversialist, and over many decades she was a frequent writer of letters to newspapers, government ministers, Anglican church leaders, and many others. She was a commentator and activist on international affairs (e.g. as a long-time member of the League of Nations Union), Indigenous affairs (including as a long-time member of the Victorian Aboriginal Group), education (including the protection of classical studies), the Church (for example, as an advocate of women's ordination). Her other interests include hockey playing.

In 1944, she published a pamphlet, Piecrust Promises, attacking what she saw as the British betrayal of Poland to the Soviet Union during World War II, which had originally been fought to protect Poland. For many years in the mid-20th century Valentine Leeper appeared on Australian radio as a provider of little-known information and her own clear opinions. A strong defender of her father's memory and opinions, Valentine Leeper provided much information for a biography of him, written by Professor John Poynter, and published in 1997.

In 1998, Valentine Leeper was installed as a Fellow of Trinity College (University of Melbourne). She died in 2001. Her ashes were interred in a garden next to the building in which she was born, and in which she had played as a girl.

A 'life with letters' of Valentine Leeper was published in 2008. It was launched by Professor Geoffrey Blainey, and has been described by women's historian Patricia Grimshaw as "a vivid and compelling portrait of this influential woman", and as being at "the forefront of insightful biography".