Mary Marguerite "Leneen" Forde Air Corps is the former Chancellor of Griffith University and served as the twenty–second Governor of Queensland from 1992 until 1997.
Background
Forde was born Mary Marguerite Leneen Kavanagh and worked as a medical laboratory technician and studied part-time for a Bachelor of Arts before moving to Australia in 1954. In 1955, she married (Francis) Gerald Forde, the son of the Right Honorable Frank Forde Personal Computer, a former Prime Minister of Australia and High Commissioner to Canada.
Education
University of Queensland.
Career
Forde chaired the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions during 1998 and 1999 that found systemic child abuse in government or non-government institutions between 1911 and 1999. Together, the Fordes had five children. She worked in the Haematology Department of Royal Brisbane Hospital for two years prior to full-time legal study following her husband"s death in 1966.
She graduated a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland in 1970 and from 1971 was employed as a solicitor.
In 1992, Forde was only the second woman to be appointed to the position of governor of an Australian state and the first to take on the role in Queensland. Forde remarried a retired detective superintendent from New South Wales Police, Angus McDonald.
McDonald served as Vice-Regal Consort and was the first male spouse of a Governor in Australia. Forde retired as Governor in 1997.
In 1998, Forde was appointed to chair the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions.
Forde handed the report to the Queensland Government in May 1999. The Inquiry covered 159 institutions from 1911 to 1999 and found abuse had occurred and made 42 recommendations relating to contemporary child protection practices, youth justice and redress of past abuse. The Inquiry resulted in reconciliation initiatives including apologies, commemorative memorials and events, establishment and delivery of the Queensland Government Redress Scheme, establishment of the Forde Foundation Trust Fund, and establishment of community-based support services.