Members of the Zonta Club of Sydney were saddened to hear of the passing of a Charter Member of our club, Pauline Griffin AM. Pauline passed away at the age of 100 on the 21st October 2026.
Born in Sydney in December 1925, Pauline attended Abbotsleigh school and graduated from Sydney University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1946 and a Diploma in Social Studies in 1947.
She began her career as a social worker, then became a personnel officer and later a personnel manager at Bradmill Industries. She worked there for 20 years. In 1975 she was appointed as a Commissioner of the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission (later the Industrial Relations Committee). She was an adviser to the Australian government delegation to the International Labour Conference in Geneva in 1985 on discrimination in employment, and from 1992 – 1997 a member of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s National Advisory Committee on Discrimination in Employment and Occupation. In 1978, she made industrial history as the first woman to sit on the bench of a National Wage Case in Australia. In 1988, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to industrial relations and to the community.
In 1978 she was appointed to the ANU Council and served on the Council until 1998. She was elected Pro-Chancellor in 1991, a position she held until 1998. In 2002 the University Student Services building at ANU was renamed the Pauline Griffin building in her honour. It was later demolished, but the University named the “Pauline Griffin Health and Wellbeing Centre” in 2024.
She joined the Zonta Club of Sydney in 1966 as a Charter Member, and remained a member for many years, with many of our current long standing members remembering Pauline very fondly. At our recent 60th birthday celebrations, although Pauline was not able to attend in person, we were delighted she recorded a video message of congratulations.
The Zonta Club of Sydney sends our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Pauline, and remember a remarkable lady.
Vale Pauline.
