AJN STAFF

AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced a $200,000 federal Government grant to the Jewish Museum of Australia on the occasion of Sir Zelman Cowen’s 90th birthday.

Rudd, who spoke at a birthday event for the former governor-general last week, said the donation would go towards the museum’s $1.5 million refurbishment of the Australian Jewish History Gallery, to be named in honour of Sir Zelman.

The Prime Minister paid tribute to Sir Zelman, who he said “committed immeasurably to the intellectual rigour of a nation” and remains a proud Australian and Jew.

“The one thing that defines Sir Zelman Cowen is a big thing,” Rudd said. “It is his sense of humanity. Sir Zelman’s warmth, his humility, his integrity and his compassion are the overwhelming themes when people speak of him.”

Sir Zelman, an academic by profession, was appointed governor-general in 1977.

Rudd noted that after the tumultuous political times, Sir Zelman extended a “simple gesture” to former prime minister Gough Whitlam “that signalled it was a time for the healing to begin”.

“Sir Zelman acknowledged the wounds and then went about fulfilling the role of governor-general as he has done the rest of this life -– with great dignity,” Rudd said.

It was this “touch of healing” that Sir Zelman was remembered for ­following his five-year reign as Australia’s head of state.

Sir Zelman is sharing his 90th birthday celebrations with the Jewish Museum of Australia, an organisation of which he is a patron.

A special interview with Sir Zelman Cowen will be published in this week’s AJN print edition, on sale on Thursday.