Sir Zelman Cowen at his birthday lunch in Melbourne on October 14. Photo: Carla Gottgens

DALIA SABLE

FORMER governor-general Sir Zelman Cowen gathered with personal and professional friends at law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler on October 14 to celebrate his 90th birthday.

The lunch included representatives from the legal, commerce and art worlds, as well as Justices Michael Kirby and Michael Rozenes, who both spoke about Sir Zelman.

In welcoming the guests to the lunch, host Mark Leibler referred to Sir Zelman as a “national treasure”. Leibler described his teacher and friend as “moderate and accepting in his views”.

Retired High Court judge Justice Kirby said Sir Zelman’s life, like the branches of a menorah, could be divided into seven public and private facets.

On the public side, Justice Kirby spoke of his service to education, as an academic and subsequently university vice-chancellor; his contribution to law reform; his role as governor-general; and his work in both the United Kingdom and Australia – the latter for which he was recognised with an Order of Australia Medal.
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Sir Zelman Cowen. Photo: Peter Haskin

NAOMI LEVIN

“I DON’T think anybody envisages 90 in my generation,” Sir Zelman Cowen said in his self-effacing way. “It is a generation that put long life at 70; 90 seems a very large dose.”

Last Wednesday, October 7, Australia’s past governor-general, Sir Zelman, celebrated his 90th birthday.

Nine decades seem a lot of life to have lived, and Sir Zelman has packed more living into his 90 years than most people could fit into three lifetimes.

When asked that cliched question -– what do you attribute your long life to? -– Sir Zelman responded with a twinkle in his eye and an equally cliched answer: “Eat your Wheaties”.

Two weeks before his birthday, The AJN visited Sir Zelman at his home in the Melbourne suburb of Toorak.
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Sir Zelman Cowen ... $200,000 grant in his honour. Photo: AJN file

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.”
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Sir Zelman Cowen with current Governor-General Quentin Bryce in Canberra. Photo: Government House

FORMER governor-general Sir Zelman Cowen was special guest at Government House in Canberra last week, when current Governor-General Quentin Bryce dedicated a refurbished room in the chancery in his honour.

Sir Zelman, 89, was Australia’s 19th governor-general from 1977 to 1982. He was Australia’s second Jewish governor-general, after Sir Isaac Isaacs, and served after Sir John Kerr’s tumultuous term.

Sir Zelman and Lady Anna Cowen travelled from Melbourne for the occasion and were also guests at lunch.