Arabic version: وفاة جان هيسليب، مناصرة التعليم في المناطق النائية، عن 87 عاماً
According to ABC News, Jan Heaslip OAM, the founding president of the Northern Territory Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association and a leading advocate for remote education, has died aged 87. She received the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1992 for service to children’s education in isolated areas.
Heaslip arrived in Central Australia when she was 18 and spent nearly seven decades in the region. With her late husband, Grant, she owned and managed Bond Springs cattle station, about 20 kilometres north of Alice Springs. The couple bought the property in 1964; the family later added a tourism operation in 1988.
She was instrumental in creating the NT ICPA, which advocates for education equity for rural and remote families across the Territory. Three branches that had operated separately united in 1981 ahead of the 1982 ICPA federal conference. Heaslip became the NT branch’s inaugural president and later served as a life member and patron.
Centralian pastoralist and NT ICPA life member Liz Bird described Heaslip as a valuable mentor for people who followed her. “Jan was a wonderful mentor,” Bird said, adding that Heaslip was someone council members could approach for advice on handling issues.
Heaslip was also the first chair of the college council at St Philip’s College in Alice Springs. Involved with the institution from 1974, when it was a residential hostel for remote students, she worked with headmaster Chris Tudor AO as it became a full-day and boarding school in 1989. She is survived by her four children and their families.
