Tamie Fraser

Tamara Margaret "Tamie" Fraser AO (born 28 February 1936) is the widow of Malcolm Fraser, who held office as Prime Minister of Australia between 1975 and 1983.[2]

Tamie Fraser

AO
Fraser in 1968
Spouse of the Prime Minister of Australia
In office
11 November 1975 – 11 March 1983
Preceded byMargaret Whitlam
Succeeded byHazel Hawke
Personal details
Born
Tamara Margaret Beggs

(1936-02-28) 28 February 1936
Adelaide, South Australia[1]
Spouse(s)
​
(
m. 1956; died 2015)
Children4

Early life

Tamara Margaret Beggs was born in Adelaide, South Australia, the eldest of four children born to Helen Karen (née Seeck) and Sandford Robert Beggs.[2] Her mother was a state champion in golf.[3] Her father came from a family of pastoral farmers, and was a grandson of Francis Beggs, who was born in Malahide, Ireland, and arrived in the Port Phillip District in 1849.[4] Her maternal grandfather, John Alexander Seeck, was a Baltic German born in what is now Latvia. He arrived in Australia in 1883 and became a pioneer of the local wine industry.[5]

Beggs grew up on Nareeb Nareeb, her father's property near Glenthompson, Victoria. She began her education with governesses, and then at the age of nine was sent to board at The Hermitage, a girls' school in Geelong that was later merged into Geelong Grammar School. She was a school prefect and sport captain.[6]

Marriage and children
Tamie and Malcolm Fraser attending a political event in 1958

Fraser met her future husband at a New Year's Eve party in 1955; she was almost six years younger than he. They announced their engagement in May 1956 and married in Willaura on 9 December. The couple would have four children together: Mark (b. 1958), Angela (b. 1959), Hugh (b. 1963), and Phoebe (b. 1966).[6]

Public life

Fraser disliked public speaking and electioneering work, but when her husband fell ill during the crucial election campaign of December 1975, after the dismissal of the Whitlam government, she represented him and spoke on his behalf.[2]

Fraser founded and was president of The Australiana Fund from 1978 to 1983.[2] She is President of Australia's Open Garden Scheme.[7] In 2004 she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for her service to the community through fostering the recognition and preservation of Australian artistic achievement, for initiating and promoting a range of activities to support people with disabilities, and for support of charitable, health and service groups.[8]

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See also

References
  1. "Fraser facts". Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  2. "Tamie Fraser". Australia's Prime Ministers. National Archives of Australia. Archived from the original on 9 July 2009. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
  3. Beggs, Helen Karen (1907–1984), People Australia. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  4. Hugh Anderson, 'Beggs, Hugh Norman (1863–1943)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/beggs-hugh-norman-5605/text8715, published first in hardcopy 1979, accessed online 4 March 2018.
  5. John Alexander Seeck – Russian winemaker in Australia, Find Russian Heritage, 17 September 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  6. Chapter 5: Tamie Fraser, Malcolm Fraser: Guide to Archives of Australia's Prime Ministers, National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  7. Australia's Open Garden Scheme Archived 6 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "FRASER, Tamara Margaret: Officer of the Order of Australia". It's an Honour. Commonwealth of Australia. 14 June 2004. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
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