Thursday, 31 October 2019

 Ms NEVILLE (Bellarine—Minister for Water, Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (09:43): Today I pay tribute to Dr Peter Maxwell Munster, OAM, who died on Tuesday, 24 September. Peter was a much-respected member of the Bellarine Peninsula community, a highly regarded local historian and a man committed to social justice. He was born on 2 September 1934 in Melbourne, but tragically his mother died one week later. He attended Black Rock Primary School, Caulfield Grammar and Melbourne University before going on to a distinguished career in teaching.

In 1963 he married the love of his life, Judy, and the young couple spent many years exploring the world. From 1966 to 1977 Peter and Judy raised their three children in New Guinea. While teaching in Goroka, Peter researched the contact history of the Goroka Valley. This work became an important reference for the local curriculum, documentaries and the resolution of local land disputes. The family returned to Maryborough in 1978, and 10 years later they moved to St Leonards.

For more than a decade Peter taught history at Deakin University, including at the Institute of Koorie Education. On his retirement he became instrumental in the research of Bellarine history, including William Buckley. I was pleased to launch his book Remembering Our Anzacs in 2011. In 2013 Peter was awarded a well-deserved OAM for community service and preservation of St Leonards history.

Above all, Peter loved his family, and the death of Judy in 2005 came as a great personal blow. But with the support of his loving children, Julia, Paul and Tam, and two adored grandsons, Peter went on to enjoy his final years as a much-respected member of the St Leonards community. Vale, Peter Munster.