King’s Birthday Honours 2023 | J-Wire
MEDAL [OAM] OF THE ORDER OF AUSTRALIA IN THE GENERAL DIVISION
Anneke DEUTSCH, Daylesford VIC 3460
For service to the community through a range of roles.
Matrix Guild of Victoria
- Housing Convenor, and Housing and Aged Care Spokeswoman, since 2015.
- Committee Member, c2007-2018.
- President, 2018.
- Past Secretary.
Older Women in Cohousing Inc (WINC)
- Co-Founder and President, since 2016.
Hepburn Renewable Energy Association/Sustainable Hepburn Association (later know as Hepburn Community Wind Park Co-operative Ltd)
- Community Organiser, Solar Panel Bulk Buy Project.
- Founding Member, c2005.
Additional roles
- Member, LGBTI Aged Care Advisory Committee, Hepburn Health Service, since 2012.
- Member, Organising Committee, National Lesbian Cultural Celebration and Conference in Daylesford, 1998.
- Volunteer and/or Organiser, Women’s Ball and LesFest, ChillOut Festival, Daylesford, 1990s.
- Panellist, The Making Homes series, MPavillion – Architecture Commission.
There was a time in the not-too-distant past, when a woman could not get a bank loan on her own without a man to sign for her and a father could be granted custody of his children simply because their mother was a lesbian.
“In the past I had to be closeted if I wanted to keep my job” Anneke Deutsch told J-Wire.
While these days life is more open and accepting for lesbians, the largest marginalised group in Australia are still older women.
Anneke Deutsch founded Matrix Guild of Victoria in 1972 as a charity to help older lesbians. She is proud that WINC – older women in Cohousing – has bought land in rural Victoria where it is hoped they will be able to build 32 dwellings.
She explained that cohousing can mean common facilities like community gardens and a different range of mixed tenure, a different way of giving ownership to women of limited means.
