Geraldine Anne Dillon (1936–2020) was an Australian culinary expert. She presented television cooking shows and spoke about food on radio in Australia in the 1960s and 1970s. She also wrote recipe books and newspaper columns on food preparation.

Career

Geraldine Dillon was born in Melbourne on 3 January 1936 to John Vincent Dillon (1908-1992) and his wife Sheila (née Darcy). John Dillon was a public servant who went on to serve as the Permanent Head of the Chief Secretary's Department (1961–73). He then became Victoria's first

Ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

(1973–80) and was knighted in 1980. Geraldine attended the

Emily McPherson College of Domestic Economy The Emily McPherson College of Domestic Economy was an Australian domestic science college for women, in Melbourne, Victoria. It was officially opened on 27 April 1927 by The Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.) On 30 Jun ...

in Melbourne and in 1959 she travelled to Britain where she completed an advanced course at the Cordon Bleu School in London. She returned to Australia in 1960 where she assisted one of her instructors from London, Muriel Downes, in presenting a series of six half-hour television cooking programs called ''Cordon Bleu Kitchen'' filmed in Sydney. She joined the staff of GTV9 in June 1960 and presented six-minute cooking segments for a weekly program called ''

Thursday at One ''Thursday at One'' was an Australian daytime television series which aired from 1957 to 1960 on Melbourne station GTV-9. A "programme for the housewife", the running time was as long as two hours. The series was made up of various segments, whi ...

''. Later in the year she was asked to present a longer half hour cooking show called '' Fun With Food''. It was screened every week-day on the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

from 1960 till 1971. When that show ended she was asked to present a new 15 minute series called ''TV Kitchen''. It was sponsored by '' The Australian Women's Weekly'' magazine and was screened nationally on Nine from February 1971 till 1976. For many years she presented a cooking segment on Melbourne radio station

3AK 3AK is the call sign of SEN 1116, an earlier the on-air name of a former Melbourne talk-back radio and music station, which, in 2003, leased its licence to sports network SEN 1116. A number of unusual events and precedents throughout the stati ...

. She also wrote newspaper columns on food related subjects for ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' and later for ''The Herald'', both in Melbourne. She wrote cooking books and was a judge at cooking contests. Later on she ran two cooking schools and conducted international tours for gourmet food enthusiasts."Time out with Geraldine Dillon," ''Kairos'' 23 (11) p.4, June-July 2012, com.org.au
/ref> Dillon died on 26 August 2020 from

Hodgkin lymphoma Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma, in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the patient's lymph nodes. The condition wa ...

. She had three brothers, two of whom were Catholic priests.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillion, Geraldine 1936 births 2020 deaths Australian television chefs Australian food writers Women food writers Women cookbook writers Australian radio presenters Australian women radio presenters Australian television presenters Australian women television presenters People from Melbourne Radio personalities from Melbourne Alumni of Le Cordon Bleu Deaths from Hodgkin lymphoma