Heather Mary Mitchell , ''nee'' Hutchieson (25 September 1917 – 12 November 1999) was an Australian farmer, community leader and conservationist. From 1986 to 1989, she served as the first female president of the Victorian Farmers Federation, and played a central role in the establishment of Landcare. Born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, she grew up in Albury and in the 1930s went to Melbourne to study nursing. She married Lester Clarence Mitchell, a pharmacist, in 1941 and moved to Hopetoun, where the couple ran a pharmacy and a number of farms. From 1956 to 1966, she served as regional president for the local Red Cross, and from 1966 to 1974 as regional commandant. She was also a life governor for the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind (1960) and Corrong Retirement Village (1979), and served as president of the local high school council and on the board of Wimmera Base Hospital. From 1969 to 1974 she was country vice-president of the Liberal Party in Victoria. In 1979 she was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

. In the 1980s Mitchell and her husband moved to

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

, where she became closely involved in the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF). She was elected the organisation's first female president in 1986, and in that year she and Joan Kirner were the inaugural chairs of Landcare Victoria. She was also the inaugural president of the Public Land Council of Victoria in 1987, and in 1989, the year her term as VFF president ended, she was elected the first female vice-president of the National Farmers' Federation. Lester died in 1989. Mitchell was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1991 and in 1992 became a life member of the VFF. Her service to the Red Cross was recognised in 1995 with the International Order of St John, and in 1997 she became the patron of the Public Land Council. She died in Melbourne in 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Heather 1917 births 1999 deaths Australian farmers Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Order of Australia