The Oxley farewells a valued member of staff

This week we said goodbye to a dear friend and colleague Elizabeth Fa'Aoso after 12 years of service. Elizabeth has been an invaluable member of the Heritage Information Services team dedicating her time here to advancing the information needs of Indigenous Queenslanders, particularly by connecting clients from the Torres Strait Islands to the collections we have relating to Torres Strait Islander culture and heritage.

Outside of the State Library Elizabeth's achievements have recently been acknowledged by her inclusion in an online gallery, "Everyday women, Extraordinary Lives" on the Department of Communities' Office of Women website.

Thanks Elizabeth for your passion and dedication and for the work you have done in making the Margaret Lawrie Collection in particular more accessable through the fact sheets and indexes that you have created over the years and for your curatorial work on the beautiful Meriba Gidhal exhibition.

We are going to miss you very much, as will our visitors from the Torres Strait Islander community,  for whom you made the Reading Room a welcoming place in which they could access cultural and genealogical information of profound importance preserved in Mrs Lawrie's collection. We aim to continue your legacy.

Simon Farley

Manager, Client Services - John Oxley Library