WHEN Australia’s new High Commissioner to Fiji first visited here, it was at the tender age of six months.
And the visit — though unknown to her at the time, was for the death of her grandfather Patrick Joseph Twomey, or P.J Twomey, as he is more widely known in Fiji.
Margaret Twomey’s recent appointment as High Commissioner represents a coming full circle for the Twomey name.
Ms Twomey’s grandfather P J Twomey dedicated much of his life to work in Fiji.
He served as a Marist brother from 1912 to 1918, and from the late 1920s until his death in the cause of improving the quality of life of Pacific victims of leprosy.
The majority of that period centred around the leprosy patients who lived on Makogai.
His name lives on today through the PJ Twomey Hospital in Tamavua that, to this day, treats patients with leprosy, other skin diseases, and tuberculosis.
Ms Twomey’s appointment comes at a time when Fiji and Australia are seeking further engagement with each other.
Ms Twomey said in a statement from the Australian High Commisison that she was conscious of the very different lives she and her grandfather have lived.
“But if there is one thing she has learned from the time she has spent in this country as a child and a diplomat, it is the love her grandfather felt for Fiji and its people,” the statement said.
And it is in tribute to this and to him, that she will become Australia’s advocate for disability inclusive development in the Pacific.
“As such, her first public engagement will be to give the keynote address at the 3 December International Day of Persons With Disabilities Celebration in Suva.”
