In Memory Of
Dr Anne-Marie Swan (28 May 1948 - 25 July 2026)
It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Anne-Marie Swan. Please feel free to share your memories and thoughts about the passing of our beloved colleague, Anne-Marie, with the NSWIPP and PPAA community.
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Isla Lonie (1936 - 2012)
A Psychiatrist who guided the next generation
Photograph courtesy of David Lonie
Isla Lonie grew up in a New Zealand where physics and chemistry were not offered at her high school, because what reason would girls have to study them? Even after catching up with the subjects, she had to go against family opposition when she wanted to study medicine but went on to be one of NSW's leading psychiatrists.
Isla Ellen Frew was born on April 2, 1936, in Christchurch, New Zealand, the elder of two daughters of John and Ann Frew. After high school, she was one of 10 women accepted to start medicine at the University of Otago in Dunedin in 1953. There she met David Lonie and they were married after a whirlwind courtship.
The couple graduated in 1960 and, after a few years working in Gisborne, in 1964 decided to move to Australia, where they were offered posts at Morisset. They continued their psychiatry training together, each completing a diploma in psychiatric medicine and then gaining membership in the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP).
They played prominent roles in the development of the college and, particularly, in establishing training within it.
The Lonies worked in harmony in their professional lives, although David moved on to child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy and Isla focused more on adult psychotherapy. They also shared parenting at a time when that notion was unheard of; they managed an equal distribution of time for career, study and children.
The Lonies were part of the group that founded the NSW Institute of Psychotherapy, now the NSW Institute of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, in 1976, to promote dynamic psychotherapy when it was disappearing from university courses in NSW. Isla Lonie was president of the institute for many years in the 1980s. The couple were also involved in setting up the Australian Association for Infant Mental Health in the 1990s.
In the RANZCP, Lonie served in various capacities, including as federal councillor and on the section of psychotherapy. A task she put her heart and soul into was establishing the advanced training in the psychotherapies for the college. The first intake in 2001 was the culmination of her two years' work to develop the course.
Lonie worked hard in her clinical practice, in which she had an enormous breadth of experience and many grateful patients. She used this experience mentoring, supervising and lecturing to several generations of trainee psychiatrists.
She was a regular presenter and participant at college congresses and contributed work to the college journal and elsewhere. In 2003, she received a college citation for her contributions.
As well as their passionate interest in psychotherapy, Isla and David Lonie shared a love of music, with season subscriptions to opera, concert and theatre. They enjoyed travel and managed to cover much of the globe as well as spending weekends at their place at Pearl Beach.
Lonie's interests and expertise stretched beyond psychotherapy to include topics such as chaos theory and she had a great talent for homemaking and for handcrafts; the achievements of her professional life were matched with a prodigious output of handknits for her family. Her talents were so various that she could work meticulously on fashioning a papier-mache chess set for each of her children, or laying bricks in the garden, painting the house, making the curtains and producing each year's Christmas puddings. She not only wrote for professional publications but also wrote plays, several of which were performed.
Her home was always open, there was always a bed for a travelling colleague, and she could just as readily provide an intimate soiree for a small gathering of colleagues or host a gala event for friends and family. Yet that generosity of spirit and openness to all was complemented by fearless political convictions that one might challenge at one's peril. She also enjoyed playing bridge and croquet.
Lonie retired from clinical practice in 2010 but was still supervising students for the RANZCP until a few weeks before her death.
Isla Lonie is survived by David, their children, Rachel, Catriona and James, and partners, seven grandchildren and her sister.
Associate Professor Carolyn Quadrio
Joyce McDougall (1920 - 2011)
A Psychoanalyst who argued that human sexuality is inherently traumatic
The psychoanalyst Joyce McDougall, who has died aged 91, made significant contributions to the understanding of perversions, psychosomatic symptoms, female sexuality, creativity and addictions. Her clinical insights, theoretical originality, open-mindedness and lack of dogmatism made her unique throughout her 60-year career and enabled her to create a valuable link connecting the Anglo-Saxon and French psychoanalytical schools,
Reg Martin (1916 - 2006)
Profile of a Psychoanalyst (Including eulogy by Shahid Najeeb) - While many people in the Australian Psychoanalytic Society knew of Prof. Reg Martin, a founding member of the Society and its Foundation President, few people knew much about him as a person. He was a very private man and almost never spoke about himself. Despite his enormous reluctance, I did manage to persuade him in 1994, to write something about him for me. So rather than me writing a profile about him, I will let my collated remarks from his letters to me, speak for him. At the end of this profile I append a brief address I gave to a gathering of family and friends on 29th of April 2006. This address is a very personal tribute to Reg Martin
Frances Tustin (1913 - 1994)
Frances Daisy Vickers, child psychotherapist: born Darlington 15 October 1913; married 1948 Arnold Tustin (died 1994); died Chesham, Buckinghamshire 11 November 1994.
Frances Tustin was one of the first professionally trained child psychotherapists in Britain, and in her 25 years of clinical practice she came to be internationally recognised for her work with autistic children,
Dear NSWIPP Community;
It is with a deep sense of sadness and loss that I bring you the news that Dr Anne-Marie Swan died today at the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, where she was being treated for metastatic melanoma.
Anne-Marie was one of NSWIPP’s most charismatic, inspiring, and dedicated senior members, and her passing will leave an unfillable void for many of us, both personally and professionally.
Our thoughts are with her family and her many close friends, as well as her patients, supervisees and mentees. Her legacy will live on in the countless people she shepherded through their training over the decades, and throughout the NSWIPP community that she fought so hard to protect, preserve and champion in the many roles she held, including serving as President between September 2013 and November 2016 and again between October 2019 and October 2021.
Along with NSWIPP her loss will be mourned by many organisations including the RANZCP where she was an integral part of the advanced psychotherapy training, the PPAA, the ACPP and many others over the years.
I think I can speak for all of us when I say that it didn’t matter if you had known Anne-Marie for a one day or many decades – you still got the same open, generous, inquiring, caring and at times challenging attention – served up with a constant glint in the eye – encouraging you to connect with her indefatigable spirit as she blazed a trail for us to follow in all things psychotherapy….and life.
The NSWIPP premises will be open from 1pm onwards tomorrow – coinciding with our previously advertised Mid-Winter Lunch – which will still be held and provided by NSWIPP – for anyone who would like to gather and remember Anne-Marie in a place that was very close to her heart. I hope you can join me and other members of the Executive Committee there, as we collectively acknowledge the passing of a truly unique soul who meant so much to so many in so many different ways.
We will keep you updated regarding further arrangements over the coming weeks including further opportunities to remember Anne-Marie amongst NSWIPP colleagues.
Should you wish to talk to myself or anyone on the EC please do not hesitate to reach out to us directly.
Rest well, AM — you are deeply loved and will be greatly missed by many, many people.
Bernard
Anne-Marie sent this poem to Liz Kerr a few months ago – it was read at our lunch gathering today and I think touched all of us with its poignancy and meaning in light of AM’s death and the way she lived her life;
MY SOUL IS IN A HURRY
Mário de Andrade (Sao Paulo 1893 – 1945)
I counted my years and discovered that I now have less time left to live than I had lived until now.
I feel like the kid who won a pack of candy; He ate the first few with pleasure, but when he realized there were few left, he began to savor them deeply.
I don’t have time for endless meetings where we discuss bylaws, rules, procedures and internal regulations, knowing that nothing will happen.
I no longer have time to put up with absurd people who, despite their chronological age, have not grown up.
My time is short to discuss titles. I want the essential, my soul is in a hurry…
Without many sweets in the package…
I want to live next to human people, very human. Who know how to laugh at their mistakes, who are not vain of their triumphs. People who don’t consider themselves elected before their time, people who don’t try to escape their responsibilities. I am looking for people who defend human dignity, people who only want to walk on the side of truth and honesty.
The essential is what makes life worth living.
*I want to surround myself with people who know how to touch people’s hearts*…
People who have learned from the hard knocks of life to grow up with soft touches in their soul
Yes…, I am in a hurry…, I am in a hurry to live with the intensity that only maturity can give.
I intend not to waste any of the candy I have left… I am sure they will be more exquisite than the ones I have eaten so far.
My goal is to arrive at the end satisfied and at peace with my loved ones and with my conscience.
We have two lives and the second one starts when you realize that you have only one…
Following is a communication from the APS who have given permission to publish here:
Dear Bernard,
Thank you for letting us know of the passing of Anne-Marie Swan, though I am so sorry to receive such news. On behalf of APAS, and personally, I want to extend our deepest sympathies to you, to the Executive Committee, and to the whole NSWIPP community.
Anne-Marie’s loss is profound, no doubt more to those close to her as family friend and close colleagues. However, her impact was far and wide, as will be the impact of her loss. Its suddenness makes it all the harder to absorb. She was a remarkable figure in our field, and her influence reached far beyond NSWIPP through her work with the RANZCP, the PPAA, the ACPP and so many others. Many of our members will be shocked and saddened to learn of her passing, as I know I am.
The warmth and spirit you described in your message came through clearly, and speak to how much she meant to so many. Please pass on our condolences to her family and to all at NSWIPP who are grieving her.
If there is anything APAS can do to support you or the community in the days ahead, please don’t hesitate to let me know.
Kind Regards,
Matt
Dr Matthew McArdle
President, Australian Psychoanalytical Society