James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today, 26 February, is the anniversary of the birth of one of my more famous former constituents—in fact, he was never a constituent of mine, personally—Mr Lionel Logue, who was a very famous speech pathologist. He was born in my electorate and grew up in College Park. His grandfather is also very famous in my electorate for having established the Kent Town Brewery.

Mr Logue travelled to Perth, after completing his studies at Adelaide university's music school, and then became a self-taught speech pathologist. He was not welcomed by the establishment, particularly in the United Kingdom, but he perfected his techniques by assisting World War I veterans who had suffered significant speech deprivation from shellshock and other traumatic experiences in the First World War.

His most famous patient was the Duke of York, who became King George VI, who had a very significant speech stammer. It was Lionel Logue who provided him with invaluable support and therapy to be able to make some of the very important addresses that he had to in his time, particularly when he ascended the throne in 1937 and during those critical World War II times when the people of the Empire needed to hear from their monarch. I pay tribute to Lionel Logue for that contribution.