Margaret Cunneen SC
I made my Promise as a Guide 40 years ago and it is extraordinary how relevant each aspect of it is in my life today. From Guides I came to understand that the highest calling in life is in the service of others. Guiding taught me consideration for others, resilience and good humour. It gave me countless experiences that a girl in the 1970s would not otherwise have had.
Margaret Cunneen is a Crown Prosecutor with a reputation of one of Australia’s most respected champions for victims of violent crime. She is a firm believer in humanity and conscience in the practice of the law.
“My motivation has always been to give a voice to the traumatised victim of crime, or to his or her bereaved relatives, whose human rights have been violated in the most direct fashion, by the criminal act of another.”
Margaret’s criminal prosecution record is formidable.
She has prepared papers focusing on children and the law, particularly child abuse laws.
Margaret was a member of the 2nd Beverly Hills Guide Company in NSW and achieved the Queens Guide Award. She maintains her ties with Guiding as an ambassador of Girl Guides NSW and ACT.
I first learned about the Commonwealth of Nations as a Girl Guide looking at the requirements to become a Queen’s Guide. At a time when, here in Australia, there was less racial diversity and certainly less inclusivity, our experience in Guiding was to learn about, and from, our sister Guides in India, Asia, various African countries and the Caribbean. I still treasure lifelong friendships I made with girls in countries I would have known nothing about without the Commonwealth.
Sources
- Leadership for Life. 100 Women, 100 Years in Guiding. Girl Guides Australia
- The Weekend Australian
- UTS Alumni
- image: The Herald Sun
