The photo above is myself and Ag at the Melbourne Uni Club of the Year dinner in 2007. The Underwater Club won the annual prize which I accepted as President, while feeling that the bunch of the work done to earn it had been other people’s. In particular Ag’s contribution and leadership over several years of enthusiasm and co-ordination got hundreds of people into the water for weekends and club dive trips.
Today is the third anniversary of Agnes passing away in Tank Cave. We’re now beyond the point where she had plans that I knew about. The conferences she intended to speak at or attend have been and gone. The trip reports have been published for the big trip she had started fitness training for, but wasn’t here to go on.
If she had been here I wonder what new cave entrances and passages would have been added to the map by now. I wonder which trips she would have talked her way on to, and which trips she would have created and led. I wonder which new camera she would have invested in, and if she would have managed to keep it dry for long enough to get great shots. And I wonder about the photos and footage she might have starred in, which I and others never got to take.
I wonder the best way to mark this anniversary each year. To say “not forgotten, still missed”. 2007 is a long time ago now. 2011 is getting further away by the day. And Ag lives on, but only in our memories.
I never met Ag, but know some who did. The impression she made on those she knew is evident in the emotional response her loss evokes, even today.
My thoughts go out to everyone she touched.
In your memories and experiences she lives on.
I was just thinking of her the other day & What a huge loss her passing was, Thanks for the post in keeping her memory alive.
I left Melbourne in 2002 after a long ‘career’ with MUUC. Ag started diving in those days at MUUC and I have been fortunate enough to witness her early, enthusiastic efforts in conquering the underwater world. She then surpassed me (one of her early course DMs…) and most others of those days (only the Crazy Czechs seem to have followed a similar path….) in her dedication, qualifications and experience to dive. Indeed, I never ventured into caves…
Hearing of Ag’s accident here in remote Perth was sad news. But it also reinforced in me never to take any dive lightly, in particular now as Melissa and I have three beautiful kids, future divers hopefully…
I am happy recall some fond memories of Ag each year…
Thank you Liz, beautifully written. Such amazing memories of a most unique and extraordinary woman. Always missed.