Leneen Forde

Mary Marguerite Leneen Forde, DStJ (born 12 May 1935) is a Canadian-born Australian retired solicitor and former Chancellor of Griffith University, who served as the 22nd Governor of Queensland from 1992 until 1997. Forde chaired the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions during 1998 and 1999 which found systemic child abuse in government or non-government institutions between 1911 and 1999.

Early life Forde was born Mary Marguerite Leneen Kavanagh in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She worked as a medical laboratory technician, Together, the Fordes had five children. In 1992, after her appointment as governor, she was the subject of a $500,000 civil lawsuit from the Fitzgerald family, heirs of the Castlemaine Perkins beer empire, who alleged she had engaged in professional misconduct to their detriment. The Supreme Court of Queensland found that she was not liable for damages.

Forde was international president of women's service organisation Zonta International from 1990 to 1992. In March 1992 she was announced as the inaugural head of the Queensland Women's Consultative Council.

Governor of Queensland In 1992, Forde was only the second woman to be appointed to the position of governor of an Australian state (after Dame Roma Mitchell who became Governor of South Australia in 1991) and the first to take on the role in Queensland.

Forde had remarried a retired detective superintendent from New South Wales Police, Angus McDonald, in 1983. McDonald served as vice-regal consort and was the first male spouse of a governor in Australia. Forde retired as governor in 1997.

Forde Inquiry In 1998, Forde was appointed to chair the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions.

Honours On 26 January 1993, Forde was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in recognition of her service to the law, to improving the status of women and to economic and business development. Forde is a Dame of Grace in the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. She was International President of Zonta from 1990 until 1992,