The former senator talks to Craig Bennett about her remarkable life!
Relaxing at her estate in Kingaroy, Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen has just received the most wonderful gift – a 14th grandchild. Her son John and his wife, Karyn, have welcomed their fifth child, a daughter named Grace.
“I’m overjoyed,” says Lady Flo, widow of Queensland’s longest-serving Premier, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, on the eve of her 90th birthday. “If Joh were here, he’d be tickled pink. He was a remarkable father, a very proud grandfather and a deeply loving husband.”
Sadly, in recent months Lady Flo has been stricken with chronic back pain which has left her relying on a walking frame.
“This back thing hasn’t been a joy, but I know there are others much worse off, so I never complain. I’m grateful to have made it to 90 and to have enjoyed such a varied life, all the while surrounded by a wonderful and loving family,” she says.
For 53 years, Lady Flo was married to one of Australia’s most colourful and, at times, controversial personalities – former peanut farmer turned premier, Sir Joh.
“We had an incredibly strong bond,” she recounts. Far from living in her husband’s shadow, Lady Flo was a respected National Party senator in her own right from 1981 to 1993.
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