Celebrant (Australia) celebrancy was established by the Australian Commonwealth Attorney General Lionel Murphy on 19 July 1973, when his first appointee, Mrs Lois D'Arcy, was categorised as a Civil Marriage Celebrant. Later, as civil marriage celebrants branched out into the performance of other ceremonies such as Funerals and Namings the term was shortened to Civil Celebrant. According to civil celebrant Dally Messenger III: The civil celebrant program is almost entirely the result of one man's vision. Murphy himself told me the story of how he was opposed by his own staff, the public service, his fellow members of parliament and officials of
A Start in Life has provided over AU$13.3 million in support to more than 6,500 students, from pre-school through to university. The students are typically referred to A Start in Life by welfare agencies including Department of Family and Community Services (New South Wales), local community groups across Australia, schools and other educational institutions, or are self-referred. The Charity has Deductible Gift Recipient status and is Income Tax and FBT exempt. A Start in Life's mission is to assist young Australians in necessitous circumstances to overcome the barriers to their education, enabling them to reach their potential. The Charity proposes that by improving the