Death
Bjelke-Petersen died in April 2005, aged 94, with his wife and family members by his side. He received a state funeral at which the then Prime Minister, John Howard, and Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie were speakers. Beattie, who himself had been sued by Sir Joh for defamation and was arrested during the 1971 Springbok Tour protests said "I think too often in the adversarial nature of politics we forget that behind every leader, behind every politician, is indeed a family and we shouldn't forget that." As the funeral was taking place, approximately 200 protesters gathered in Brisbane to "ensure that those who suffered under successive Bjelke-Petersen governments were not forgotten". Protest organiser Drew Hutton said "Queenslanders should remember what is described as a dark passage in the state's history."
Bjelke-Petersen is buried "beside his trees that he planted and he nurtured and they grew" at the family property "Bethany" at Kingaroy.
Read more about this topic: Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“A man that apprehends death no more dreadfully but as a drunken sleep, careless, reckless, and fearless of what’s past, present, or to come; insensible of mortality, and desperately mortal.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their parents; only for their own crimes may persons be put to death.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Deuteronomy 24:16.
“for it is not so much to know the self
as to know it as it is known
by galaxy and cedar cone,
as if birth had never found it
and death could never end it:”
—Archie Randolph Ammons (b. 1926)