Margaret "Liz" Elizebeth Crawford
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Liz's obituary
Margaret Elizabeth Crawford (“Liz”)
19 March 1944 – 17 November 2024
I grew up with auntie Liz being the relative my mum talked about most and who'd send amazing books for Christmas all the way from Australia with funny animals like wombats in. She complained it was cold when she visited us in Scotland. I see why now, many years later visiting her in Australia it was too hot!
Hopefully Liz wound't disapprove too much of what I have to say about her but she'd probably correct some details.
Liz lived a life shaped by curiosity, independence, and a quiet sense of adventure.
Born on 19 March 1944 near Wolverhampton, England, Liz developed an early love of learning that stayed with her throughout her life. She went on to study in London, focusing on art, African studies, and teaching—interests that would guide her in the years ahead. She later travelled to Africa to teach, beginning a lifetime of exploring different countries and cultures.
Her journeys took her widely across the world, with passports filled from travels through Afghanistan, India, Nepal, China, Russia, and many more. She also spent several years teaching in Papua New Guinea before eventually settling in Australia in the late 1980's, where she worked as a librarian at an art college in Adelaide—a role well suited to her love of books and learning.
Liz continued studying well into retirement, completing courses in art, Russian, Italian, and more. At the time of her passing, she was learning ancient Greek, still following her interest in language and history.
She had a long-standing interest in Tibetan Buddhism and was fortunate to meet the Dalai Lama on a number of occasions. She enjoyed walking wherever possible, valued her independence.
Liz lived modestly and was careful with what she had, managing to travel widely and pursue her interests through a thoughtful and frugal approach to life. She also gave generously, supporting a number of charities both locally and internationally. In keeping with this, her full collection of books was left to the Oxfam bookshop. There was a lot of them to pack up!
She enjoyed gardening and created a colourful, well-loved garden filled with flowers and fruit trees. She also had a particular fondness for cats and writing—simple pleasures that brought her contentment. She had a number of books in the works and I hope to read them soon including the longest "Opal and Gold"
My family visited her in earlier 2024 and she got to meet our youngest daughter India, the girls loved her reading to them, playing on her piano and her garden with all the colourful and noisy birds who came to feed from the fruit trees.
We remember Liz for her independence, her thoughtfulness, and her lifelong commitment to learning, love of arts, colour and ofcourse cats.
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