Rachel Trixie Anne Gardner (1927-2024): Baroness Gardner of Parkes

There are many well-known personalities associated with the Parkes district, but did you know a member of the British peerage was born in Parkes? Rachel Trixie Anne Gardner (known as Trixie) is that individual.

Rachel Trixie Anne Gardner nee McGirr (known as Trixie) was born 17 July 1927 in Parkes, NSW to parents Greg McGirr and Rachel Rittenberg Miller. The McGirr family name is well-known in Parkes, with the first McGirr’s arriving in the area in the mid-nineteenth century and working in the dairy farming industry. Greg McGirr would have been destined to carry on with the farming way of life, were it not for an opportunity to attend St. Stanislaus’ College in Bathurst and later earning a pharmacy degree at Sydney University before moving into politics. It was during a brief period of the family living back in Parkes that Trixie was born, with the family residing at 20 High Street. However, it wasn’t long before the family moved back to Sydney.

Despite the country being in depression, Trixie and her siblings had ample opportunities for education with Trixie attending Monte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College and later went on to study dentistry at the University of Sydney. It was at the University of Sydney that Trixie met her future husband, Kevin Gardner. When Trixie decided to relocate to London in 1954, Kevin followed her and they were married in 1956. The couple set up a dental practice in the suburb of Islington, which was at the time a very deprived area of London.

After being elected to Westminster City Council in 1968, Trixie went on to have a long and distinguished career in local government which ultimately led to her being elevated to the peerage in 1981. Traditionally, only titles within the United Kingdom would be considered for a Barony of the United Kingdom and anything outside the United Kingdom required approval from the Queen and the Prime Minister. Trixie was determined to have Parkes recognized in this way, so special permissions were sought (accompanied by a congratulatory letter from the Parkes Shire President B. M. Maguire) and after much deliberation the decision was made. Baroness Gardner of Parkes was thus officially welcomed into the House of Lords on June 23, 1981.

Trixie was the first Australian woman to be elevated to the peerage in Britain and was the most senior life peer in the House of Lords at the time of her death in 2024. Trixie never officially retired from the House of Lords and was “grandmother” to both the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

If you would like to learn more about Trixie Gardner, Parkes Shire Library holds a copy of her autobiography The Long Table: The Autobiography of Baroness Gardner of Parkes. And make sure to head into Parkes Shire Library sometime soon and view her portrait in person.

References:

Gardner, Trixie, (2019). The Long Table: The Autobiography of Baroness Gardner of Parkes. UK, Couper Street Books.

Google maps. ‘20 High Street, Parkes, NSW, 2870’. https://www.google.com/maps/place/20+High+St,+Parkes+NSW+2870

Ripley, Amy. (2024). ‘Gardner of Parkes, Baroness (1927-2024)’. Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/gardner-of-parkes-baroness-34406/text43186. Accessed 16 September 2025.

Tindall, R. T. (1983). Parkes: One Hundred Years of Local Government. South Australia, Griffin Press Limited.