Kevin Gardner was a man of firsts. He was among the first babies to cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge. He was, for 50 years, married to Baroness Gardner of Parkes, Australia's first woman peer. And he was the first Australian to be the Lord Mayor of Westminster. Yet he would also be the first to say he was fortunate with his parents, fortunate with his wife and grateful that the constituents of Westminster voted for him.

Kevin Gardner was born in Sydney, the elder child and only son of the Jersey-born George Gardner and his Australian-born wife, Rita Rogers. When he was 21 months, the toddler was carried across the bridge by his father after Francis de Groot charged through on his horse, slashing the ribbon on March 19, 1932.

Young Kevin was educated at Waverley College and won a scholarship to the University of Sydney to study dentistry, winning the Arnott Prize for oral surgery in 1954. He spent a year on the university teaching staff at the Sydney Dental Hospital before going to London in 1955.

There he was reunited with Trixie McGirr (BDS ’54), a fellow dental graduate, the daughter of a former NSW Labor leader, Greg McGirr, and niece of a premier, James McGirr. They became engaged, married in Paris in 1956 and remained in London.

Gardner worked as a dental assistant in a practice in Harrow while Trixie worked in the East End until they chose a joint practice in Clerkenwell. Kevin was highly skilled in crown and bridge work and treated local residents, street traders and captains of industry. Being near Whitbread's brewery, the practice was occasionally visited by a huge man driving magnificent draught horses in a large dray bringing the "guvner's" dentures for repair.

In 1981 Trixie was ennobled for her two decades of community and local government work in the Tory cause, the first Australian woman to be so honoured. She became Baroness Gardner of Parkes, a title that paid homage both to Kevin and her birthplace.

In May 1982, the year after she joined the House of Lords, Kevin was elected to Westminster City Council, where Trixie had been a councillor since 1968. By coincidence, his constituency was known as Lords, although he later represented Abbey Road.

Kevin was good company - optimistic, collegiate, unstuffy, level-headed and good-hearted - popular with other councillors and much liked by the staff. Throughout his career he retained his Australian accent.

In 1987 Kevin was elected Lord Mayor of Westminster, the 23rd person to hold that particular title since it was created in 1966, although there had been mayors and before that high sheriffs of Westminster Abbey since 1586, during the reign of Elizabeth I.

Some aspects of the Lord Mayoral role would bring to mind Bill Hayden's vice-regal quip of "fetes worse than death", with visits to schools, hospitals and charities; stone-laying and openings of buildings and a plethora of anniversaries. The Lord Mayor was also charged with meeting the Queen whenever she entered the City of Westminster.

Yuletide was a testing time for the Lord Mayor, who was obliged to eat 38 Christmas lunches in a fortnight, although lighting the Christmas trees in Trafalgar Square and Regent Street would have been a very pleasurable task.

Theirs was a solid and mutually supportive partnership. Kevin was immensely proud of his wife’s political career and Trixie was happy to help Kevin in his practice one day a week, putting aside her coronet to fit crowns instead.

There was always time for family and their Catholic faith was central to their lives. They lived in a quiet cul-de-sac near what Kevin called "the corner store" - Harrods. In fact, the house was built in 1953 for the store's general manager.

Kevin Gardner fell ill suddenly in January after a post-Christmas holiday in Bermuda. He was diagnosed with lymphoma and died within a month. He had been re-elected as a councillor in 2006 at the age of 75 and was characteristically chuffed that the voters had again returned him.

He is survived by Trixie, their three daughters and his sister, Anne-Marie Rendell.




This is an edited version of the obituary that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 10 April 2007.