A blessed life shared for others

Published: 14 March 2010
By: Selina Venier

Giving time, talent and treasure: Brisbane's Henry Smerdon was recognised with an Order of Australia this year

HE may have been honoured with an Order of Australia on January 26, but Brisbane man Henry Smerdon doubts it'll allow him to access "the express lane at the gates of heaven".

"One can hope," he continued to joke when speaking with The Catholic Leader between interstate appointments recently.

The medal was for "service to financial management as a contributor to reform in a range of public and private sector organisations, to tertiary education and to the arts", of which Henry was more than humble.

"It is wonderful to be recognised for what I have done and what I have been able to contribute," he said.

"However so many people have helped me along the way - my family first and foremost, those who I have worked with, those whose lives have touched mine, sometimes only briefly but (who) contributed to who I am."

Likeable Henry said he was "one of the post-war baby boomers" baptised into the Anglican Church but with Catholic connections on his father's side.

His mother didn't practise the faith but ensured her children did.

"My mother was the 'stay-at-home Christian'," Henry said. "While not attending church regularly herself, she did send us off to Sunday School every Sunday as part of our faith development."

The end result was an enthusiastic teenage Henry "teaching the class", although the death of both parents soon after spurred a "struggle with faith and religion and what it all meant".

Meeting his vivacious wife Suzy on an overseas trip in 1982, a searching Henry was introduced to her cousin, Monsignor Frank Coorey.

That meeting connected Henry with Fr Peter Gillam, a Brisbane priest, who "guided" the journey towards full Communion with the Catholic Church.

Of that "conversion" Henry said it "wasn't too difficult" and "there was an air of inevitability about it".

After the "conversion", Mrs and Mrs Smerdon welcomed their first child Carla in 1987, and then their son Daniel in 1990.

All four give of their time and talents to the Cathedral of St Stephen - Daniel musically, and Carla, Suzy and Henry as readers and extraordinary minsters of the Eucharist, with Henry recently asked to chair the finance council.

The Smerdons have strong links with southside Sunnybank parish as well and were "guided" there by "the firm hand" of the late former parish priest Fr Tom Hegarty.

Suzy served on the Sunnybank parish council for years while Henry on the parish finance committee for a decade.

Home life in Roberston was harmonious and musical.

"Suzy and I have always believed that we as parents should provide a stable, loving, nurturing and faith-filled home for our children," Henry said.

"... (And) give them every opportunity to grow and develop their talents and abilities through education and faith. We are pretty pleased with the outcome to date."

Carla and Daniel, featured previously in The Catholic Leader, are both musical but "have gone in different directions".

Carla, a medical student, enjoys music as "a leisure pursuit" while her brother is in his third year at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music - with the cathedral choir a particular "love" of the young man who performed in a chorus accompanying Andrea Bocelli.

Henry's obvious love of family and his providing for them also had humble beginnings, with him leaving school at 15 years of age to join the public service as a clerk.

"My first job was ... I tore up unused, invalid bookmakers betting tickets, in part because I had nowhere to sit," he said.

At the time he was a part-time accountancy student.

Arriving at the end of bachelor degrees in commerce and economics, Henry eventually scored the role of chief budget officer for Queensland Treasury, with much responsibility for "the preparation and management of the State Budget".

As the head of the Treasury in 1989 he then moved to chief executive of the Queensland Investment Corporation, in which he had "a major role setting up".

"My roles in the Treasury and QIC were 24/7 positions with much travel and I found myself missing out on many important shared experiences with Carla and Daniel growing up," Henry said.

"In 1998, I decided ... to rebalance my work-life commitments to be sure I was there to share the experiences of my children growing up - a decision I have never regretted.

"The good Lord has been pretty good to me and has looked after me in some amazing ways. Every time a door seemed to close another quickly opened."

Henry serves on an investment company board and is deputy chancellor of Griffith University, a role he said is "pro bono".

"(It's) my way of giving back to the community," he said of the Griffith position.

"It also sits well with my long-standing view of the value of education."

In another hot seat, Henry chairs the Queensland Performing Arts Trust, allowing him to "indulge a passion and provide opportunities for people to be entertained, uplifted, challenged or whatever emotion is most appropriate".

Personal highlights have been involvement with World Expo '88 on the South Bank Corporation board and "at the centre of public policy making" during the 1980s and '90s in Queensland Treasury.

But no greater "highlight" exists for Henry than sharing in the Eucharist with his close-knit family and the members of God's body.

"For me, faith is the life blood of why we exist," he said. "The Church gives me that faith, nourishes it and strengthens it.

"I am always inspired or exhilarated by attendance at Mass. It is the time when I can speak to God in communion with my fellow parishioners and attendees.

"Invariably I come away with a sense of wellness, not always inspired by every homily but usually with plenty to think about."

Henry also admits to "sometimes having a deaf ear" where God's concerned.

"I would never claim to be the perfect Christian," he said.

"However I do try to be the best person I can and hopefully set good examples by my actions rather than words.

"I try to ask for little and give what I can.

"I therefore try to share the gifts and talents I have been given ... I am a great believer in the 'we are equal in the sight of God' and I have no right or justification to think I am better than somebody else because I happen to have had a fortunate life.

"True humbleness is a great virtue."

As for the future, while he remains unchanged since Australia Day, Henry pondered, "Who knows what the future may bring?"

There's one certain goal for 2010 however - helping Suzy "crack the one hundred" Christmas cakes sold at the traditional "Advent stall".

"I will get great satisfaction in helping her achieve that," Henry said.