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Revision as of 06:47, 2 December 2009 by The Four Deuces (talk | contribs) (Include mention of Darby)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Lia Looveer (née Saarepera; 5 October 1920, Narva – 8 November 2006) was an Estonian émigré politician in Australia.
Lia Saarepera's father was Aleksander Saarepera, mother Hilda (1894 - 1966). Lia Saarepera graduated from the E. Lenderi Tütarlaste Gümnaasium (E. Lender Lender Girls High School in Tallinn) in 1938 and then studied law at the University of Tartu from 1938–1943. She worked for Eesti Riigi Ringhääling (Estonian National Broadcasting).
In 1944, she fled to Nazi Germany ahead of the Soviet offensive in Estonia, where she married Leonid Looveer (Looberg) (31.01.1917 - 07.02.1960) in August of that year. She worked as a reporter for Radio Balti, a station based depending on the war situation in Danzig, Thorn and Rostock, which broadcast to the Soviet-reoccupied Baltic States in Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian. Radio Balti (Template:Lang-de) was a Nazi propaganda radio station broadcasting news, propaganda and entertainment in Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian.
In 1949 they moved to Sydney. Lia Looveer was the founder of the Joint Baltic Committee of Sydney and its secretary from 1952 to 2002. Lia Looveer arranged a number events that introduced Baltic culture and history to the Australian public. In 1953, she joined the Liberal Party of Australia New South Wales branch. At the federal level, Looveer participated in Liberal Party's Advisory Committee on Ethnic Affairs and similar bodies, that dealt with immigrants' issues. Looveer was part of the inaugural executive of the Liberal Ethnic Council and supported Nazi war criminal Lyenko Urbanchich when the state Liberal Party attempted to expel him. She was acknowledged in the Legislative Council of New South Wales by the far right member David Clarke. She was also secretary of "The United Council of Migrants from Communist Dominated Europe in Australia (1953 - )" which included far right Australian politician Douglas Darby.
Lia worked in the fund-raising Appeals Bureau of the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children for over 25 years.
Lia and Leonid Looveer had a daughter and a son, Juho Looveer (born in 1952), PhD.
Awards
- British Empire Medal (1978), as a resident of the state of New South Wales, "for service to the community and the ethnic community".
- Estonian Republic Order of the White Star, 5th class
Sources
- ^ Nikki Henningham (4 September 2006). "Looveer, Lia". The Australian Women's Register. University of Melbourne.
{{cite web}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "LOOVEER, LIIA". Academic Library of Tallinn University. Retrieved 23 November 2009.
- Diller, Ansgar. Rundfunk in Deutschland: Rundfunkpolitik im Dritten Reich (in German). pp. 404–406. ISBN 9783423031844.
- http://www.iseansw.org.au/officers.htm
- Faith, Hope, Charity - Australian Women and Imperial Honours: 1901-1989. The Order of the British Empire (Civil), Looveer listed
- London Gazette, issue 47723 29 December 1978, p. 28
- Passing of Lia Looveer BEM JP - Michael Darby's
- The Australian Women's Registry. The Joint Baltic Committee