Marianne Odlum’s quiet and unassuming presence in providing service at lunchtimes every Wednesday at Matthew Talbot Hostel for the past 22 years is very much missed by her fellow volunteers, residents, guests and staff at the hostel.

Born in Tasmania on 25 May 1947 Marianne later moved with her family to Sydney, where she developed her passion for English literature having been taught by multi-award-winning novelist Thea Astley at Cheltenham Girls High School.

Marianne met Angus, the love of her life, in 1975 from that point on they embarked on a life of adventure including camping and sailing around Australia as well as many overseas sojourns in Europe, England, Turkey, and Ireland. A lovingly, devoted, likeminded, mutually supportive couple Marianne and Angus also restored, rebuild, refurnished and painted heritage houses.

A young family member described Marianne as the “ultimate hippie”. She was proudly alternative, a leftie, a peace-loving humanitarian. Marianne was an environmentalist and a nature lover. She was deeply connected to the bushland home she and Angus shared in Lilli Pilli: to the bush, the trees, birds, possums, fish, the water and the rocks. Marianne believed in treading lightly on this earth; in appreciating nature and enjoying the earth’s wild and natural forms.  She was also very firm and determined in standing up for what was right and fair. Marianne was very concerned about the environment, climate change, peace, the marginalised and the disadvantaged.

Marianne had a long and varied career in nursing. She was a registered nurse, a ward sister, a nurse educator and a tutor. She worked in aged care, dementia and women’s health at Caringbah’s women’s health centre. She worked with the AIDS council of NSW, teaching schoolboys how to put a condom on plastic bananas.

On her retirement, Marianne wrote that she was drawn towards providing service as a volunteer at Matthew Talbot Hostel by her desire to put something back into the community. This she most certainly did, making the arduous weekly trek typically on public transport up to Woolloomooloo from her beautiful bushland home in Lilli Pilli on the banks of the Port Hacking Estuary.

Despite serious illness, Marianne continued providing service at Matthew Talbot Hostel right up to the end of her life. A beautiful blue berry ash has been planted as a living memory at her home in Lilli Pilli, where friends and family gathered on 10 May 2025 to celebrate her life of selfless love, compassion, dedication and commitment to serving those most in need. 

Marianne Deirdre Odlum 1947 - 2025