Date: 9 July 2007

Masterman Bequest Settled

Bob Masterman, who died in 17 April 1989, was a concerned advocate for Aboriginal reconciliation, and saw education as the way forward to improved life and educational opportunities for Indigenous children.  He further believed that Montessori education represented the most culturally sensitive approach to reform Indigenous education.

Bob Masterman died before he could finalise all the legal requirements for his bequest, however his family has worked tirelessly over the last 18 years to realise their father’s dream to see “a charitable trust established to further the education through the Montessori method of aboriginal children in the Weipa area of Cape York (extract from will).”

In 2006 the Masterman family approached the Montesori Children's Foundation to assist in the finalisation of the bequest. The Montessori Children's Foundation enlisted the pro bono legal support of Corrs Chambers Westgarth and Clayton Utz and on 9 July 2007 the Supreme Court of Queensland settled the Masterman estate awarding the residual of close to $4,000,000 to the Montessori Children's Foundation as trustee for the Masterman Montessori Indigenous Children's Trust. The objects of the Trust are to further the education of Indigenous children in the Cape Area of Queensland through the application of the Montessori Educational Philosophy and Method.