Oral history – Patricia Morris AM JP

Mrs Patricia Mitzie Morris has been the recipient of many honours and awards throughout her life, including the 2001 Australian Government Centenary Medal and being made a Freeman of the City of Gosnells in 2003.

In June 2002, Patricia Morris was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM). The citation reads: 'For service to local government and to the community through safety, policing, crime prevention, welfare, service and sporting organisations, and as an advocate for indigenous communities'. Her contribution to the sport of baseball in Western Australia, in particular the development of the Thornlie Baseball Park, is a story of enthusiasm, determination and perseverance.

Born in East Perth, Pat—as she is known—grew up in Victoria Park, attending East Victoria Park State School. In her childhood in the early 1940s, she contracted infantile paralysis (polio) and had to learn to walk again. During those years of World War II, her father Charles Plant was exempt from serving in the armed forces due to his 'reserved occupation' as a morse code operator within the Postmasters-General Department. A keen athlete and competitive tennis player, Charles was asked to help launch a branch of the Police Boys' Club in Victoria Park. With many men in the community serving in the armed forces, the club offered guidance, fitness programs and sports for boys and young men, in the absence of their male role models. Pat was the only girl ever to belong to the Police Boys' Club.

After attending Kent Street High School in her teenage years, Pat studied at City Commercial Business College. She gained a solid grounding in secretarial, bookkeeping and administrative skills which, in her words, "put me in great stead for everything I did throughout my life".

Following her marriage to Laurie Morris, a talented cricket and baseball player in South Perth where they lived, they moved to Victoria Park and finally to Thornlie in 1957. While raising a family of three sons, Pat became involved with a number of the boys' sporting clubs as secretary and scorer, which led to her becoming involved as a councillor with the City of Gosnells.

Twice serving as Mayor of the City, Pat's second term included her involvement in the development of the Tom Bateman Reserve as a local sporting facility. It was suggested to Pat by Doug Corker, a baseball player and long-time friend, that baseball had been 'desperate' for a home ground since the closure of Parry Field ballpark in 1997. Pat approached Baseball WA Operations Chairman Rob Byrne, which led to the start of negotiations to develop the site as a dedicated baseball facility. Shane Tonkin from Baseball WA, and also a significant baseball player, then worked together with Pat, liaising between the Council and Baseball WA.

Mayor Morris, and a team of City of Gosnells' councillors, the CEO and directors, could see the benefit of having the baseball stadium in their city. Negotiations were not always easy and it is a credit to Pat's interpersonal skills that she was instrumental in making the project a reality. As Pat says: "When people baulked, I would say 'I only take 'no' as an interim answer, let's negotiate', and that's been my mantra".

In 2004 Thornlie Baseball Stadium was officially opened with Mayor Pat Morris attending the ceremony.

When the first Claxton Shield grand final to be hosted by Western Australia in the second Millenium was played at Thornlie Baseball Park in January 2007, Pat Morris was invited to throw out the first pitch. The ball was caught by Perth Heat catcher Allan de San Miguel, who later presented Mayor Morris with the ball and a framed photograph of her pitch.