‘An extraordinary life’: Sister Adrienne Howley dies aged 99

Adrienne Howley an extraordinary woman who travelled the world by sail, studied Buddhist Philosophy in Nepal, and was a nurse and friend to the great poet Dorothea Mackellar has died at the age of 99 two days short of her century.

Adrienne Howley was ordained in 1982 by his Holiness the Dalai Lama and in 1993 took the highest ordination vows possible from a Vietnamese Buddhist master. Photo: Instagram

An extraordinary woman who travelled the world by sail, studied Buddhist Philosophy in Nepal, and was a nurse and friend to the great poet Dorothea Mackellar has died days before her 100th birthday.

Sister Adrienne Howley, OAM, died on February 3 just two days shy of her hundredth birthday at the Farnorha residential aged care facility in Westcourt.

Ms Howley’s son David Matzenik said his mother travelled the world driven by a spirit of adventure and a curiosity to learn.

“She was a child of the roaring twenties, but grew up in the strictures of the Great Depression,” he said.

The Venerable Adrienne Howley, a Buddhist nun. P/. August 1999. /religion

“She was a single mother raising two boys on her own while she was studying medicine.

“She was an incredibly good parent there was nothing we couldn’t discuss with her.”

Mr Matzenik said his mother was compassionate and developed her world view as a nurse during World War II.

Adrienne sailed around the world as a member of the Ocean Cruising Club. Photo: Facebook

“She was horrified by the nuclear attacks on Japan,” he said.

“She was passionately anti-war, and like her father a dyed-in-the-wool socialist.”

During her time as a nurse working in Sydney she nursed and became a friend to the legendary poet Dorothea Mackellar during her last 12 years of life later writing a biography titled My Heart, My Country.

JULY 29, 1999: Author Adrienne Howley, one of highest ranked Buddhist monks in world, at her Lorn home in Hunter Valley, 29/07/99. Pic Gary Graham. NSW / Religion P/R

“She became her private nurse and her good friend,” he said.

“They would go on day trips in a car with a chauffer, they would sit in the back seat and she would tell her about her younger days.”

Adrienne spent much of her life travelling the world including as a young sailor travelling the south pacific and as part of her exploration of Buddhism and study of Buddhist philosophy.

2002: Cover of 2002 book "The Naked Buddha Speaks" by Venerable Adrienne Howley. Religion / Buddhism

She was ordained in 1982 by the Dalai Lama in Italy and in 1993 took the highest ordination vows possible from a Vietnamese Buddhist master.

She would also go on to write The Naked Buddha which was published in 1999 in several languages and The Naked Buddha Speaks.

Venerable Adrienne Howley OAM, 90 has lead a full life. Now legally blind, she has been a nurse, sailed around the world and been endorsed as a Buddhist Lama by the Dalai Lama himself. Adienne Howley with an old photo of her in her nursing outfit. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

“As a midwife she brought many children into the world and in later life she contributed to the palliative care of those leaving us,” Mr Matzenik said.

“She lived an extraordinary life and for her work she received the Order of Australia Medal.”

Ms Howley lived in Cairns for 16 years.

Originally published as ‘An extraordinary life’: Sister Adrienne Howley dies aged 99