Both an Australian entertainment pioneer and a rural stalwart, Maggie Fitzgibbon told family members she'd had a wonderful life.
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The actor and singer became a star in England over 25 years, then returned to Australia in the late 1970s and lived at Quandong, Wahgunyah, taking an active community role for which she received an Order of Australia Medal in 2002.
Ms Fitzgibbon died on Monday in the Corowa aged care facility where she had lived for three years, aged in her early 90s.
Born into a show business family in Melbourne, she sang on the Tivoli Circuit in the 1940s and worked in nightclubs, musical theatre and in broadcasting with Australian radio star Jack Davey.
After a featured role in J. C. Williamson's Kiss Me Kate in 1952, she headed to London, performing in pantomime tours around the country and also moved into cabaret.
Appearing opposite Max Bygraves in Do Re Mi (1961) led to Noel Coward casting her in his musical Sail Away.
"It just went on from there, her career just skyrocketed and she was a leading lady all the way," her niece Nichaud Fitzgibbon told The Border Mail.
In the 1960s Ms Fitzgibbon became one of British television's best-known faces as a star of the hit TV soapie The Newcomers and later as host of her own television variety show, Maggie's Place.
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The illness of her brother, jazz musician Graham "Smacka" Fitzgibbon, brought her back to Australia and she settled in Wahgunyah.
"She did give up her career because she wanted to come back to support her brother," her niece said.
"She was a go-getter, she always embraced change and she loved her new life out on the farm."
Her involvement in her new community included roles with Corowa Spastic Society, Corowa Save the Children Fund, Salvation Army and Glenview Nursing Home fundraising committee.
A past secretary and president of the Rutherglen branch of the Victorian Farmers Federation, she served on Rutherglen Shire Council from 1991 to 1994.
For several years she provided accommodation on her property for young homeless people with Youth Off The Streets.
Nichaud said young men she helped back then still wrote to her to express their gratitude.
"She always said, 'I've had a great life' and people adored her," Nichaud said.
"She wasn't easy, she knew she wasn't easy but they still loved her and she challenged people.
"She wasn't the sweet, retiring, cowering in the corner type, she was definitely a powerhouse."
Ms Fitzgibbon is survived by her niece and three nephews.
The private cremation will be followed by a celebration of her life later this month.