Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard paid tribute to Australian opera singer Joan Sutherland, saying that the famed singer had shown "quintessential Australian values" during her lifetime, and had been an influence to many of her countrymen.

"She was of course one of the great opera voices of the 20th century," Ms. Gillard said at Queensland Media Club in Brisbane today.

"She was described as down to earth despite her status as a diva... On behalf of all Australians I would like to extend my condolences to her husband Richard and son Adam and their extended family at this difficult time."

"I know many Australians will be reflecting on her life's work today."

Dame Joan Sutherland died last Sunday after a long illness in her home near Geneva. She was eighty-three (83) years old.

Pavarotti had proclaimed Sutherland as "the voice of the century" and called her "the greatest coloratura soprano of all time" in her farewell gala recital at London's Covent Garden on December 31, 1990.

In The Autobiography of Joan Sutherland: A Prima Donna's Progress, Joan Sutherland said she always had a voice, and that she was able to sing at the tender age of three by imitating her mother, Muriel Alston Sutherland.

"I was able from the age of 3 to imitate her scales and exercises," Sutherland wrote in her 1997 book.

"As she was a mezzo-soprano, I worked very much in the middle area of my voice, learning the scales and arpeggios and even the dreaded trill without thinking about it. The birds could trill, so why not I?"

Joan Sutherland is survived by her husband Bonynge, son Adam, daughter-in-law Helen, and two grandchildren. In a statement the family said Sutherland had requested a very small and private funeral. (Read her for the full article on Joan Sutherland's death.)

RELATED STORIES