TASMANIA is grieving the loss of Australia's original "Housewife Superstar", dearly loved Devonport home hints guru Marjorie Bligh.
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Mrs Bligh was 96.
The great-grandmother died on Tuesday night, at Latrobe's Strathdevon Aged Care Home, where she lived for the past eight months.
Mrs Bligh is survived by her two sons.
The famously thrice- married (once divorced and twice widowed), Mrs Bligh was a prolific author of poetry and became a household name after publishing her six home hints books.
"There was no one like Marjorie, although many others have been inspired by her," Mrs Bligh's close friend and neighbour of 15 years, Eileen Millet, said yesterday.
"She was still gardening until she was 95.
"In my favourite photograph she is wearing a hat she made from old bread wrappers - her favourite place to be was in her garden.
"She became unwell only recently, but her brain was still as sharp as a tack and she still liked to crack a few jokes."
In typical form, Mrs Bligh has planned her own funeral and left instructions.
"She wants Amazing Grace played at the service," Mrs Millet said.
"She told me, `no one has to worry, I've had it all organized'."
Award-winning Hobart author Danielle Wood spent a lot of time with Mrs Bligh in recent years compiling two books on her colourful life.
"Marjorie is a great Tasmanian institution," Ms Wood said.
"The last time I saw her was about four weeks ago and it was a great sadness for her that she could no longer be at her home.
"When I first started writing her life story I think I maintained some degree of distance so that I could write the story.
"But the more time I spent with her and the more I got to know her the fonder I became.
"She really touched my heart.
"I was reflecting this morning that just this year the state lost [politician] Michael Hodgman, [author] Christopher Koch and Marjorie.
"Those three big characters were all part of what makes Tasmania, Tasmania.
"Marjorie was extraordinary and unique.
"Someone should buy her house at Campbell Town [Climar] to turn it into a coffee shop and serve food made from Marjorie's recipes."
Climar is listed on the Tasmanian Heritage Register as the house Mrs Bligh designed.
The Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office has kept a collection of Mrs Bligh's scrap books and diaries.
"The Queen Victoria Museum in Launceston is going to take some of her handcrafted things, and I hope they are made into a good display for people to come and see - not to be kept in a vault somewhere," Ms Wood said.
Comedian Barry Humphries has been widely rumoured to have based Dame Edna Everage on Mrs Bligh.
"I don't think Edna has ever admired anyone as much as she admires Marjorie Bligh," Barry Humphries has said.