When Mary Alice Ross was born, her 18-month-old sister, Lina Hope, pronounced the baby's name Lallie - and Lallie she was until her recent death at 99. In a piece of nickname symmetry, she married Herbert Coombs, eventually known to all as Nugget.

The 11th of 12 children, Lallie survived all her brothers and sisters. In fact, at the funeral of her last remaining sibling, Lina, in 1993, Lallie announced that she intended to live longer than any member of the family had done, and she did - by eight years.

Her father, James Anderson Ross, a former railways man, and her mother, Mary, ran a general store in Midland, Western Australia, in which several of the older children worked. James's family came from Tain in Rosshire, northern Scotland, and his wife's family came from Edinburgh. Lallie was proud of her Scottish heritage. Advertisement

A bright child, Lallie excelled in music, as a pianist and especially as a violinist. While attending Victoria Square school in Perth, she won a medal from Trinity College of Music, London, for best Perth violinist of her age. She also won an Alliance Française medal for oral French.

Lallie went to Claremont Teachers College, where she met H.C. (Herbert) Coombs, later to serve seven prime ministers as director of rationing, director-general of postwar reconstruction, governor of the Reserve Bank, chairman of the Australian Council for Aboriginal Affairs, chairman of the Australia Council, chancellor of the Australian National University, chairman of the Elizabethan Theatre Trust and governor of the Commonwealth Bank.

Lallie took up a teaching post at Holyoake in the state's south-west. Nugget was offered two scholarships to continue his education in England. The Rhodes scholarship would not allow him to take his wife, so he and Lallie married and he accepted the other, lesser scholarship.

Their first child, Janet, was born in London. Financially, life was hard and when Nugget finished his doctorate, they returned to Australia. Nugget joined the Commonwealth Bank in 1935, and their second child, John, was born in 1937.

By 1942 the family had moved five times between Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. When their third child, James, was born, Lallie was determined to settle in one place and chose a house in Cremorne.

A fourth child, Jerome, arrived and, with Nugget away much of the time, Lallie accepted the challenge of being father and mother to the family. She became a disciplinarian, but took an active interest in the children's education, choosing schools she felt suited their individual needs.

Problems were discussed and solved, often around the table after dinner. She instilled her love of music in her children.

John recalls his mother's acerbic humour, which spurred him on at times. Phrases such as: "And I thought I had done something clever when I had you." And once, when he complained she was unkind: "There's nothing like a well-developed inferiority complex to drive a man on."

Her help and influence raised three lawyers - Janet (who is actively involved in the Right to Life Association), John (a QC and professor) and Jim (a magistrate) - and a doctor (Jerome).

Although she saw her biggest role as being the mainstay of the family, Lallie was often called to attend official functions with Nugget, many of them overseas. She slept in the White House annexe and dined with presidents. She also dined with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, and with the Governor of the Bank of England, and had an audience with Pope John XXIII.

Once, a visit to the family home by Gough and Margaret Whitlam brought about a rare culinary failure, which Lallie turned into a triumph. She was an exceptional cook, so preparing a meal, at short notice, for a prime minister was not as frightening for her as it might be for others.

She popped one of her famous sponges into the oven and it came out flat. Without turning a hair, Lallie sliced it, dipped the pieces in semi-solid jelly and coconut, arranged them on a dish and poured a custard over the top. Whitlam enjoyed it so much that he kept asking for the recipe. After dodging the question several times, she finally said: "Well, first you have to mess up a sponge …"

Yet when Tim Rowse came to write a biography of Nugget, who died in 1993, he agreed on the condition that none of his family be interviewed. He regarded family as separate from his career.

If Rowse had spoken to Lallie, he could have done so in any number of languages. About 30 years ago I asked her how many languages she spoke and she said, as if it were of no great consequence: "Oh, about 14, I think."

She used to take popular novels printed in English to every country she visited, and there she would purchase the same novel in that country's language.

By reading the two books simultaneously, page by page, she was able to pick up the new language. Nobody knows how many languages she spoke fluently.

Elected president of the Garden Club of Australia, Lallie took up growing spectacular orchids. As a member of the Legion of Mary, she visited the sick. After 30 years of catechismal work among schoolchildren, she received a papal blessing.

Lallie is survived by her four children, 14 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Nola Hosking

Nola Hosking is Lallie Coombs's niece.