Former Australian prime ministers have recalled the forthright and humorous Barbara Bush, reflecting on their times with the former US first lady.
The wife of the George HW Bush, the 41st president, and mother of George W Bush, the 43rd, has died at the age of 92, following failing health.
Paul Keating described Mrs Bush as a pillar of the American political establishment.
"She was, personally, a very well put together figure; a person of judgment and decorum," he said in a statement to AAP on Wednesday.
"One suspects she represented a solid place in an often turning world for the Bush family."
Mr Keating said Mrs Bush was particularly nice to his children who once accompanied her and President Bush on Air Force One.
He even invited them to stay at the prime minister's official Sydney residence, Kirribilli House, during a visit in the 1990s after the couple had left the White House.
"I did not think, given their friendship to Australia, they should be left to accommodate themselves in a Sydney hotel," he said.
John Howard also said it was a privilege to meet Mrs Bush in the early 1980s.
"She was forthright, humorous and intensely personable," Mr Howard told AAP, expressing his sympathy to the Bush family.
Australian Associated Press
