The brass plaque with an inscription dedicated to Deirdre 'Pearl' Pargeter has been installed on a seat on the main street of Berwick-upon-Tweed in the county of Northumberland.

It reads: 'In commemoration of Mrs Deirdre 'Pearl' Pargeter, who established and fostered the twinning link between City of Casey, Australia, and the borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed 1925-2008'.

River Gum ward representative Cr Wayne Smith saw the wooden seat, near Berwick-upon-Tweed's town hall, when he visited the town in September.

"I just happened to be there with the mayor of the town, walking along the main street and I saw it."

He said the Berwick-on-Tweed council sought to pay tribute to Pearl in some way soon after her death in 2008.

"Pearl was a dear old lady. I knew her for many years. They thought a lot of her, and she thought a lot of them."

Pearl and her husband Syd visited Berwick-on-Tweed seven times between 1980 and 2001 to encourage the sister-city relationship between the two towns.

Mr Pargeter said he was taken aback when Cr Smith sent him pictures of the plaque when he returned to Australia and honoured by the recognition of his wife's work.

"It was a lovely surprise, and totally unexpected."

He said his late wife's name would be recognised by some of the citizens of Berwick-on-Tweed.

"A few of the council types would know her name.

"We had a couple of their mayors visit us in Berwick. They were great exchanges."

He said the historical link between the two Berwicks was well established.

"It is really where our first settlers came from.

"Captain Gardiner, who founded our Berwick, set aside about half a mile of what he thought was a good place for a village."

Located at the mouth of the River Tweed, where it drains into the North Sea, Berwick is England's northernmost town.

Mr Pargeter said it had a particular half-English, half-Scottish character. "It's not a big, provincial city. It does a lot of trade with northern Europe, has a twinning with Hann in Germany and sends a lot of its barley there."