Vale: Remembering our donors

At Charles Sturt University, we have the privilege of getting to know donors who make an undeniable difference to the lives of our students and the communities and industries they go on to serve. Here we pause to remember the valued contributions of three such donors.

In memorium – Malcolm McKay

Ian Malcolm McKay was born at home at Deepwater, Matong, in November 1937.

The youngest child of Mavis and Hugh McKay, and grandson of Australian industrialist and inventor of the Sunshine Harvester HV McKay, Malcolm was home schooled by his mother until he went to boarding school at Scotch College at the age of nine. He took a keen interest in cricket, football and tennis and received house colours for his cricket representation.

After completing his schooling, Malcolm attended the Wagga Ag College (1955-57) where he completed his Diploma in Agriculture. For years after, he would regale his family with stories of playing as a second-rower in the Rugby Union side and playing and training alongside a couple of Wallabies.

Spending a year as a Jackaroo at Coonamble, northern NSW, Malcolm then purchased a farm halfway between Henty and Cookardinia. He spent the next 40 years at Bucki with his family, breeding Herefords and Merinos. He played A-grade tennis for Cookardinia and cricket for Yerong Creek, including a few years in the O’Farrell Cup team, and was Henty Golf Club Champion 14 times. He was heavily involved with the Golf Club for 18 years in a range of capacities and was honoured with life membership in 1995.

Malcolm spent more than 20 years on the board of the Henty District Hospital and was a member of the HV McKay Charitable Trust for over 25 years from 1974, including 10 years as Chairman. This led to a stint as a trustee of the Sunshine Foundation from 1986 to 2004. He was involved in the HV McKay Scholarship from the late 1960s at the Wagga Ag College right through to 2021 with Charles Sturt University, and oversaw the selection of many scholarship recipients.

Malcolm retired to Winchelsea in 1994 where he was heavily involved in the Wurdale Landcare Group.

He is survived by his wife Jenny, children Cherrie, Robert, Leisa, Caroline and Megan, grandchildren Teagan, Macauley, Callum, Patricia, Lachlan, Tess, George, Finlay, James, and Jorja, and great-grandchildren Piper and Bonnie.

In memorium – George Tuck

George Tuck was born in Hounslow, London in December 1930. With war looming, in 1937 he was sent to Australia to Northcote, and then Fairbridge Farm School where he worked as a farmhand. Seeking change, George joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1949 as a naval airman, before training as a meteorologist.

Highlights of George’s naval career included serving in Korea, plotting the potential fallout patter for the Montebello atomic explosion and attending and plotting the air winds for the International Geophysical Year – an international scientific project in 1957 and 1958 that marked the end of a long period in the Cold War when scientific exchange between East and West had been significantly interrupted.

While at sea, George studied. He gained entry to Sydney University in 1958 and upon graduation worked as a Planning Assistant at the Department of Main Roads in Sydney. In 1965, he moved his career into education – first teaching at The Kings School, Parramatta before transferring to the Australian National University where he worked in research and then Canberra College of Education where he was employed as a lecturer. During this period, George also completed his Master’s through Sydney University and gained a Diploma of Education through the University of New England.

In 1974, George transferred to Goulburn Teachers’ College as Head of Department Social and Environmental Science, and in 1983, moved to Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, as Principal Lecturer in Agriculture, a position he held – along with Acting Dean – until his retirement in 1990.

In conjunction with the Association for the Wellbeing of children in Health Care, George and his wife Isabel established the Adam’s Garden Scholarship for Child Health in 2008 in response to the passing of their grandnephew, Adam Stoneman. Since that time, students who intend to work in the field of child health in rural and remote areas have benefited from this annual scholarship. In memorium –

John Caldon was the generous and visionary co-founder of the Blair Milan Fund with his life partner and Blair’s mother, Lyndey Milan.

John and Blair shared a special bond and, like everyone who knew Blair, John was devastated by his sudden death in 2011 from Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. Along with Lyndey, John wanted to create something positive out of tragedy and established the fund and immediately matched all donations dollar-for-dollar. The fund exceeded well over $100,000 in its first year. Ten years on, it has positively changed the lives of many Theatre Media graduates, many of whom have maintained relationships with John and Lyndey.

With a Master of Arts in Classics from Cambridge University, John migrated to Australia in 1973 and became a tax partner with Price Waterhouse. One of the founders of Macquarie Bank in 1984, John helped revolutionise investment banking in Australia, recognising the potential and climate for innovation brought about by the deregulation of the finance industry under Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. When John left the bank in 1998, he was Deputy Managing Director, Head of Infrastructure Funds Management and Joint Head of Underwriting. While he managed relationships with key clients and government. It has been said that his mentoring and nurturing of staff is what set him apart.

In 1999, John formed and chaired his own consulting company, EMC Consulting, and advised many leading Australian businesses on corporate issues, structuring deals and valuations. He had a plethora of board positions across a range of industries, generously sharing his business acumen and enthusiasm.

Following a stellar business career, in 2010 John founded Flame Media with Lyndey. An integrated global TV group enabling many Australian shows to be produced and distributed, Flame expanded rapidly to have offices in the UK, Singapore, Eastern Europe and representation in New York City. Prior to COVID-19, John worked from both the London and Sydney offices.