Articles/Letters
Farewell to John Stanley McKay 1931–2016
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ell-known Mullumbimby identity John McKay was born at Guyra on July 17, 1931, one of eight children. John attended Farrer Memorial Agricultural College, Tamworth. He then enrolled at Armidale Teachers College in an agricultural science course, in which he excelled. John’s first appointment was to Wingham Central School in 1951. For 15 years he taught agriculture, science and physical education. John completed a university degree in science, studying by correspondence: ‘the hard way’. John married Elva Joan McKay on January 10, 1953 at Smithtown, and their two sons were born in 1953 and 1956. At Wingham John played rugby league at fullback, centre and five-eight. He represented at group level,
captained Wingham Tigers to a grand final, and spent two years as captain-coach of Taree United before returning to the Wingham team. He also served as president of the Wingham club. John and his wife were members of Blackhead Surf Life Saving Club while at Wingham. In 1952 he was a mid-north coast representative in the state titles at Byron Bay in beach relay. In 1966 John took an appointment at Mullumbimby High School as special science master. John and Joan purchased a property next to Mullumbimby Hospital. They shared a love of gardening. An adjacent section of land was purchased before the hospital was built, where they slowly developed a magnificent garden with hundreds of plant species. Growing bromeliads, succulents
and cacti was a passion. John supervised planting of trees and gardens at schools where he taught. At Mullum high school John was Teachers Federation president for 15 years and was awarded life membership. He enjoyed coaching football teams and had an enjoyable time as captain of the cadet corp. A selector for Mullumbimby Rugby League Club from 1966 to 1971, he was also secretary and treasurer during that time.
John taught at MHS until 1985 when offered the opportunity to open a new high school at Alstonville. After working for three and a half years as deputy and acting principal, John retired at the end of 1988 after 37 years in teaching, aged 57. In retirement John spent more time in the garden expanding his extensive collection. He and Joan enjoyed caravan travel over Australia periodically for 15 years. A couple of trips to South-East Asia with John’s siblings followed. Never inactive, John and Joan delivered Meals on Wheels locally for many years. He joined the Apex Club in 1966. An energetic member for many years, he was awarded life membership. John joined the bowling club in the mid-1970s, over the years holding positions
as secretary, treasurer and president for many terms. A board member for 20 years, he devoted much time, effort and energy to the club, last playing in January 2016. He was awarded life membership in 1991. After a brain tumour was diagnosed in early 2016, John spent time in Coolamon Villa then was transferred to Feros Village, Bangalow, on June 28. Joan visited him almost every day at Bangalow for seven weeks. John had his 85th birthday on July 17 but gradually deteriorated until passing away on August 19. We are grateful he did not suffer pain and was well cared for by the staff at Feros. John was a citizen of great
community worth – a ‘bloody good bloke’. His friendliness and ability to engage others in a conversation about any subject endeared him to many. He displayed a willingness to give his great skills, knowledge and abilities to any community fortunate enough to own him. Considerate, generous, helpful and kind, John was dedicated to Joan, his wife of more than 60 years, and will be missed by many. A gathering to celebrate John’s life will be held on Sunday October 2 at 12.30pm at the Mullumbimby Ex-Services Club. All who knew John are welcome to attend.
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– submitted by John’s family
Early thoughts on the new council Q Congratulations to our mayor and councillors. ‘Welcome to the machine’ – better green than greed. Let’s trust that they find themselves in a position to walk the talk, and find it a much more pleasant experience than walking around Byron. What a considerate green human gesture it would be to ease the challenges a pedestrian faces wandering around Byron – help a human heart cross the road. Put aside, for now, the grand masterplan, zero emissions, rising sea levels, the bypass etc. Just paint some white stripes on our roads. Byron Bay is a nightmare for human traffic. No pedestrian crossings leading to our iconic beaches, Lawson Street at Cowper Street is like crossing a racetrack. Why is a pedestrian a second-class citizen on our streets? Why is trying to cross the road such a humble experience for a human heart? Cars have definitely eaten the Byron experience. Can a green council make it easier for me to cross the road? That’s my question. David Sherlock Byron Bay Q It’s
a new council and we’re told that the conservatives have only a single representative, being Cr Hunter. Why then do I feel such deja vu on reading what Cr Coorey had
to say to the Byron News last week? ‘Backing the Byron Council staff will be key… we have to let staff do their job… we should not micro-manage everything, after all the staff are experts in their field.’ This is in fact classic Ross Tucker. If you went and tallied all Ross’s votes and motions over his many years on Council, you would find him agreeing with the staff recommendations around 90 per cent of the time. Implicit trust of whitecollar professionals is indeed one of the abiding signs of conservatism, but I’ve always wondered exactly by what process of osmosis the council staff were able to divine just what Ross expected of them. Some of these obedient guys still work for Council in senior positions, and I wouldn’t be alone in seeing some of them as quite inexpert, ie holding their positions due to factors other than competence. Let me put it like this: staff and elected councillors are like dogs and cats, mutual enemies. The staff regard each new crop of councillors as the latest bunch of well-meaning clowns to be got around one way or another. The staff regard themselves as the actual rulers and the councillors as a kind of consultative committee to rubber-stamp what the staff have
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already decided, in particular what the GM has decided. So Ms Coorey enters the arena with her blinkers well attached from day one. Fast Buck$ Coorabell Q Well,
the council elections certainly shifted the paradigm and altered the roadmap, leveraging it to the next level, an amplified game changer. The core competency of the newbies will offer a scalable competency overcoming the aggressive mediocrity of the past, promoting blue-sky thinking outside the box, allowing them to value-add performance as they give 110 per cent and ladder up to the next level. Hopefully they will reach across the aisle of the staff interface and square the circle inside the beltway, altering the governance ecosystem, exploiting teachable moments while going forward at the end of the day. Tom Tabart Bangalow
Q ‘But
having savoured that victory just for a moment we then have to get on with the job. The Australian public has reminded people in my position, in our position time and time again, that if we have attacks of hubris or get carried away, we’re quickly brought down to Earth. They’ve done that before to others and
they’ll do that to us again. And that is a warning many of you will remember I gave when we had a similar gathering such as this in 1996.’ A timely 1998 reminder from a master of the political arts, John Howard, no less, of the dangers of having a large majority in an elected forum – recently demonstrated so well for us by ‘the gang of five’ and a warning to the newly elected Byron Shire councillors. We’ll be keeping an eye on you in there! Graham Mathews Byron Bay
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0423 519 698 tara@byronbayfn.com 6685 8466 byronbayfn.com.au The Byron Shire Echo September 28, 2016 11