“I’m a ten pound pom, born in Harlow, Essex in the UK. The family hails from Shepherds Bush in London. I landed in Australia in 1966 at the age of 5. We left on New Years Day and got here early February. A week later the currency changed from Pounds, Shillings and Pence to Dollars and Cents.
You had to have a sponsor back then to come to Australia as a migrant and we were sponsored by a group in SA. They sell you a house, get you a job and help you settle. We moved to Salisbury East in Adelaide and at 18 I moved with my then girlfriend to Gawler which is the bottom end of the Barossa Valley.
I got into radio in 1984 and my first job was in WA then back to Berri in SA. I spent 4 years, still in radio between 1986 and 1990 in Bendigo, Vic. I arrived here to the Northern Rivers in 1990 and got a job at 2LM as it was then. There was no ZZZ. I worked as an announcer and music director then I became program manager. We launched Triple Z as an FM station and I had the rare opportunity starting with a blank canvas saying what do we want this to sound like? That was 1994.
I met someone, got married and had children. I got a job offer in ’97 to go back to Adelaide so I took it but they had a manager change and I chose to come back here a year later. I went there with my wife, daughter and 2 baby twin boys.
We came back here and I felt like this was home.I got back into 2LM and Triple Z. I was a breakfast announcer at 2LM at the end of ’99 and stayed on till I left in 2017.
The marriage didn’t last unfortunately but I battled on like most single guys trying to look after the kids the best way possible. The kids came to me for about 18 months as there were problems that I don’t want to go in to. We then ended up sharing custody of the children and sadly, 8 years ago she passed away from a heart virus.
I met Deborah when I was working upstairs at ZZZ and she was the sales manager downstairs at The Northern Star. We struck up a friendship and about a year later we started going out together. We have been married now for 12 years and we have a 10 year old child.
I sell motor bikes for a living now at Lismore Motor Cycles. I needed a change. I can come home and switch off which allows my head to click into Council life. !n the 2008 election I had Merv King who was Mayor at the time come and talk to me about running for Council. I ran with it, was successful and I’ve been there ever since. It will be 12 years in 2020. It’s a big commitment but I enjoy it for different reasons. I thoroughly enjoy working with this community. I’m on the Aboriginal Advisory Group, I’m the Chair of our sister city organisation. I’ve been the chair of our Sports and Recreation panel. That’s just some of the stuff you became involved in and because you have community members involved in a lot of these you are having direct contact with people who are so enthusiastic to make this a better place. You can have the worst day and then sit with half dozen people who are giving their time. It’s inspiring.
The Aboriginal Advisory group has been the most amazing experience. It’s a case of what you don’t know. As I said earlier I’m a 10 pound Pom. I came here in the 60’s when the white Australia policy was still working. I met probably 2 Aboriginal kids in school and to know now they were what’s considered the stolen generation and to understand what that meant. I mean they weren’t considered people until 1967 and you just think, How we’ve changed and how in other ways we haven’t changed. Unless we as the greater community change we are not going to make things better for a lot of the Aboriginal community because they have faced a lot of difficulties. Going from not being classed as a person to saying, ‘Oh, now you can vote but we’re not going to show you how all that works.’ There has to be an equity put into it. Our traineeship schemes at Council are so important for that. We’ve had to learn those basic steps of getting them into the workforce as well as training them to do the job. To watch that evolve over the last few years has been incredible.
When I first got on Council The Art Gallery was looking like costing 23 million dollars which was unaffordable. We got a committee together and we got a grant to investigate the new building and a grant for a designer. We now have this fantastic facility which the community raised the best part of a million dollars. All the grants that we got made councils input not very much so the new gallery is brilliant and The Quad is absolutely fantastic.
I’ve commentated at the Lismore Speedway for 29 seasons. My kids call me 4 jobs cause I’ve always had 4 jobs. I’ve had a life with ..here’s an opportunity, let’s go with it and see what happens. I do a blog for The Lismore App which I enjoy. I love grabbing new opportunities.
Radio has been an interesting career. I’ve interviewed several Prime Ministers over the years. I got to interview Bob Geldof when he was doing a tour and played at Lismore Workers Club. I even got to meet George Harrison and shake his hand. That was pretty cool meeting a Beatle.
I would love more people to become involved, just involved in something. I hate the fact that people go home and watch TV every night of the week and say there’s nothing to do. As a young man I was heavily involved in theatre and through that I met a woman in Adelaide called Dame Ruby Litchfield. She was about 77 and we clicked. We became friends, worked for charity and she taught me to get involved. Find things you like and become involved. If we all do a little bit a lot get’s done. I guess I’ve had a lucky life. Let’s hope it continues.”