Page 5270 - Week 14 - Thursday, 19 November 2009
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I extend sympathy to Judith, Gary, Anthony, John, and Roderick Pead, and Tasman Christian Thomas-Pead. Jim Pead may have spent his last years in less bracing, less demanding climes than ours, but he will always be a Canberran.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition): It is a pleasure to join with the Chief Minister today to offer condolences to the friends and family of James Harold—Jim—Pead, and to mark with honour and respect his contribution to the development of the ACT, and the development of self-government in the ACT in particular.
Jim Pead passed away last Sunday at the age of 85. He left behind a legacy for all of us in the ACT that has impacts across nearly all aspects of our city and our territory. His importance to this chamber stems from his unstinting commitment to self-government for the ACT, and I join those who feel it fitting that he be recognised with a state funeral.
Mr Pead served his country during World War II and received the Order of the British Empire—Member (Civil) in the new year’s honours list of l January 1972. These achievements alone are worthy of recognition, but it is his work for the development of the territory that makes him a truly remarkable Canberran.
I did not know Mr Pead personally, but I am certainly aware of the influence he has had and the trails he blazed for the ACT. As I learned more about Mr Pead, I discovered that his input and influence was felt in a great many areas of territory development, some of which I learned were in colourful and unexpected places.
Mr Pead was a leading figure in the days before this Assembly existed. Indeed, it can reasonably be said that this Assembly exists in the manner it does in no small part to the dedication and efforts of Mr Pead. Mr Pead was a member of the ACT Advisory Council, the predecessor of this very Assembly, for 20 years. That is a two decade commitment to a body whose future as a genuine seat of regional government was yet more decades into the future. He became the first President of the ACT Legislative Assembly in 1974, a role similar to that of our current Speaker.
During their respective times, the ACT Advisory Council and the first Legislative Assembly, although advisory bodies, were the only forums for elected representation for the people of the ACT, and Jim was a leading light in both institutions. Jim Pead was also a prominent local advocate for many other institutions and organisations—sporting, business, planning, development, healthcare, administration—either promoting directly or assisting the establishment of them as the city made its way forward during the important years leading up to self-government. Then, Royal Canberra Hospital, the ACT Electricity Authority and the Woden Valley Hospital, where I, like many Canberrans, was born, all benefited from Mr Pead’s professionalism and enthusiasm.
I was particularly interested to learn of Jim Pead’s impact in the Belconnen area. In 1966, when Belconnen was open paddocks and rolling fields, Jim Pead was there when a commemoration stone was laid in the Aranda playing fields by Richard Kingsland, the Secretary of the Interior. In 1978, when Belconnen Mall was a state of the art centre and recognised as one of the best in the southern hemisphere, it
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