Garry Mervyn McCully
19.2.45 – 25.1.17
Garry was born in Paddington, to parents Mena and Merv McCully, the eldest of four. He went to primary schools at Bronte, Artarmon and North Ryde and North Sydney Technical Boys High School.
After school he became a trainee engineer with the DMR then worked as an assistant engineer at Lane Cove Council.
In 1970 he married Rae Watts, moved to Wilberforce and took the position of Assistant Engineer at Colo Shire Council. They were given a Council house to live in and spent $1500 on furniture. As Rae had spent her last $200 on a wedding dress and Garry his last dollar on his beloved Monaro, there was no honeymoon.
They had two children, Joanna in 1974 and Jeremy in 1977.
While working at Colo Shire Council he completed his Diploma in Town and Country Planning from Monash University and a Masters Degree in Business Administration.
He was then appointed the Chief Shire Planner and Deputy Engineer at Colo Shire Council. After the amalgamation of Windsor and Colo Councils, he was appointed to Hawkesbury Shire Council as the deputy and then chief Town Planner.
While working at Colo Shire, one of the responsibilities of the Engineering Department was to supervise the ferry services. There were times at night when Garry had to strip down and wade out into the river to get a ferry moving again.
In the 1978 floods one of the relief ferries broke away from its moorings in the Macdonald River and collided with two ferries at Wisemans Ferry. Two of the ferries careered out of control, threatening to crash into the road bridge at Brooklyn. Garry worked huge hours with Council and RTA staff and got the runaway ferries grounded on an island just a few hundred metres from the bridge.
In 1985, he was appointed as Shire Clerk, later General Manager of Hawkesbury Shire and then City Council, not leaving until 2005.
He was instrumental in the development of the Bligh Park as a joint venture with Landcom which ultimately allowed Council to minimise its debt and helped the construction of Hawkesbury Indoor Sports Stadium, and the upgrade of Windsor Pool to a leisure centre.
He was also on the board of Sydney Water while at Council and was instrumental in the connection of sewerage services to the “three towns” of Wilberforce, Freemans Reach and Glossodia.
He passed away of cardiac arrest while in hospital for a fall injury. He was an organ donor, giving sight to two people.
His funeral was on February 2 at Windsor Function Centre.
