William Overend Garbutt OBE - “A Great And Loyal Son Of Queensland”

Opening the Abergowrie Bridge 1971 left Bill Garbutt Peter Carr Ernie Borello John Pender John Way John Andrews Delmo Cantamessa Joh. Local History Special Collections from the Hinchinbrook Library

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By DR BIANKA VIDONJA BALANZATEGUI

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William (Bill) Overend Garbutt, Shire Chaiman 1955-1977, was born on 16 July 1902. He was the eldest son of John Overend Garbutt and Margaret McAulay. His siblings were Charles Hugh, Geoffrey John, Ernest Radcliffe, Lucy Catherine, Evelyn May and Olive Margaret. Bill came from a grazing family, and his father ran butchery businesses. Like him, Bill had a great interest in the cattle industry. His father was a life member of the Townsville Show Committee and active racing member of the Townsville Turf Club; all interests Bill shared and was involved with in Ingham.

Bill married Mary Jessie Ferguson at ‘Homefield’ Mackay on 23^rd March 1927 in the Holy Trinity, Mackay. Their children were George Overend, Margaret Elizabeth, Ian William, John Charles, Ernest Hugh and Ann Robyn.

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Bill held many active roles in the community including that of president of the North Queensland Amateur Turf Club, the Herbert River Jockey Club, the North Queensland Local Government Association, the Herbert River Pastoral and Agricultural Association and the Herbert River Cricket Association.  

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Bill pushed for a District Development Committee first known as the Ingham District and Research Promotion Bureau and then the Development Bureau of Hinchinbrook and Cardwell Shires Inc. He was consequently appointed as a member.  

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During World War 2 the Council was unable to realize such projects as a planned municipal pool or an Ingham sewerage scheme. These, along with largescale roadworks undertakings and improvements in facilities demanded by the expanding cane industry and urban communities, passed to Bill who proved to be an energetic chairman.

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Early on in Bill’s tenure as Shire Chairman the new memorial – the Memorial Column - was proclaimed at the end of the 1959 ANZAC parade. Not everybody was happy with this new memorial but as Bill was at pains to explain “It was not intended that it should be in itself a thing of beauty. As it was cut off, so too had the lives of the men and women commemorated been cut off.”

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He was a proponent of a scheme proposed to the State government that involved the establishment of 500-acre farms to fatten western and Gulf cattle in order to keep the northern meat works operating all year round. However, such measures were left to individual enterprise, namely the major stud properties - Burnside, The Orient, Mungalla and Timrith - and small holdings run in conjunction with cane farms.

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In the 1970 Queen's Birthday Honours for the State of Queensland Bill was awarded an OBE for his services to local government and the community.

Tragically on 30th May 1977 on the last official duty in his role as Chairman of the then regional electricity board TREB the light plane he and other dignitaries were travelling in crashed.  

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On his death he was recognized by his peers to have served with distinction, calling him “A great and loyal son of Queensland”. They, along with his community, mourned his loss deeply.  

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Mary died seven years later on 18th April 1984 in Ingham. Bill and Mary’s legacy is not only their descendants, many of whom still reside in the district, but a district richer for Bill’s dedication as Shire Chairman.  

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