DEATH OF THE HONOURABLE CLIVE HEALEY, A FORMER MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
The Hon. J. R. JOHNSON [7.14 p.m.]: I pay tribute to a former Deputy President and Chairman of Committees, the Hon. Clive Healey. Clive Healey was a member of this House in the pre-penultimate group of the last of the so-called undemocratically elected members. He was Deputy-President of this House from 8 November 1978 until 22 February 1988. He was born at Emmaville in 1918, the son of a tin miner. He often said that the house he grew up in had a dirt floor and from time to time he referred to himself as the barefoot boy from Emmaville. Clive Healey came to Sydney in 1937 and worked at the Waddington Body Company. In 1939 he continued his apprenticeship at Tullochs. He joined the army and completed his apprenticeship in the 2/124 Field Workshops of the Silent Seventh Division. In 1941 he married Gloria, after meeting her at Luna Park. They were married on a Monday, he went back to camp at Holsworthy on the Tuesday and left on the Queen Elizabeth for the Middle East the following day. Their marriage was to last 56 years.
Between 1941 and 1944 the Seventh Division saw active service in the Middle East campaign and twice on the Kokoda Trail. The policy was that there was to be only one tour in New Guinea, but the Seventh Division went there twice and Clive was amongst them. He was in the last battle of World War II, the battle for Balikpapan, in which 229 of his comrades lost their lives and 634 were wounded. The Seventh Division was the last Australian division to come home. He was discharged from the Second AIF in 1945 and went to work as a boilermaker at the Chullora workshops. There he met Tony Mulvihill, later Senator Tony Mulvihill, and John Armitage, a former member of Federal Parliament. Both had a big influence on his political life. Clive Healey joined the Labor Party in 1946 and he told a story about selling the twopenny Labor News with Tony Mulvihill at the Chullora workshops. In 1964 he went to work on the Sydney Harbour Bridge with Paul Hogan, who was a rigger. He became a member of this House in 1970 and was elected Deputy-President and Chairman of Committees.
I worked very closely with him at the Australian Labor Party head office and we had some funny times together. Clive had diverse interests. He was a beekeeper and I recall him speaking in this House about bees, with much expertise. Graham Murphy pleaded for money for the Sydney Dance
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Company. Clive made a contribution in this House, urging the Government to provide funds, and it did. He continued to follow his beloved Western Suburbs Football Club, and served for 20 years as a member of the board of Western Suburbs Hospital. He died on 16 August. He had been made a life member of the Australian Labor Party that he loved in 1990. He is survived by his wife Gloria, his son Mark, his daughter Anne and three grandchildren. May he rest in peace. [Time expired.]