Obituaries for March 6, 2021: Politician George Weatherill and Myer boss Bill Dawson

Today we pay tribute to former premier Jay Weatherill’s father, George, and former Myer general manager Bill Dawson.

Former politician George Weatherill was the father of former premier Jay Weatherill.

The Advertiser obituaries for March 6, 2021.

GEORGE WEATHERILL

Labor politician

Born: August 8, 1936, Hartlepool, UK

Died: January 24, 2021, Adelaide, South Australia

George Weatherill pushed on for a few days more than the medical staff at the RAH expected. When his doctor visited him on the morning of January 22, he said to George: “Well, I won’t be seeing you again.”

George shot back: “Why, where are you going?”

A few more mornings and the doctors were even more surprised to find George still in good spirits. The doctor asked if there was anything his patient wanted.

“Scotch and coke,” George replied.

The doctor assented and George asked Jay, one of his three sons, to organise it. Jay was on his way to the hospital with the scotch and coke when George died peacefully.

These episodes from George’s last days typified the man. In his eulogy for George before a large gathering of family and friends – including many Labor luminaries and a sprinkling of old Parliamentary foes – at Harrison’s funeral parlour, deep in the territory of Port Adelaide Football Club, one of George’s passions, Jay said his father was the most positive person he’d ever known.

“George relished every day he was alive,” Jay said.

George came from humble beginnings, one of 10 children of George and Kathleen Weatherill in Hartlepool, on England’s northeastern coast. He remembered running to air-raid shelters to escape Luftwaffe bombs, and learning the value of trade unionism in his first job, in a timber yard.

George had a stint in the British Army, then worked at his uncle’s pig farm, before embarking on a working holiday in Australia with a mate called Kenny Palmer.

On the ship George met Joy Coad, a young Australian woman returning home. A shipboard romance became a lifelong marriage, after the couple tied the knot at St Paul’s in Port Adelaide and moved into their first home at Pennington. Later they bought a house at Henley Beach.

Joy’s father was senior enough in the Engineering and Water Supply Department to organise a job for George in a work gang at their Port Adelaide depot. During that time George was elected as shop steward – while in hospital for an appendectomy.

His progress in union affairs was rapid, rising from shop steward to chair of the combined unions committee at the Port, then president and organiser with the Australian Government Workers Association. At that time this was the biggest blue-collar union in the state.

George became embroiled in a bitter faction dispute within the union, during which one infamous meeting became physical. George’s right-wing opponents used heavy glass ashtrays as flying weapons.

George and his colleagues on the Left prevailed, set a progressive direction for the union within both the industrial and political movements, and, in the process, launched the political careers of Senator Penny Wong, Federal Shadow Health Minister Mark Butler, former state minister Patrick Conlon, and his son Jay, who would rise to become South Australian premier (2011-2018).

Ultimately, George entered politics himself, in 1986. He was appointed to the Legislative Council when the late Frank Blevins moved to the lower-house seat of Whyalla. George held the seat until 2000, always defending the rights of working people, serving as Labor whip and sitting on the Legislative Review Committee.

He became friends with several parliamentary staff members, and with the late Terry Roberts – like George, an enthusiastic punter – and Lynn Arnold – who wasn’t.

The former premier and now a reverend, Arnold officiated at George’s memorial service.

Away from work George loved fishing with his three sons, and cooking, particularly his renowned Yorkshire pudding. He was also quite well-known at the Alberton and Henley hotels.

George is survived by Joy, his wife of 49 years, sons Jay, Dana and Lea, and five grandchildren.

WILLIAM ATHOL DAWSON

Myer managing director

Born: November 28, 1926, Devonport, Tasmania

Died: October 1, 2020, Myrtle Bank, South Australia

Former Myer managing director Bill Dawson in 1987.

Bill Dawson was one of South Australia’s leading retail innovators in the 1970s and ’80s.

Recruited by Myer in 1969, he retired as managing director in 1986.

Bill grew up in northern Tasmania during the Great Depression. After an indifferent experience of formal schooling, he joined the navy in 1944 at age 17.

After basic training, he joined the crew of destroyer HMAS Nepal and saw action in the Burma campaign and in the Pacific. He was a member of Nepal’s crew when it was stationed in Japan immediately following the atomic bombs. After the war, he served on HMAS Warrnambool minesweeping along Australia’s east coast. He was lucky to escape death when the ship hit a mine and several crew were killed and injured.

He returned to Tasmania after the war and worked briefly as a timber cutter (and unionist) until he joined retailer Coles in the late ’40s. He married Faith Barber and they moved to Melbourne in the early ’50s. He moved to haberdashery store Hattams. In 15 years he rose to managing director and oversaw the company’s expansion to 14 shops.

In 1969 he was recruited by Myer as SA director. He pioneered the store-within-a-store concept in Adelaide in the ’70s, successfully establishing Miss Adelaide and Trend. He retired as managing director in 1986.

Throughout his life Bill was an active contributor to the community, including as president of the Retail Traders Association (now Australian Retailers Association) and serving on the boards of the Duke of Edinburgh Award and WorkCover SA. He was a long-serving board member for Novita and the SA Crippled Children’s Association. He committed his adult life to supporting families devastated by the loss of loved ones in war. In 1963 he joined Legacy and remained committed until his death, supporting dozens of Legacy families for 57 years. He also served as the president of Adelaide Legacy in 1989. He received an Order of Australia Medal in the 1990s for his contribution to retail and service organisations in SA.

Outside of work, Bill was an enthusiastic water skier into his 70s and a passionate golfer into his late 80s. He was a committed husband and father and placed family and friends before nearly everything.

His lifelong love of the water and boats included four decades of family-skiing holidays, weekend retreats in river shacks and many long, lazy weekends on a much-loved houseboat. These were the basis for a large circle of colleagues, family and friends drawn to Bill’s unique combination of unquestioning support and encouragement along with a ruthless desire for everyone to succeed at whatever they chose to do.

More than anything Bill was a great mentor to his industry and to those around him. His colleagues, junior staff, extended family and friends would frequently seek his unbiased guidance and advice. Bill was always forthcoming and could be both supportive and refreshingly honest. He was that rare jewel – a critical friend and clear-eyed commentator who provided encouragement and a generous dose of frank advice when needed.

Bill died in October after a short illness.