Ballina legend Thomas ‘the Anzac’ Anzac Cummings remembered
A multi-award winning Ballina icon has been remembered for his huge impact upon many people’s lives. Read his incredible tribute.
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The Ballina community will forever remember Thomas Anzac Cummings OAM.
Renown for his business and sporting acumen and love of racing, the father, grandfather and great-grandfather leaves behind a proud family legacy.
Born April 25, 1924, Thomas Anzac ‘the Anzac’ Cummings passed away peacefully on his 69th wedding anniversary in Ballina.
He was 99.
The family’s heritage in the Northern Rivers can be dated back as far as the 1800s.
“He had a good life,” son, Elton Cummings said.
“Dad was a community-minded person, he always did things that would be better for the community but also good for him.”
Ballina RSL days
Ballina RSL sub-branch ex-president Dick Will said Anzac was a “strong minded, yet gracious man”.
Originally the returned soldiers met in the Diggers’ Hall where the post office is now located on the corner of Moon and Tamar streets.
“Then, it was a social club,” Mr Will said.
After the liquor act changed in 1954 Anzac was successful in gaining the required 100 memberships for a liquor licence.
“That was the start of what later became the Ballina RSL Club.”
As the club outgrew its large hall Anzac made his way to Sydney with Alan Wilson.
“They went on several occasions to see the government in order to get the land (of the current RSL location). Today you wouldn’t get it, because then it was a swamp with lots of mangroves,” Elton Cummings said.
“Dad lived across the road from the RSL (on River St) and thought that spot was a beautiful spot to put it.
“When he brought the architect from Grafton across the Burns Point ferry a few times the architect drew a picture on the boat while they were going backwards and forwards and that’s how the thing started.”
Mr Will said the men had a vision of the club sitting in that spot and the land needed to be filled in from the river to build the club on it.
“It was member’s including Anzac’s blood, sweat, and tears that built the foundations of what is now the Ballina RSL club,” Mr Will said.
Anzac Cummings helped found the RSL in 1954 and was its president from 1960-1964.
After enlisting and serving with the ADF in Borneo where he drove vehicles in the AIF Anzac was discharged with the rank of Corporal.
Racing days
However, competitive cycling was his first love.
Anzac competed throughout New South Wales and was known as the three-mile North Coast champion, or simply ‘a cycle star’.
He competed in cycling races throughout the district, often placing and beating city riders from Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.
“The only time I saw my father run was the time he ran to the RSL club to get a free drink because he had a life membership. One free drink before six o’clock,” Elton Cummings said.
“That and run across the road and put a bet on the TAB.”
In 1952 Anzac won the NSW 10-mile cycling championships at the Anzac Day sports at Oakes Oval in Lismore. It was a 38-lap event.
In 1953 he was North Coast champion and the next year Anzac acted as a Jubilee Courier and carried goodwill loyalty messages for the Prime Minister from Ballina to Woodburn.
Ballina Jockey Club
“Dad always had the love of racing,” Elton Cummings said.
“He really started the improvement of the racecourse to have more race days because the truth was he was frightened he might get pulled up for doing the SP book.
“SP bookmaking was illegal in town so he was keen to make sure there were some good racecourse meeting dates so we could all go and bet legally.”
Elton said there used to be a SP bookie at the end of River Street where the police station now is.
“When the bookie moved down the middle of the street across the road, dad moved his shop down the middle of the street and then when the TAB went from one spot to the other dad rented another shop almost next to the TAB and when the TAB moved to its current location he bought the block of land right opposite.
“When I asked him about that he said “Ahh it was probably at the back of my mind”.
A man who loved racing, and loved life, Anzac is remembered for being “really easy to get along with”.
Gary Kliese Sky Channel Presenter, Ballina Jockey Club Former Chairman and leading jockey said, “you would never meet a better man than Anzac Cummings”.
“I rode for Anzac as a jockey for many years and had a lot to do with him,” Mr Kliese said.
“He was a gentleman. His passion for racing was phenomenal.”
Mr Cummings was chairman at Ballina when the Club won the inaugural PJ (Jim) Bell Award for the best Country Race Club in NSW, and he is also the recipient of the Simon Nivison Award for his contribution to country racing – the highest award in racing.
“He was one of the nicest blokes you’ll ever meet,” Mr Kliese said.
“I had a broken neck in ’96 and without Anzac’s help – enticing me to go on the committee at the Ballina Jockey Club – to get me back and stay in the racing industry I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in today,” the Sky Racing presenter said.
The Anzac Cummings name adorns Ballina Jockey Club’s grandstand.
“He has no peer when it comes to his contribution to the administration of racing in Ballina,” the club’s general manager Matthew Bertram said.
Business days
In 2011 Anzac was the first recipient of the Don King Award at the Ballina Shire Business Excellence Awards.
Anzac’s humble bicycle store grew into a thriving family business that traded as part of the Retravision franchise for over forty years with stores in Ballina, Byron Bay, Lismore, Coolangatta, Yamba, Grafton and Tweed Heads.
Today the business now trades with the Bi-Rite group in Lismore and Yamba, while leasing all their former Retravision premises to new businesses across the community.
It was 2014 when the Ballina store closed, 40 years on after its association with Retravision before becoming part of the Bi-Rite group.
Ballina Shire Mayor Sharon Cadwallader said Anzac’s story is “one of great value to our community”.
“There is no doubt that Ballina has lost one of its local icons with the passing of Anzac.
“He was a veteran, leader, businessman and sportsman throughout his life and was many things to many people, known as being generous and community minded – an all-rounder and good bloke,” Ms Cadwallader said.
Anzac is remembered as a tireless worker filled with integrity, passion, and determination.
“He was one of those special people who made regional communities like ours the most amazing places to live.”
Anzac’s list of achievements is incredibly long, and he had a huge impact upon many people’s lives.
Anzac Cummings OAM leaves behind a real legacy of worth and will be remembered as an outstanding Ballina Shire citizen whose contribution to our community has made a difference.
A service will be held Monday, August 7, 2023 at 10:00am at St Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Ballina followed by a wake at Ballina RSL from 12pm.
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