Long-serving Blacktown councillor Russ Dickens fails to get votes

VET,  koala expert, beef producer, mayor and Blacktown councillor are just some of the titles linked with Russ Dickens over the decades.

Russ Dickens has been on Blacktown Council since 1982. He was not returned to Council after this years election.

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VET,  koala expert, beef producer, mayor and Blacktown councillor are just some of the titles linked with Russ Dickens over the decades.

Now he is set to hang up one of those hats after failing to poll enough votes at the Blacktown Council election last week.

Mr Dickens will not return to the chamber when the new council meets for the first time on Wednesday night.

“I’m sorry I won’t be there for another term but that’s how the cookie ­crumbles,” he said.

He may be leaving the council, but he is quick to point out he has many other interests to occupy his time.

These interests include his fulltime job as a vet and his academic work as an expert on koala conservation.

He is a foundation ­member of the Animal ­Ethics Committee at Westmead Hospital and Millennium Institute, a ­Rotary Paul Harris Fellow, and was lauded with the University of Sydney’s Alumni Award in 2014.

Russ Dickens has had a long career as councillor and has been a vet since 1966.

Mr Dickens, who declined to give his age, said he would never retire.

He still works every day at Blacktown Veterinary Hospital, where has been a vet since 1966.

“Some people are old at 50, some people are young at 100,” he said.

“I’ve been lucky in life because I’ve had lots of lives.”

His career as a councillor spans more than 30 years. He was elected to the council as an independent in 1982 and has been mayor, deputy mayor and chairman of several committees over the years.

“There have been a lot of colourful characters,” he said.

“I’ve not only seen people verbally abused but physically abused as well … I’ve worked under a lot of mayors and general managers. They’ve all been different, but I’ve respected them all and councillors as well.”

He said he had enjoyed seeing Blacktown evolve over the years to the thriving metropolis it was today.

“The city has a great future ahead of it,” he said.