Tributes roll in after death of Cairns community campaigner Ron Crew
A tireless community campaigner who loved a beer, battling for the underdog and life in the tropics has pinched his last sausage and spun his last yarn.
Cairns
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A TIRELESS community campaigner who loved a beer, battling for the underdog and life in the tropics has pinched his last sausage and spun his last yarn.
Ron Crew, 79, died on Thursday night last week at the Gordonvale Palliative Care Hospital after a short fight with cancer.
He was in good spirits until the very end, finding humour in his inclusion on the Cairns Post’s “FNQ’s 50 Aussiest Aussies” list and his position just ahead of Bob Katter in the readers’ voting stakes.
The seasoned volunteer was surrounded by family and went out knowing his was a life well lived.
Mr Crew served a short stint on the Mulgrave Shire Council in the mid-’90s before making an unsuccessful tilt at state parliament – but his true impact was not in the political realm.
The airconditioning expert became one of the most effective crusaders for subbies’ rights as president of the National Subcontractors Association, spurred on after being burned on payment by a big building firm.
He was a thorn in the side of anyone looking to screw over the little guy, and he was fearless in his pursuit of justice.
Back in the wild days, a younger muttonchop-sporting Mr Crew was known as one of Brisbane’s handiest blokes to have onside in a scrap.
He had fists like cinder and stone and a boxer’s jaw that helped him ply a career as a bouncer for some of the city’s most colourful nightclubs during a time when the underworld had a firm grip on proceedings.
His reputation helped him land private security gigs with visiting entertainers and gave him an inside view of how things worked – including a few tales about what really happened in the Whiskey Au Go Go fire that is currently subject to a very public inquest.
He moved to Cairns with his loving wife Mena in 1978 and went on to become a leading member of Rotary and Apex, a Medal of the Order of Australia recipient for community service, and an outspoken advocate for the Eliminate Dengue/World Mosquito Program after catching the disease for the third time.
He knocked on doors for the Queensland Cancer Council for decades, was firmly embedded in Freshwater community groups and had a list of volunteer service that could sink a ship.
To Kathy Crew, he was the same old dad who used to bring her to job sites with tool bag in one hand and nappy bag in the other.
“He loved beer, he loved a yarn and he was very, very social,” she said.
“People were more important than the clothes they wore, and who they were was more important than what they did.
“He was just as comfortable talking to people in high places as he was having a yarn with the garbo out the front on garbage day.
“What people did made no difference, he connected with all people.”
Anyone who had the honour of sharing a few beers with Mr Crew could attest to his ability to tell a story.
He was a regular at the former Freshwater Hotel (rest its soul) and the Barron River Hotel, and could have fed an army with the meat trays he raffled off to secure classroom fridges for Freshwater Primary School.
Fellow Rotarian Sandy McEachan had to laugh while recalling one story about his old friend.
“I had a mate who thought Ron was the owner of the Freshwater pub, because he was always there,” he said.
Mr Crew, a baker’s son, also had a reputation for cleaning up leftovers that might otherwise go wasted.
“He often didn’t eat at Rotary meetings because he said he had anaphylaxis from pineapple and couldn’t risk the cook using it,” Mr McEachan said.
“But he would often have half a dozen bread rolls that people didn’t eat.
“He did like his bread.
“He didn’t mind having a sausage or two at our sausage sizzles, either.
“They used to call him the sausage tester, because he always came and took a few off the barbecue to try.”
Mr Crew and Mr McEachan’s first encounter, when they were working on the same site installing airconditioning and associated components, was less than friendly.
They got along just fine after Mr Crew realised Mr McEachan had earned his credentials.
“Ron could be a pain in the arse, but he was Ron,” Mr McEachan said.
“He was definitely a stalwart for the community.”
Mr Crew was married three times, first to Rosemary when he was 22 in a marriage that lasted only three years.
He married Nyla at Annerley Methodist Church in 1967 and the pair had a son, Richard.
That marriage did not work out and he had little contact with his son during his childhood, but valued getting to know Richard as an adult.
He met the love of his life, Mena, at a 21st birthday party in 1972 and the pair would be inseparable until his death.
They had two daughters, Kathy and Melinda, and one grandson, Patrick.
Mena said the community was always at the core of their family life.
“He prioritised community and the family was always involved in doing his community work, right from when the girls were little,” he said.
Crewie, as he was known to mates, immediately hit it off with his neighbour Jeremy Edwards when he moved next door some years back.
“He made us feel so welcome when we moved in,” Mr Edwards said.
“He introduced us to neighbours and then anything I needed to know about the area, I’d just ask Ron through the fence.
“We talked for hours about the history of the area.”
Mr Edwards remembered when his parents came to visit when his partner was due to have a baby.
They stayed in a caravan out the back, under the mango tree, and would get regular beer visits from Mr Crew.
“He was always making sure they were all right,” he said.
Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch knew Mr Crew for decades through his work for subcontractors’ right to fair pay.
“He was one of those guys I always listened to whenever there was an issue he raised,” Mr Entsch said.
“I was deeply saddened to hear he had gone down to palliative care in Gordonvale.
“I wanted to visit but I was told it wasn’t possible because of Covid.
“Ron was a larger than life character here in Cairns and small subcontractors have got a lot to thank him for.
“He was an absolutely fearless advocate on their behalf and a thoroughly true gentleman.”
The first signs of Mr Crew’s illness arrived in July last year when he was struck by an excruciating bout of pain in his lower back.
An MRI in early-September detected metastatic cancer in his bones.
He died peacefully at Gordonvale Palliative Care Hospital after 11 weeks of supportive care, knowing the whole while his loved ones were by his side.
A funeral will be held at the Cairns Funeral Directors chapel at 35 Pease St on Wednesday.
It will also be live-streamed for those who cannot attend.
His family has asked for donations in lieu of flowers, to be organised through the Rotary Club of Cairns Trinity.
Money raised will be used to buy a much needed piece of equipment for Cairns Palliative Care and to support the community causes Mr Crew was passionate about.
Email roncrewfuneral@gmail.com for further details.
Eulogy for Ron Crew
Written by Kathy Crew, February 2022
Dad was born Ronald Allan Crew in Clermont, central Queensland, to baker and butcher Alfred Percival James Crew and his wife Marjorie on the first of November 1942 – All Saints’ Day.
He was the youngest of eight siblings with three sisters and four brothers: Marjorie, Elsie, Fred, Dot, Pat, Bob and Noel.
His eldest sister was 21 years older than him, so her elder children Marjorie and Stan were very much like siblings too.
Many of his 31 nieces and nephews have precious memories of playing with Uncle Ron while visiting their grandparents.
As a child, Ron lived with his family in Clermont, Rosewood, West End and Coorparoo and attended local primary schools.
Ron was an altar boy for the Anglican Church his family attended and undertook his secondary education at Cavendish Road State High School in Brisbane.
He played many sports as a young man: rugby league, rugby union, AFL, soccer, cricket, gymnastics and boxing. Ron was named best and fairest player for the Queensland under 15 AFL side, but playing rugby league for Easts was his true passion.
After finishing Year 10 at school, Ron completed an electrical apprenticeship and worked for Brandon’s Electrical Services in Brisbane.
During this time, Ron also provided security to Brisbane nightclubs and was often a minder to visiting entertainers.
It was through his nightclub work that he became close friends with John Bell, and his wife Fay.
Many people who met Ron over his life would know he could share inside details and a few tales involving Whisky Au Go Go!
In 1970, Ron moved to Sydney to further his rugby league career. He worked for Carrier Airconditioning and was trained in refrigeration and airconditioning, specialising in high-rise building chiller sets.
For family reasons, Ron returned to Brisbane in 1971, still employed by Carrier.
He spent six months in Kimbe, Papua New Guinea, commissioning new airconditioning during a period of rapid growth for the city prior to PNG’s independence.
Later, Ron was employed by Emailair, another large company in Brisbane.
Ron was married three times.
He married Rosemary when he was only 22.
The marriage only lasted three years, and in 1967 Ron married Nyla at Annerley Methodist Church.
Their son Richard was born soon after.
Sadly, that marriage didn’t work out either and Ron had very little contact with his son during his childhood.
However, Ron valued getting to know Richard in adulthood.
In late 1972, Ron attended a Carrier work colleague’s 21st birthday party where he met Mena, the woman with whom he would spend the next 50 years.
Without knowing it, Ron had been relying on Mena’s technical drawings on the job site for some time already.
They married in Brisbane in 1976 and their first daughter Kathy was born.
In 1978, Ron, Mena and baby Kathy moved to Cairns to start their own business, Ron Crew Airconditioning Services P/L.
Early business clients were the Mulgrave, Babinda, Hambledon and Mossman sugar mills, the Cairns Post, Coles and Woolworths supermarkets, State and Commonwealth government offices, and the Cairns Base, Calvary, Gordonvale and Cooktown hospitals as well as Torres Strait Island health facilities.
Their second daughter Melinda was born not long after they moved into their Stratford home of the last 43 years.
As Mena required bed-rest in the late stages of this pregnancy, and workplace health and safety were very different back then, Ron would take toddler Kathy to work with him – tool bag in one hand and nappy bag in the other.
In the early 80s, Ron and Mena started Wilcool Air with John and Erica Wilkinson.
This company’s highlights include a major overhaul of the Pacific Hotel’s chiller system, airconditioning the new Cooktown Hospital and airconditioning the Barron Gorge Hydropower Station tunnel.
At their peak, they employed over 40 staff across two companies.
In 1987, Hayden Engineering bought Ron Crew Airconditioning Services.
Because Ron stayed on to manage the Cairns office, he and Mena parted ways with Wilcool Air.
After three years, Ron left Hayden and later returned to small business and continued to look after the machinery at the Gordonvale sugar mill.
Despite Mena’s best efforts, Ron never actually retired from work.
Crewie loved a yarn and a beer, with his favourite watering holes being the Freshie Pub, the Barron River Hotel and the Cubby at the showgrounds.
In more recent years, Ron also made new friends and caught up with old ones as a member of Spinal Life Australia.
He loved to garden, growing veges (particularly tomatoes) and coconuts.
Ron was very passionate about his community involvement and service.
Ron volunteered for the Queensland Cancer Council for 44 years and the Australian Red Cross for 10 years.
He was an active member of Apex, from 1972 to 1983, and he continued to support the Cairns Apex Pensioners’ Dinner and other club activities for decades.
When he no longer met the youth requirement for Apex, Ron joined Rotary International in 1983.
He was a committee member for 10 years, particularly active in the Community Service portfolio, and President of the Rotary Club of Cairns North in 1996-1997.
Ron was instrumental in the Club’s involvement in many community service activities including the Dream Flight, the Great Train Ride, the Rotary duck race, women’s shelter facility upgrades, community catering and overseas aid to PNG following natural disasters, and for this was made a Paul Harris Fellow.
He remained an active member as clubs merged and his distinguished meritorious service was recognised by the Rotary Club of Cairns Trinity through Honorary Membership in late 2021.
As the son and brother of army veterans, Ron tried to enlist for the Vietnam War but was not accepted on account of a heart murmur caused by two bouts of rheumatic fever during childhood.
Ron was an ardent supporter of the Stratford Anzac Day commemoration and the Vietnam Veterans Assembly, and for almost 20 years organised funds to help cover the cost of refreshments and food following the services at Stratford Bowls Club.
After being burned in business by non-payment of a very large sum of money, Ron became a passionate advocate for a fair deal for subbies and protection from rogue builders.
During the 80s, Ron was secretary, treasurer and in turn president of the Cairns chapter of the Refrigeration and Airconditioning Contractors Association.
In the 90s, he was the Cairns chapter convener and later Queensland branch vice-president of
the Subcontractors and Suppliers Association.
From 2002 to 2010, Ron was the president of the National Subcontractors Association.
Ron loved a robust discussion of ideas and could at times use colourful language.
As a young man, he did a lot of debating through Apex.
Later, he was an active member of the Stratford/Freshwater and Marlin Coast Combined Ratepayers Associations, and served as a Mulgrave Shire Councillor in the mid 90s before running unsuccessfully for state parliament.
He continued to lobby state and federal politicians on behalf of subcontractors and the Cairns community.
In 2011, Ron mobilised community support for a mosquito infection control program after hearing about Eliminate Dengue at a Rotary meeting.
After infection by Ross River virus and then narrowly surviving his third infection by dengue virus in 2014, Ron with Mena became the public face and wider advocate for the work, which is now part of the World Mosquito Program.
His eyes would sparkle when describing the science underlying the program in a slightly risqué manner – think insect sexually transmitted infections.
Ron actively supported his family’s endeavours.
He raised money for classroom fridges for the Freshwater Primary School with many, many meat tray raffles at the Freshie Pub.
He spent three years on the Cairns High P&C.
He coached vigoro teams and became a badged Queensland umpire.
He taught his young grandson Patrick to use a metal file and swing an axe.
He was a wonderful supporter of Freshwater District Girl Guides, organising an extension to the guide hut at minimal cost in the 90s and mobilising the Rotary troops to set up a tent city for the State Camp in 2002.
And he believed strongly in Mena’s breast cancer patient support and advocacy endeavours.
On July 13, 2021, Ron’s lower back suddenly became excruciatingly sore.
In early September, after weeks of conservative treatment and rest, he had an MRI which detected metastatic cancer in his bones.
His journey was painful but he rarely showed it and he was his optimistic and robust self until his last breath.
After 11 weeks of supportive care at Gordonvale Palliative Care Hospital, Ron Crew died peacefully knowing loved ones were by his side.
Go well and safely, Dad.
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