Flashback: The odd and interesting careers of the Gold Coast’s 13 mayors from 1948 to 2016
THE Gold Coast is famous for is colourful characters, some of whom have made it to the city’s top job. Andrew Potts looks back at the careers of the Gold Coast’s mayors before they came to power.
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THE Gold Coast is famous for is colourful characters, some of whom have made it to the city’s top job.
Andrew Potts looks back at the careers of the Gold Coast’s mayors before they came to power.
Len Peak (1949-1958)
THE Gold Coast did not exist when Len Peak began his political career in the 1930s.
He sat on the Coolangatta Town Council through the 1940s before becoming the Mayor in 1946.
When Coolangatta, Southport, Nerang and Coomera merged in 1948 to form the city of South Coast, Peak became its first, and only, mayor.
Outside of politics the Coolangatta resident ran a bus company which ran a regular route from Southport to the border. It was heavily used as an alternative to the railway.
Among those passengers who rode on Mr Peak’s cream and green buses was school student and future mayor Lex Bell.
Ern Harley (1958-1967)
AN icon of the Gold Coast for more than 30 years, Ern Harley was also the Glitter Strip’s first mayor.
He replaced Mr Peak in 1958, a year before the city was renamed Gold Coast, and served for nearly a decade.
But before wearing the chains, Mr Harley became famous for his Labrador fish and chip shop. It is operational today, still bearing his name.
Mr Harley was a big character of small stature who also had a side career as a broadcaster in which he would ride in a truck spruiking the wares of businesses through a loudspeaker.
He made a brief political comeback in 1988 when he contested a council seat at the age of 78.
Sir Bruce Small (1967-1973, 1976-1978)
A colourful character who helped put the city on the map as a tourism powerhouse, Sir Bruce Small served two non-consecutive terms as mayor and was a dominant figure from the 1960s until his death in 1980.
Most famous as a developer who created the city’s canal estates, including the Isle of Capri, Sir Bruce began his career as a bicycle salesman in Melbourne as one of the owners of Malvern Star.
He bought into the business in 1920 at the age of 24 along with his brothers.
Business boomed during and after World War II as famous athletes used Malvern Star’s bikes major sporting events.
Robert Neumann (1973-1976)
HE rose to the top of Gold Coast politics but mayor Robert Neumann had humble beginnings.
Born in Currumbin, he left school at the age of 14 to be a carpenter’s apprentice and later sold vacuum cleaners door-to-door.
He and his father, Alfred, a cabinet-maker, and a couple of labourers began sand and gravel mining after World War II with second-hand equipment and virtually no money.
Their company, the Neumann Group, is now a multi-million business.
Mr Neumann entered Gold Coast politics at the age of 40 and served as mayor for three years.
He died in 1995.
Keith Hunt (1979-1982)
THE Gold Coast’s only mayor to die in office, Keith Hunt was a popular face in the city for more than 25 years.
Mr Hunt grew up in Sydney and worked in various jobs, including the public service and as an insurance salesman.
He became interested in politics early in life and was an active member of the Labor Party.
Before coming to the Gold Coast in 1957, Mr Hunt served two terms as an alderman in Sydney in the suburb of Peakhurst.
In 1959, he bought the snack bar in Southport’s Bulletin arcade and, according to his obituary, “his cheerful manner soon made him a familiar face with workers and shoppers”.
Mr Hunt served on council in 1967-1973, 1976-1978 and 1979-1982.
He died in November 1982 from a heart attack.
Denis O’Connell (1982-1985)
DENIS O’Connell came to office suddenly but he knew the Gold Coast better than anyone. Growing up in the 1940s, the future mayor spent his days fishing at Biggera Waters.
He spent his early years working as a professional fisherman in the waters off the Gold Coast, following in the footsteps of his father, “Pud” O’Connell.
The family also ran a fish and chip shop in Southport’s Nind Street.
First elected in 1970, Mr O’Connell served under multiple mayors and took a strong interest in the city’s waterways before being elected by his peers to replace the late Keith Hunt in November 1982.
Even while a councillor, O’Connell continued to fish by night and serve the people during the day.
Denis Pie (1985-1988)
HIS mayoralty was brief but Denis Pie ran the city during its late 1980s development and building boom.
It was only fitting that his career before politics was as a land valuer and property consultant.
Among the companies he consulted during his career was Christopher Skase’s Qintex Group.
In the early 1980s Mr Pie also served as the chairman of the Gold Coast Visitors and Convention Bureau, the forerunner to today’s Gold Coast Tourism.
Mr Pie, a political unknown before 1985, served just one term in local government.
He still lives on the Gold Coast.
Lex Bell (1988-1994)
ANOTHER lifelong Gold Coaster, Lex Bell always wanted to be a lawyer, following in his father’s footsteps.
Mr Bell became a lawyer after attending the University of Queensland and spent 17 years based in Surfers Paradise. He also became chairman of Lifeline.
He was first elected in 1985 and served on the council until 2001 when he moved to State Parliament as the MP for Surfers Paradise until 2004.
Mr Bell returned to council in 2012 and retired from politics this year.
Gary Baildon (1994-1995, 1997-2004)
GARY Baildon was mayor of the Gold Coast longer than any political leader in the past 35 years, but his career in business on the Gold Coast stretches back even further.
Cr Baildon came to the Gold Coast from Nambour in the 1970s, opened a Newsagency and was profiled by writer Alexander McRobbie in the early 1980s as one of the Gold Coast’s famous faces.
His political career began in 1988 and he returned to his newsagency after losing the mayoralty in 2004.
Before returning to the council this year, Cr Baildon served as chairman of the Gold Coast Waterways Authority.
Ray Stevens (1995-1997)
RAY Stevens served in two councils as mayor and the state parliament as an MP for a decade. Before that he was a small-business owner.
Most famously in the 1980s he opened the Nerang Pet Barn, which operates under different ownership today.
He was elected to the Albert Shire Council in 1991.
Ron Clarke (2004-2012)
IN the story of Ron Clarke’s life, politics was but a small period in decades of achievement.
Mr Clarke was born in Melbourne in 1937 and grew up playing Aussie rules before switching to running.
He lit the Olympic torch at the 1956 Games in Melbourne and won bronze at the 1964 Tokyo Games and four silver at three Commonwealth Games.
After athletics he went into business and helped found Couran Cove resort, saved the Gold Coast Marathon in 2000 and the Runaway Bay Sports Super Centre
Elected as Gold Coast Mayor in 2004, he served until 2012.
Tom Tate (2012-present)
MAYOR Tom Tate was born in Laos and studied civil engineering in Sydney. He worked in the field, as well as in hospitality, for more than a decade before coming to the Gold Coast in 1992 to work in the tourism industry, operating the Islander Hotel.
A prominent businessman in the 1990s, he became president of the Surfers Paradise Chamber of Commerce and famously called for the suburb to secede from Queensland in 2004.
Cr Tate’s business career was interrupted briefly in 2000, 2001 and 2008 when he contested either the mayoralty or Division 7 but was not successful.
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