Silver anniversary for Daphne McDonald and Dawn Crichlow as councillors mark 25 years in office

THE world of March 1991 was very different place to the one around us today as long-serving councillors Dawn Crichlow and Daphne McDonald were first elected.

Gold Coast Councillors Daphne McDonald and Dawn Crichlow have celebrated 25 years in office. Photo: David Clark

THE Gulf War was over. E-Street was lapping up TV viewers, the Soviet Union was on the brink of collapse, Bob Hawke was in the Lodge and The Simpsons had just begun airing on Australian screens.

While attentions were fixed on the rest of the world, the Gold Coast went to the polls to elect a new council after three years under then-mayor Lex Bell.

Traffic, cost-of-living issues and rubbish collection were at the heart of the campaign which came to a head with the March 23, 1991 poll which saw a raft of new councillors elected, including Dawn Crichlow and Daphne McDonald.

City of Gold Coast Councillors Daphne McDonald and Dawn Crichlow celebrated 25 years service to their council area's when they where reflected last weekend Photo: David Clark

The pair, who last week were re-elected for their ninth consecutive terms on the city hall benches, this week marked 25 years in office with cake and stories of their ups and downs of life in local government.

Crs Crichlow and McDonald were two of three women elected to the council that year – the other was lawyer Kerry Smith – breaking up the male-only city hall of the 1988-91 term.

Cr McDonald, a businesswoman before her first term, said there had been many achievements over the year years during which both the Gold Coast and its council changed dramatically.

Gold Coast Bulletin, March 1991: Newly elected councillors (L-R) Kerry Smith, Dawn Crichlow and Daphne McDonald.

“One of my earliest and proudest achievements was to gain compensation for the Palm Beach residents whose homes had subsided – something that had gone on for years and nobody had been able to sort out,” she said.

“Lex Bell was mayor and we both went up to Brisbane to meet with the deputy premier, Tom Burns, and that helped lead to a special Act of parliament which got compensation for those people, which meant a lot.

“We were told it could not be done but afterwards (councillor) Keith Thompson, who had been against compensation, came up to me and gave me a hug and said I had taught him compassion.”

Other highlights included building the city’s first all-abilities playground and hydrotherapy pool as well as building the Thrower House youth facility.

Cr Daphne McDonald and Dawn Crichlow pictured with the 1994-95 Gold Coast City Council under Mayor Gary Baildon.

Cr Crichlow, a Nerang Street florist said she had only intended to serve one term to fight for the demolition of the Southport Mall which had badly affected businesses after it was built in 1988.

“My plan was to rip up the mall and bring the cars back to Nerang St but in the end it took me eight years but we got it done and after that I decided I enjoyed helping people, so I am still here today,” she said.

“I would say my proudest moment was convincing the council to police disabled parking spots in shopping centres which is something we still do and it helped a lot of people because back then it was just Rafferty’s rules.

“After all these years I would say the most important thing is to listen to people.”

The dynamic duo’s first election win came just a week after the Gold Coast hosted the inaugural

Cr Dawn Crichlow on July 28, 1996 during the Gold Coast de-amalgamation referendum.

Indy Carnival, one of the Glitter Strip’s biggest events of the 1990s.

They were the first women to sit on the council since the retirement of Betty Diamond at the 1988 elections and the Bulletin declared on its post-election front page that Cr McDonald would bring “a feminine touch to grace the Evandale Chambers” as she replaced the outgoing Trevor Coomber.

Both smile when remembering serving alongside some of city’s most notable characters, including Ms Smith, who was known for her eccentric behaviour and long-time finance boss, Eddy Sarroff.

But both councillors recall some of the tough times, including the forced 1995 amalgamation of the Gold Coast and Albert Shire councils.

2007 — Daphne McDonald becomes deputy mayor under then-mayor Ron Clarke

Cr McDonald said that had contributed to a significant change in the way city hall worked.

“Amalgamation was a huge and controversial thing and in some respects the city is still feeling those effects,” she said.

“Back then local government was like a family unit and as it gets bigger it has lost some of that closeness.

“But for me it is still a great privilege to serve and I have never lost my enthusiasm and drive, even though it’s a seven-day-a-week job and certainly not all team parties.”

Cr Crichlow named the controversial 1998 sacking of the new “super council” chief executive, Dr Doug Daines as a low point in her quarter-century career.

“It was terrible because there was a good man who was trying to bring us forward but he stepped on the toes of people and so they ganged up and got rid of him,” she said.

Cr Crichlow and Cr McDonald will be sworn in for their next term on April 5.