Modernising mayor 'Mr Brisbane' dies

OBITUARY Clem Jones Surveyor and former Brisbane lord mayor. Born Ipswich January 16, 1918; died Brisbane December 15, 2007, aged 89.

OBITUARY Clem Jones Surveyor and former Brisbane lord mayor. Born Ipswich January 16, 1918; died Brisbane December 15, 2007, aged 89.

CLEM Jones, the one-time surveyor who as lord mayor for 14 years laid the foundations for the future success of his favourite city, Brisbane, and then rebuilt Darwin after the devastation wreaked by Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Day, 1974, has died.

He was 89 when he passed away on Saturday after a series ofstrokes.

Mr Jones was one of Queensland's favourite sons, an uncompromising visionary who foresaw Brisbane's needs and growth, a man of vast wealth who invested wisely but lived modestly, a tireless and generous philanthropist, and a Labor Party hero who won the respect of its leaders from Gough Whitlam to Kevin Rudd.

Such was the respect he had earned in a lifetime of public service that Queensland's biggest-selling newspaper, The Sunday Mail, gave over half its front page yesterday to say: "Goodbye Mr Brisbane".

"Clem was a longstanding personal friend of mine, a great source of support and encouragement and friendship," Mr Rudd said.

"On behalf of all Australians, Territorians, Queenslanders and residents of the city of Brisbane, he's a legend, and we are going to be sadly, sadly depleted by his loss to us all."

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, who has promised a state funeral for Mr Jones next Friday, paid tribute to him as "the father of modern Brisbane".

"His lifelong civic contribution and love of the city of Brisbane was unsurpassed," she said.

"Clem will long be remembered for his vision and commitment to transforming Brisbane from a conservative country town to a vibrant and cosmopolitan city."

Mr Jones, a shrewd investor in the stock market and property sector, gave millions of dollars a year to charities. He fielded proposals from worthy causes throughout Queensland, saying: "I'm fortunate to be in a position to help people. I've no family at all, so what better thing to do than helping people in need?"

He bought houses for leukemia sufferers, funded sporting teams and an annual carnival for Brisbane children, fed thousands of people a week, and gave generously to medical research.

Mr Jones's financial legacy will be significant. His stake in just one publicly listed company, construction and development group Watpac, is worth about $55million.

Before he became lord mayor in 1961, thousands of homes in Brisbane had no connection to sewerage systems, and the city was a national laughing stock. Mr Jones crashed through the conservative council orthodoxy which had failed to plan for its ratepayers, saw off thousands of outdoor dunnies and ensured he would be Brisbane's longest-serving mayor.

His road program was equally ambitious. Many of Brisbane's roads, even those just a kilometre from the GPO, were still uncurbed and unsurfaced dirt before Mr Jones became lord mayor. He announced in his first budget a 10-year program and forced developers to surface roads to their land banks. He infuriated top bureaucrats, fell out with Labor Party colleagues, and offended the state government with his single-minded zeal, but he was vindicated and commended by the time each of his programs hadended.

"Basically, we were so far behind and we had no amenities," he said in one of his last interviews earlier this year.

"The basic amenities for living just weren't here. It had to happen. I just happened to be there. No matter what I did, somebody else could have done as well or better, given the opportunity.

"If I hadn't been here in 1961, somebody else would have done it. I was fortunate in being a surveyor so I knew the city extremely well, so that was an advantage.

"And there were 2175km of dusty dirt roads in Brisbane in 1961. We said we'd seal it all in 10 years and we did most of it in that time. Housewives thought the dirt roads were worse than having no sewerage."

Ipswich-born Mr Jones, whose surveying business had afforded him a comfortable lifestyle before he won the mayoralty, refused to take a salary when he joined the council. He asked a friend who was a bank manager for an overdraft "for the three years I thought I'd be in the council. I still had it after 14 years, which was a bit embarrassing".

He set the council on a course to borrow heavily to fund the public works necessary to drag the city forward. In January 1974, during one of the worst floods of the century, he made his most controversial decision - one that hydrologists insist exposed the city to potential calamity - in ordering officials to stop releasing water from Somerset Dam.

Senior engineers disagreed strongly, fearing further rain would cause the dam to over-top and collapse but Jones was adamant that the flooded homes and families of Brisbane needed respite. The rain stopped and his gamble paid off.

By mid-1975, he had embarked on a new challenge as head of the Darwin Reconstruction Commission, with a brief to rebuild the shattered town. Jones cut through the red tape, rolled up his sleeves and oversaw a massive rebuilding program which put Darwin back in business. He returned to Brisbane, and his beloved Gabba cricket ground (which he prepared, as curator, for at least three Test matches and numerous other contests) 2 1/2years later.

Subsequent lord mayors, including Labor's Jim Soorley and the Liberal Party's incumbent Campbell Newman, acknowledge Jones for having done more for Brisbane than any other holder of the office.

A dedicated republican, Jones expressed a wish earlier this yearto live long enough to see Australia cut its ties to its head of state, the Queen, whom he had met three times.

His wife, Sylvia, died in 1999.