‘Mary St royalty’: Tributes flow for Gympie newsagent Peter Patrick

The daughter of a longtime CBD newsagent has opened up on her father’s life saying he was devoted to the city and region which was “where he wanted to be”.

When it comes to the question of how longtime Gympie newsagent Peter Patrick kept his shop running for 54 years, Arianna Patrick says there was one simple truth.

“Dad loved people,” she said.

“Gympie was where he wanted to be.”

The daughter of the 89-year-old CBD stalwart, remembered by the community as “Mary St royalty” after being entrenched behind the counter of Patrick’s Casket and Newsgancy for 54 years before his retirement, opened up on Mr Patrick’s life on Friday following his death only a month short of his 90th birthday.

Arianna said the business was a family for herself, sister Eleni, and brother Stephen, from “shop-sisters Kirsty, Kahlee, Kelly, Melanie”, along with Roslyn Atkinson who was “very much a part of (it)”.

“We’ve all grown up in that shop,” Arianna said.

Her father’s lifelong love of the business had even kept his family ahead of the curve, with Ariana saying she and Eleni “learned to read well before school started”.

Mr Patrick was a stalwart of Mary St business community, with the agency bearing his name became synonymous with 69 Mary St.

Mr Patrick bought the building in 1967.

It served as a newsagency and bookshop, owned by the Lyons sisters, until his purchase.

In the ensuing decades the business boomed, with a clientele which included an extraordinary number of the region’s residents across the years including former LNP MP Clarrie Millar and his daughter, now-ABC Breakfast co-host Lisa Millar.

“I’ve loved being in Mary St … it was just a pleasure to be there,” Mr Patrick said upon his retirement.

Peter Patrick bought the Mary St newsagency in 1967, and he ran it until his retirement in 2021.

He was a lifelong Gympie resident, born at the Glandore Hospital and living in Mary St, above the offices eventually taken over by another long-time Mary St businessman, Tom Grady.

His parents ran a cafe from the shops at the time.

Mr Patrick then started an electrical apprenticeship and became “the youngest electrical inspector in Queensland at the time”.

“I spent time working in Cooroy and Kenilworth and then the boss wanted me to go to Warwick but I didn’t know anybody so I went to Sydney for work,” Mr Patrick said in a 2014 interview.

He returned to Gympie in 1965 to run his brother’s cafe.

The Patricks: Peter (middle back) with (from right) Mrs Patrick, Theo and (front) Spud, Kathy and Angela, taken about 1947. Picture: Contributed by Mal Dodt, Gympie – The Real Treasure is the Town.

When his brother returned, he took over the newsagency and the rest, as they say, is history.

Even a devastating shop fire on New Year’s Day in 2000 was not enough to deter Mr Patrick’s spirit.

Ariana said it was the “only time in my life I’ve seen dad cry”.

Mr Patrick retired from the newsagency at age 87, saying he was getting too old to run it.

His work ethic did not want to call it quits, though, Arianna said.

“He felt guilty for the amount of rest he was doing,” she said.

Mr Patrick had plans to open a shed on his property to the public, showcasing a display of items and the “way things used to be”, before his death.

Mal Dodt, who runs the popular Gympie – The Real Treasure is the Town Facebook page celebrating the region’s history, said in a post the Patricks were “Mary St royalty”.

Peter Patrick retired from running the shop at age 87. Photo Renee Pilcher / The Gympie Times

“You could find Peter in his newsagency always willing to help,” Mr Dodt said.

“He also loved Gympie and its history.”

Former Gympie Times photographer and editor Craig Warhurst said he knew Mr Patrick from before he ever started in journalism.

“He was a great bloke … a real Gympie icon, who knew everything that was going on in the town.” Mr Warhurst said.

Nextra Gympie shared its own Facebook post remembering Mr Patrick.

“Mr Patrick was a household name of the newsagency industry in our community and he will be dearly missed by many,” it said.

Florist Annette Geurts said in a Facebook tribute, for more than 20 years they would see Mr Patrick “every morning … always a chat and always kind”.

Mr Patrick’s funeral is being held on Thursday, June 13, at the St Peter’s Anglican Church at 11am.

It will be followed by a service at the city’s cemetery, and a wake at the Showgrounds Pavilion.

Originally published as ‘Mary St royalty’: Tributes flow for Gympie newsagent Peter Patrick