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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-09-19 Daily Xml
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PLATE, MR ADAM

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (15:30): I rise today to speak on a sad occasion, but also to acknowledge and pay tribute to a member of your electorate, actually, Madam Speaker—Adam Plate from Oodnadatta, who I hope most people in this house know or at least have heard of. He died nearly four weeks ago in the Targa rally in Adelaide. I certainly send my sympathies and condolences to his wife, Lynnie, and three adult daughters, Alice, Tilly and Ruby, on this very sad occasion.

My relationship with Adam was one of friendship. We were not close friends; I do not want to oversell this, but certainly we knew each other for many years and would bump in to each other occasionally. I remember very well that we came across each other, strangely enough, in the middle of the night in different places in the outback before we actually met each other. We were just crossing paths at roadhouses, essentially, getting fuel or buying food in our various travels.

It was not until about the middle of 1999 when Adam came into Spuds Roadhouse at Pimba, which I was a shareholder of and managing at the time, and asked to use our loading ramp late at night. Of course, we clicked and said, 'Well, who are you?' and 'Who are you?' and realised how we both fitted in to each other's paths. We enjoyed bumping in to each other very frequently over many years. The last time we saw each other was in January this year when I was at Oodnadatta. We had dinner in his and Lynnie's home, again late at night, as was our custom, probably just because that is when we finished up our days, before we both headed off exceptionally early the next morning.

I would like to pay tribute to Adam and his contribution to the outback and to Oodnadatta. I also put on record the fact that he was a polarising person. He was a person who had lots of friends, lots of acquaintances and lots of people who did not agree with what he said, because he went about things in a very passionate, forceful, genuine and earnest way, over nearly 40 years in Oodnadatta. There were certainly people who did not agree with him from time to time, and there is no shame in that.

Madam Speaker, as you would know very well, people in the outback are quite forthright. They cannot muck around; they do not have time and they do not have the luxury of not speaking their mind when they have the chance. Adam, and I for many years (and you to a certain extent in your travels, Madam Speaker), lived in that world and understand that very well.

The reality is that Adam made a very significant contribution to Oodnadatta over a very long time. He did things, he planned things and he shared opportunities. He was a very down to earth and hands-on worker and contributor, and also a visionary in many ways. Even at times when people did not agree with his vision or his action, if nothing else, it got them thinking about what they should perhaps be doing instead.

I pay tribute to his contribution not only to Oodnadatta but also to the outback of South Australia more broadly. I recognise also, Madam Speaker, that you spoke at his funeral in Adelaide on 31 August, and I thank you for doing that very much. I attended his memorial service a week later on 7 September in Oodnadatta, which was an absolutely marvellous occasion. It was a beautiful service, tastefully done, that included people from all walks of life. There were people from the city there. There were people who would not have left Oodnadatta many times in their life there.

Everybody was included and it was an absolutely remarkable service, led by Father Paul Bourke, who is certainly an important identity in outback South Australia. He has a marvellous way of supporting people of all faiths, or potentially of little faith. He includes them exceptionally well in whatever service he leads. I would also like to pay particular tribute to Lynnie, Alice, Tilly and Ruby. Let me say that they were really the stars of the day and they represented themselves, Adam and their community exceptionally well in their send-off for Adam on that day.

The SPEAKER (15:35): Thank you, member for Stuart. I would also like to add my comments to that. I am a dear friend of Lynnie's, and Adam was an absolute outback character—a legend in the outback. He had a thousand people at his funeral in Adelaide, which was pretty incredible, I think, for anyone. I think Father Paul topped that off there when he said he welcomed everyone there 'who had ever had an argument with Adam, and that would be everyone in this room' but he got his point across every time. He was a legend. He did incredible work for Oodnadatta and for the outback. Lynnie, Alice, Tilly and Ruby can be very proud of him and the memorial he left. I am glad you brought that up today.

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