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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-10-26 Daily Xml
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Thom, Mr B.G.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:47): Today, I would like to bring to the attention of the house a couple of matters. First, I would like to pay tribute to a person in my community I have known for many years who has recently passed away. I say a tribute, as this is not meant to be a eulogy, because in the time allocated I would not be able to cover his full life and contribution to the community of Gawler. It is a tribute to his work and particularly to the history of the Town of Gawler.

I am actually referring to Brian Thom. Brian was an elected member of council in the Town of Gawler from 2000 to 2014. He actually joined the council the same year I became the mayor. That period included periods as deputy mayor from 2006 to 2011 and 2013 to 2014. He was a member of the Apex Club for 22 years and he was curator of the Gawler Anglican Cemetery for 20 years. In 2015, for his contribution to the community, he was acknowledged as the 2015 Citizen of the Year.

All these things are important but what Gawler knows Brian more widely for is his contribution to the history of the town, particularly the preservation of the history and also the communication of the history to the community. Brian was the founder and chairman of the Gawler History Team. In Brian's own words, he did not see himself as a researcher and historian, but he had a passion for photographic history. The work he did was actually about how you actually bring the history of Gawler to life and, in particular, how you bring the history of Gawler to life for young people.

Some years ago, he went to a communications seminar and he asked the person who was speaking about communication in the community, etc., 'How do you explain to the youth about Gawler's history?' and the answer was that you put it in a medium that they use and understand. For a person of Brian's age it meant going online. Brian would have found that a new thing at the time. Brian then called a group of people together to discuss how it could be done. The majority of people supported his idea of creating a website, and the Gawler History Team was founded. The core team was formed by people with different skills and a passion to develop the website and communicate the history of Gawler.

It was decided to have monthly meetings, with guests speaking on topics relevant to Gawler's history, and their information was also put on the website. About four years later, they decided that guest speakers should be videoed, and their speeches were put on the website. I was fortunate enough to be invited to be a guest speaker a couple of years ago to talk about the labour history of Gawler, both labour in terms of the union and also the Labor Party's history in Gawler.

Brian was an incredibly meticulous person—very well organised. I was asked two years ahead of time to be the guest speaker. I did at the time remind him that I may not be the member because there was an election in between. He said that, irrespective of whether I was the member, I could still speak about the matter.

There has been a diversity of speakers from various professions to social interests and charitable organisations. The most recent talk I attended, which was at the AGM, was about the history of the Salvation Army in Gawler. That was the last meeting that Brian attended. Brian was diagnosed with motor neurone disease only a few months before. At the annual general meeting I was quite shocked at how his condition had deteriorated, but I was so pleased he was able to attend the meeting. The history people thanked him for his contribution and a presentation was made.

Brian's contribution to the history of Gawler cannot be underestimated. He left a huge legacy for others to follow. I pass on my condolences to his wife, Bev, and his sons, Richard and Michael, and their families. May he live in his history world up there.

It would be remiss of me if I did not also mention today that this week is Service Club Week. It is a time when I acknowledge the contribution made by service clubs in my community. I will quickly mention them because we have quite a few. We have the APEX Club of Gawler and the South Australian Country Women's Association Bottlebrush Ladies Group. We also have the South Australian Country Women's Association Gawler (another group), the Gawler Freemasons, Kiwanis Club of Roseworthy-Hewett, Lions Club of Angle Vale, Lions Club of Gawler, Lions Club of Elizabeth Playford, Rotary Club of Gawler Light, Rotary Club of Gawler, Rotary Club of Playford, View Club of Gawler and Zonta Club of Gawler. All these service clubs do a wonderful job in serving the electorate of Light.

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