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Australasian Biotechnology, Vol. 10 No. 1, 2000, pp. 3 Letter to the Editor Geoff Wilson Mansfield, Queensland Code Number: au00003 I noticed you (Peter Rogers, President) mentioned Reginald Fogarty in your article. A story my father, Eric Wilson, told about himself and Mr Fogarty might be interesting to you. During the last year of WW2 my father was working for the Shell Company in Cairns. As the person in charge of POL supplies (petrol, oil and lubricants) for that part of north Queensland, he was invited to join an unofficial committee of key leaders who got things done in wartime Cairns, with the minimum of fuss. There was the mayor, the police chief, the army commandant, my father and Mr Fogarty. Among other things, the latter two often provided the "currency" to cut red tape - my father the occasional tank full of petrol (severely rationed at the time) and Mr Fogarty the occasional case of beer (not readily available to civilians). According to my father, the unofficial committee did some excellent community work. It met once a week in Hyde's Hotel in Cairns, usually for an hour or so. I remember waiting outside in my father's car on a number of occasions - with the instruction to shout out for help if anyone began siphoning off petrol. My father used to return with several bottles of the local brew, courtesy of Mr Fogarty. It was carefully wrapped in old newspaper. My job was to keep my feet on the precious package to stop it rolling around and breaking from entry and exit of many deep potholes in the roads in Cairns at that time, especially around the Shell Company installation to which my father took the beer to share with other Shell employees. The sharing firmly cemented many of my father's career friendships, so providing benefit far beyond wartime. Copyright 2000 - Australasian Biotechnology |
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