Tom Pyne

Thomas Alfred Pyne became the Mayor of Cairns in 1995 when Mulgrave Council and City of Cairns Council merged into Cairns City Council. After his retirement in 2000, Kevin Byrne was elected Mayor of Cairns.

Early life

Thomas Alfred Pyne was born in January in the town of Babinda. He was the youngest of five children board to John Samuel and Katherine Hannah Pyne. His siblings include his brothers Jack and Frank and his sisters Ethel Hunt and Grace Macauley. He was educated at McDonnell's Creel, Bellenden Ker and Hambledon State Schools. For a number of years he lived at Deeral before moving to Edmonton. On July 2nd, 1955, at the age of 20, Tom married Marion McKinnon. Tom and Marion had two children, Joann Grace and Robert John.

Working life

His working life began as a wood machinist with A.H. Kent, a furniture manufacturer in Cairns. He later was employed by Queensland Railways, the Department of Works and Advanx Tyre and Motor Services. He later opened his own business, Tin-Sang and Co, at Edmonton.

Military life

Tom was a member of the 51st R.O.R Reserve and attained the rank of Sargent, his commanding officer later become a long time friend, Sir Sydney Williams O.B.E.

Political life

Australian Labor Party

Tom Pyne joined the Australian Labor Party at the age of 18. He rose through the ranks and held the positions of President and Secretary of the branch of several occasions. On the 2nd of August, 1985 he was presented with a Life Membership with the ALP, by the then Foreign Minister, Bill Hayden, who later went on to become Governor-General of Australia.

Tom has been active in a Campaign Director role for a number of Federal and State Ministers. These have included Member for Cairns, Mr. Ray Jones, Mr. Keith De Lacy, and Mr John Gayler.

Local Government Association of Queensland

As a member of the Local Government Association of Queensland he served as the representative of Devision 10. This division covered the Councils of North Queensland from Bowen, north along the coast and inland to Charters Towers and Dalrymple - 21 Councils in all. Tom first became Member of the Local Government Executive in 1982 and was reappointed in 1985, 1988 and 1991.

Prior to the 1995 amalgamation of the City of Cairns and Mulgrave Shire Councils, Tom Pyne became the Chairman of a group of 20 local authorities known as the Campaign Against Forced Amalgamation. Conversely, in 2007 he was a member of the committee that recommended the amalgamation of the Cairns City Council and Douglas Shire Council into the Cairns Regional Council.

Mulgrave Shire Council

In 1961, as a young man of 26, he was elected to the Mulgrave Shire Council as the Councilor for Devision 1 and served continuously, in one form or another, until 2000. He retired from public office in 2000 having never been defeated at an election.

In 1976, he was elected Deputy Shire Chairman.

in 1979, he was elected unopposed to the Chairmanship of Mulgrave shire council following the retirement of the former Chairman Ken Alley. He was elected to this position unopposed in 1982, 1983, 1988 and 1991.

Cairns City Council

In 1995, Tom became the Mayor of Cairns City Council, the newly almagamation of the former City of Cairns and Mulgrave Shire Councils. He retired from this position, and public life in general in 2000.

Other positions in the community

While serving as Chairman of the Mulgrave Shire Council, Tom Pyne also filled a number of other official positions. These included the role of s Senior Vice-Chairman of the Local Government Association of Queensland, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the local radion station, 4am. Other duties included appointments as the Chairman of the Queensland Electricity Board in 1991 and Committee Member of the Far North Queensland Youth Assistance Inc for twelve years. He was also Deputy President on the Cairns/Mulgrave Water Supply Board, to which he was first appointed to in 1968 and the Wet Tropics Management Authority.

References

Other references

*Profile - Thomas Alfred Pyne - Cairns City Council Historical Archives - 1991
*Councillor Tom Pyne - Cairns City Council Historical Archives - 1991
*Mulgrave Shire Council Media Realse - Cairns City Council Historical Archives - 4th October 1993