“Dad was Gunnedah through and through,” son Michael said in the eulogy.

Known to many as Big Mike or Big Huss, his presence was unmistakable.

“He was tall. He was broad. Big personality. Big laugh. Big on life.”

He grew up a real country lad with a talent for sports and a troublesome sweet tooth.

“Dad had a few weak spots including but not limited to hot cinnamon donuts, pink iced donuts and cheesecake,” daughter Pamela said.

He was schooled at St Mary’s then later Gunnedah High and played as much tennis as he could muster. He played on representative sides throughout the state and in New Zealand with university teams alongside great mates Graeme Mosely and Grant Copley.

“He had height, was strong on both sides, no two handed backhands, and his smooth movement around the court made it look all so easy.”

Michael had great cricket skills too and was a handy batsman.

“Batting at Wolseley Park he dispatched the ball over the boundary, across Chandos Street and over the Town Hall building,” the family recalled. “And that was with the old toothpick bats.”

Michael received a scholarship to the University of New England graduating with a BA, before travelling to South Africa to teach in 1965. Later he taught at Belmore High and Rockhampton Grammar before moving to Gunnedah after the death of his father, Cedric, to help run the sports store.

He married Caroleann in 1969 before boarding a P&O ship bound for Canada. Not surprisingly, first thing Michael did on arrival was join the tennis and cricket clubs. They spent five years in Canada where Michael also became a qualified accountant.  

On return to Australia again, he held accountancy postings in Brisbane, North Queensland and Sydney and even managed a hotel in Port Macquarie for a year before moving to Canberra where after a stint looking after the books at Parliament House offices, opened his own shopfront in Canberra City.

“CPA Australia used to market themselves as ‘Not your average accountant’ I think they must have had dad in mind,” Pamela said. “How many accountants happily accepted cakes, live animals and slabs of VB for payment for services?”

Daughter Liesl said the “twinkle and cheeky spark” in her dad’s her eye is what she will remember most. 

“I know very well how many people in Gunnedah loved and knew him and our family,” Liesl said. “I posted on the Facebook page and the beautiful thoughts and messages have been overwhelming.”