Hans Allgayer was a man who did not seek the limelight but who was a visionary, as well as a driven and committed individual, whose favourite expression was “It is all about outcomes” – a saying which was to become his mantra.
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While being a proud miner, Cr Allgayer was equally proud of his environmentalist credentials and saw no conflict in the two roles. Not surprisingly, Hans Allgayer was presented with the Namoi Landcare Individual Landcarer Award in 2005.
Hans’ initial community activism saw him taking on the position of president of the Gunnedah Swimming Club where Jo and Hans’ four children, Fiona, Craig, Pennie and Kirstin, excelled as competitors. Hans also performed as coach for a period.
Hans was always prepared to put up his hand when needed.
In 1995, during the abattoir crisis, Hans decided to not just comment from the sidelines but to stand for council himself. He was successful and was to spend some 16 years, from 1995-2004 and 2009 to the present as a councillor.
During this period, Hans demonstrated his visionary capacities. This was shown when he conceived both the concept of creating koala corridors within the town and wider shire, as well as the plan to create a significant parkland on Pensioners Hill.
As a member of three organisations including the Rotary Club of Gunnedah West, Gunnedah Shire Council and Gunnedah Urban Landcare Group (GULG), Hans persuaded the members to believe these projects were worthwhile – and so they commenced.
He encouraged a group of landscape design architect students to come from Canberra to Gunnedah in 1996 in order to present their individual concepts for a lake on Blackjack Creek Reserve and a design as the basis for the upgrade of the Pensioners Hill Reserve area. The concept designs were interesting, challenging – and expensive.
However, this was the beginning of one of his grand projects, the upgrade of Pensioners Hill Reserve.
Today Gunnedah can proudly point to these two major achievements as part of his legacy:
1) The tens of thousands of koala habitat trees planted in various locations including mine leases, public reserves, along the river and on railway land
2) The premier viewing and passive recreation area, being Pensioners Hill reserve
Both are as a direct result of Hans’ vision. Hans led by example – that is why people were so prepared to commit to his vision and support his projects.
An example of this is when GULG were doing track work on Porcupine Reserve. In order to get labour for the projects Hans utilised community service workers and Green Corps volunteers – some of who had little work experience!!
However, very few were prepared to loaf when they saw their elderly supervisor (Hans was well into his 60s at that stage) carrying heavy logs and equipment up the tracks, and wielding the pick, shovel and sledge hammer like a navvy. They all pitched in and got the jobs done.
Those community service volunteers who worked with Hans also liked him for the fact that he treated them with respect and invited them to his home despite their having being “in the courts”. Hans saw value in all people and judged them on how they treated him and his family – and their preparedness to commit to the task at hand.
Consequently, Hans received the 2004 Law and Justice Volunteer Award for his outstanding commitment in a voluntary capacity to improving access to justice in NSW.
Hans was still working with a Green Corps group in planting and trimming trees on Ross Road and Blackjack Road right up until the time he was to go to hospital some seven weeks ago.
In 2003, Hans, Jo, than Mayor Gae Swain and Owen Hasler travelled to Broken Hill in order to attend the Tidy Towns Awards Weekend– one of a number that Hans attended over the years as representative of GULG and Gunnedah Shire.
During the visit, he witnessed the spectacular Sculptures in the Living Desert situated on a hill overlooking Broken Hill. Hans was most impressed.
Hans had yet another vision: “We can achieve a similar sculpture park on Pensioners depicting the history of the Gunnedah District,” he stated.
Having identified a number of large boulders unearthed by council’s road crew on the Quia Road and, utilising council’s low loader and a crane supplied by Whitehaven, the six boulders were delivered to Pensioners where the Gunnedah West Rotarians did another outstanding job in erecting the stones while than secretary, Col Rosewall, prepared a submission seeking funding from BHP Billiton.
The submission was successful and sculptors, Karl Mertens and Joan Relke, were given the task of designing and creating the marvellous works that we witness today, ably assisted by a number of Rotarians and Mick Horne and Ronny Long– yet another tribute to the vision, drive and commitment of Hans Allgayer.
The sculptures were officially opened in October 2012, and are a proud feature of the Gunnedah landscape.
Hans’ achievements as a councillor include:
The Miners Memorial in Brocks Court.
When Preston and Blackjack Mines were in the process of closing in the 1990s Hans and fellow mine worker, Ross Whittaker, decided that it would be a fitting tribute to the many miners who died in northern pits to have a memorial erected in their honour.
They set to work convincing the Northern Branch of the CMFEU that they should fund the important project.
They also identified sculptor, Karl Merten, who had done similar work for the CMFEU at Aberdare, to undertake the project.
2) The Poetic Toilet
Hans also believed that communities are judged by their public toilets – a conclusion he had reached following a visit to the Western Front, Germany and England with the Miners Band in 2000. Hans came home believing that we needed to upgrade a number of our public toilets particularly that at Brocks Court.
Council funded two new toilet blocks – at Mornington and at Brock’s court. Hence the “poetic” toilet which is well known and appreciated by travellers and locals alike and which Hans was very proud of.
3) The Town Hall Upgrade
Hans was a strong advocate of both the retention (as some had proposed the demolition of the Town Hall) and renovation of our heritage building.
This included the relocation of the SES offices and staged development of the Town Hall.
4) Gunnedah, The Koala Capital of the World
From his earliest time on council, Hans sought to promote the koala as an asset for our community. This included the tourism campaign focussing on “Gunnedah- The Koala Capital of the World”, the retention/extension of koala habitat and, more recently, the adoption of a Koala Strategy.
His last actions in this area was to push for Council’s involvement in the “Project Koala “campaign with one of the objectives being the planting of up to 4000 koala trees this year. A drive out to Blackjack Road and the Waste Management Depot along Ross Road will show you his success in this regard, yet again.
5) Representative on Mining Community Consultative Groups
Councillor Allgayer represented Gunnedah on a number of Community Consultative Groups including Rockglen, Tarrawonga and Caroona.
Hans used his extensive knowledge and respect within the mining industry, together with his well-recognised and applauded environmental credentials, to ensure that the concerns and interests of Gunnedah residents were heard, respected and acknowledged.
Similarly, as a delegate to the Association of Mining Related Councils. His input was significant and appreciated as demonstrated by the Certificate of Recognition from the AMRC which he received in August 2004, recognising his six-year term as an executive committee member.
6) Solar Power Generation
Cr Allgayer also pushed for council to set an example for the community by the installation and use of solar energy and he moved the motion which saw solar panels installed on all of council’s buildings in town which took place in 2014.
Cr Allgayer could always be relied upon to carefully examine the financial implications of any decision made by council.
He well understood the fact that any large expenditure by council on new or improved facilities had budgetary implications for the future in terms of added maintenance costs and long term infrastructure replacement costs.
Such suggested programs were carefully scrutinised, whether proposed by staff or councillors, and, if seen to be justified, would receive the begrudging but strong support of Cr Allgayer. Hans did not like to see money wasted – his own or the community’s.
But Hans was not only concerned with improving his own community.
After a trip over the Kokoda Track with Phil Brooks in 1998, Hans was to lead in excess of 10 groups, some consisting of up to 40 people, to this region of New Guinea.
Many of these trips involved fellow Rotarians supplying dental treatment to the local population as well as work on upgrading medical facilities at the small hospital facilities, but also with school-aged and other groups who wished to experience and recognise what our troops had endured during WW2.
Hans also travelled to the Solomon Islands with Rotary and had a strong affinity with the people in the newly developing world believing that wealthy, first world nations like Australia should do more to assist the people of the region.
This commitment was recognised in 2004 when he received the following citation signed by Prime Minister John Howard: “The Australian government expresses its gratitude to Hans Allgayer for a valued contribution toward assisting developing countries to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development”.
Hans also had other objectives that drove him on. He climbed the Machu Picchu in Peru together with the Sandakan Track in Borneo and Mt Kinabula in Sabah, Malaysia, where he lead small groups from Gunnedah. He achieved all his goals in that regard. The last being Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania as recently as March 2011, aged 71.
Sadly, Hans wanted to join the recent Gunnedah Council and Chamber delegation which visited Beijing and Inner Mongolia in China. He attended the early Chinese language and etiquette lessons which were conducted but withdrew on medical advice.
Councillor Allgayer was awarded the “Gunnedah Citizen of the Year “(Over 40) as well as the “Ossie and Beryl Campbell Memorial as Volunteer of the Year” Awards in 2005; a fitting honour for someone who had given so much to our community.
Hans was very proud of his role in Rotary and what the Rotary movement had achieved in many parts of the world and they reciprocated by awarding him a Certificate of Appreciation for “providing exceptional services to the Rotary Club of Gunnedah West for the Pensioners Hill and Tree Planting projects and commendable services to the Gunnedah community” in June, 2002.
Hans was further recognised by his Rotary and GULG colleagues in 2014 when the new storage shed built on Pensioners Hill was named “The Hans Allgayer Shed” in a tribute to the many years work and passion that Hans had given to that project and other similar projects throughout our community.
All of these achievements could only have been possible with the total support, love and affection of his wife, Joanne. She is the rock by which Cr Allgayer was able to pursue his visions, myriad interests and desire to achieve outcomes for our community.
This was demonstrated in his last three years as a councillor when, despite his very severe health issues, Cr Allgayer was prepared to attend most meetings, public functions and council-related events.
Council proudly recognises Cr Allgayer’s significant contribution to our community over his 16-year term as councillor.
