Talk:Clem Jones
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Assessment comments
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[edit] The Gabba
We need something about his involvement with the Gabba cricket pitch, including him personally doing the work to keep it up to standard. I don't have the details, but I'm sure some good editor out there must have. -- JackofOz (talk) 06:53, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Darwin Reconstruction Commission (DRC)
This says: "The final decision of the Whitlam cabinet before the government was dismissed in 1975 was to appoint Jones to take over as chairman of the Darwin Reconstruction Commission". I don’t question the appointment, but I do question the timing. Cyclone Tracy happened on Christmas Day 1974, and Whitlam wasn’t dismissed till November 1975. From memory, Jones was apppointed well before November – it was shortly after the cyclone, possibly as early as January.
- After some research:
- This says he was appointed in January 1975 (although it refers to the Commission as a "committee", so I wonder at its veracity).
- This says: "By mid-1975, he had embarked on a new challenge as head of the Darwin Reconstruction Commission, with a brief to rebuild the shattered town. Jones cut through the red tape, rolled up his sleeves and oversaw a massive rebuilding program which put Darwin back in business. He returned to Brisbane ... 2 1/2years later."
- This says the DRC was announced on 30 December 1974, and its interim chairman was Sir Leslie Thiess.
- This says the interim commission was headed by the chairman of the Queensland Electricity commission "whose name escapes me". That may have been a reference to Sir Lesie Thiess, but google is very unfamiliar with him.
- What I glean from all that is that perhaps Thiess was the interim chairman, and Jones was appointed the ongoing chairman some time later, until the DRC was wound up in late 1977. I'd prefer to believe the "mid-1975" appointment date rather than the November 1975 date. -- JackofOz (talk) 20:18, 18 December 2007 (UTC)
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- But the last cite above also says: "In February the Govt. passed the Darwin Reconstruction Act which made the Commissioner of the National Capital Development Commission (NCDC) the Chairman of the DRC with the power to use any of his NCDC staff to run the DRC. The DRC had a life of 5 years and was charged with duty of rebuilding Darwin to its pre-cyclone state with regard to building codes for known cyclone areas. It also had the job of providing temporary housing for those who remained behind. This was a daunting task and in hindsight was a path down which the Govt. should not have gone." The NCDC Commissioner from 1974 was Tony Powell. So we now have a third candidate for Chairman of the DRC, which sheds further doubt on when Clem Jones was appointed - and why. -- JackofOz (talk) 20:30, 18 December 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Date of Birth
There was an obituary in The Age yesterday, which said he was "born on 16 December 1918, and died the day before his 90th birthday". That’s incorrect for starters. It would have been the day before his 89th birthday, if anything, unless 1918 was a typo for 1917. But we have him being born on 16 January 1918, not 16 December 1918 or 16 December 1917. This, this and this all say 16 January 1918. I haven’t found any cites that support 16 December - in any year. I think the obituarist was making it up as he went along, and we're quite safe with 16 January 1918. -- JackofOz (talk) 19:29, 18 December 2007 (UTC)
