John McAuley’s Century
There were 100 reasons for family and friends to gather and celebrate John McAuley’s birthday recently and there were three big parties to mark the occasion.
The WW2 veteran, retired economist and author celebrated his 100 years in style, first with an early birthday party at the Anglican Retirement Villages at Castle Hill with over 100 friends and family on the Wednesday before his big day.
On Saturday he celebrated with members of Castle Hill and District RSL Sub-branch when he was presented with a specially designed handmade quilt in recognition of his RAAF service to his country.
On Sunday, his actual birthday, he celebrated with four generations of his family and very good friends at his eldest grandson’s home in Middle Dural.
Julian Leeser MP presented John with congratulatory messages from King Charles and Queen Camilla, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and NSW Premier Chris Minns and spoke about John’s long service to the community.
The great grandfather from Castle Hill was born on 30th June 1924 at Murray Bridge South Australia to Patrick and Myra McAuley (nee Travers). John was just 18 months old when his father died. The family affairs were entrusted to a solicitor who lost the family’s money on the horses.
The solicitor was jailed but it left the family, Myra, her son John and his two sisters, Eileen and Sheila, destitute.
It was thanks to the generosity of Myra’s brother, Ed Travers, that the family were saved from penury.
John was a boxer, played cricket and tennissports in which he engaged well into later life.
In June 1942 John joined the Royal Australian Air Force and was trained as a radar operator at RAAF Richmond. During World War 2 he was based in Merauke, which was then Dutch New Guinea. Even while a radar operator John acquired various other qualifications as an accountant and company secretary.
He was demobbed from the RAAF in 1945 and thanks to the Chifley Government’s Post-War Retraining Scheme, graduated as a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Adelaide. Many years later, he was awarded a Master of Economics by Macquarie University.
On 22 August 1946 he married Margaret O’Connor. He cared for Margaret for a number of years prior to her death in 2010.
The couple had three children, Michael, Catherine and Elissa.
John and Margaret moved to Sydney where John worked as an economist in the Commonwealth Bank, prior to joining the State Bank.
An expert on public debt, John published two books, as well as numerous articles. His economic perspective is Keynesian, favouring government action to remedy the abuses of unrestrained capitalism.
John was Treasurer of the United Nations Association of Australia.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s when the trickle of Vietnamese refugees became greater and greater, John helped a Vietnamese family establish itself in Australia.
After he retired from the State Bank, John was a member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, a role in which he attracted controversy for his dissenting decisions in favour of injured workers.
He has 9 grandchildren and 24 great grandchildren and is looking forward to having a total of 30 great grandchildren by the end of the year.
John spoke to the Hills to Hawkesbury Community News saying the celebrations had been “an exhilarating experience” and it was wonderful to see so many members of his family altogether outside of Christmas gatherings.
“I look forward to seeing them all.” While his family is his greatest joy, writing a quarterly newsletter for former RAAF radar operators after World War 2 for over 24 years was an important achievement.
“It kept comrades together and renewed their friendships,” he said. A great reader and philosopher, he said the one piece of advice he would give people is the one he adhered to at a young age: “Become qualified”.
He learnt accounting over a correspondence course at an early age and finished the course at the age of 20. “That’s the advice I give to my young people, to have a goal in life and qualify to achieve your aim,” he said.
