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Bruce Jones Bruce was placed in Dr Barnardo’s Homes in England at the age of five. When he was ten years old he came out to Australia by ship, together with his younger brother Brian and a group of other children from Barnardo’s Homes. Bruce grew up in the Home and he is a survivor. He came to the Territory in 1963 to shoot buffalos commercially. Towards the end of that year he got a job at the Rum Jungle uranium mine as a driller’s offsider and lived in Batchelor at the single men’s quarters. He represented the Northern Territory in Hockey for several years at the North Queensland championships. He played darts, cricket and lawn bowls. He was an active cricket club man and served on the committee, was Captain and vice Captain at different times. Each Monday and Friday night Bruce still enjoys a game of Social Bowls at the Batchelor Bowls Club. During 1965 while courting Ros Sargent, a local girl from Meneling Station, Bruce started Rodeo riding and he rode competitively in Darwin, Katherine and Mt Isa rodeos, being a particularly proficient Bull Rider. In 1966 he was Territory Champion Cowboy at Katherine Rodeo. In 1968 Bruce married Ros and they lived happily in Batchelor for the next thirty one years, before moving to their twenty acre block on Litchfield Park Road in 1999. Ros and Bruce have two lovely daughters and five grandchildren. Growing up in a “home” environment has given Bruce the incentive to always help the “underdog”. He became Union representative at the mine. Bruce had never been a member of the Union until he became a rep. and they had never had such a high membership in the Union as they did while Bruce remained in that position until the mine closed. During the mining years Bruce worked as a driller’s offsider, truck driver and plant operator. When the mine closed Bruce remained in Batchelor working for the Department of Community Development as a “Tractor Driver” operating the slasher and keeping the town and surrounds neat and tidy. He took great pride in his work, both as “Chief Leaf” and “Lawn Ecologist”. In 1971 when the Rum Jungle mine closed the mine ambulance was given to the town of Batchelor and Bruce became an inaugural volunteer with the newly formed Batchelor Adelaide River District Ambulance Service (BARDAS). About ten years ago Bruce became a member of the Order of St. John when he was made a Serving Brother. He had previously received a Priory Vote of Thanks for his volunteer work with St. John Ambulance. This year he received his thirty year service medal from Fire and Emergency Services. During these 30 years Bruce has attended numerous motor vehicle accidents, grass fires and house fires, plus done some search and rescue work. This year he stood down as Deputy Fire Captain, a position which he had held for many years and remains a volunteer with the local Fire and Emergency Response Group (FERG). This January Bruce travelled to Victoria as a FERG volunteer and did a stint fighting the raging bushfires in the Gippsland region. Bruce has also been a Justice of the Peace for a number of years. The Coomalie Community Government Council (CCGC) was formed in 1991 and Bruce has been an elected member on Council since its inception. He is the only Coomalie councillor who has served his community continuously since the beginning of Council. Between 2003 to 2006 he did a term as President, elected by his fellow councillors. In 1999 Bruce was awarded the Australia Day Citizen Award for the Coomalie Community. Every year since Clean Up Australia began Bruce has been an active volunteer in the clean up of Batchelor and the Litchfield Park Road area and volunteers his time at every Australia Day breakfast that Coomalie Council runs each year for the community. Since being on Long Service Leave since late April this year, he has been a volunteer with the local Tourism association each Friday telling tourists where to go and how to get there in Litchfield National Park and Coomalie community. He thoroughly enjoys the repartee and shares his wealth of local knowledge and history with everyone who is interested. In November 1983 Bruce transferred from the Department of Community Development to Batchelor College (now the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education) where holds the position of Purchasing Officer, a position he enjoys. At present Bruce is on long service leave and working at home. Summary: |
The NT Achiever Award, in memory of Commodore Eric Johnston, is sponsored by Total Event Services.
