Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In these last few dreadful days, we have rightly spent much time paying tribute to the service of so many selfless and dedicated Australians who choose to stand in harm’s way, on our behalf, to protect life itself. As it says in the Scriptures, greater love has no-one than the one who will lay down their life for another. It is therefore fitting to have this opportunity this evening to pay tribute to a giant of a man who similarly committed himself to a lifetime of vigilance and service for his community in our Sutherland shire.

The late William George Marshall OAM, patron of his beloved Cronulla Surf Club for 21 years and a member of that club for 66 years, passed away on 30 December 2008. As I attended the crowded memorial service in January along with the hundreds of people who came in his honour, it was not just his extraordinary service to surf-lifesaving that was on display.

Bill’s was a rich life. Bill was a loving husband, a devoted father and an adoring grandfather. His story is like that of many of his generation and those who came before him of similar mould, who built our local community in the Sutherland shire. Their modesty, humility, dedication, sense of duty to others and above all their absolute and unwavering commitment to make a better life for their children and community defined their lives, and in Bill’s life this was particularly the case. It provides a path for all of us who now seek to follow.

It was said of Bill that he had a wonderful ability to inspire others to be better people. I can think of no better tribute. The tender stories of Bill’s family recounted by his daughter Vanessa at the memorial service were incredibly moving. They spoke of a family home created by Bill and his loving wife, Faye, that I would hope all Australians could know—a home of warmth, love and generosity in which children were truly valued. It was said that family always came first for Bill—but, as his wife recounted at the service, ‘not quite always, particularly if there was a carnival on’.

The other side of Bill’s tremendous story was his love and passion for surf-lifesaving. Bill was not someone who was involved in surf-lifesaving. Bill was surf-lifesaving in the Shire and, more specifically, in the Bate Bay clubs, having joined the Cronulla club at age 15 during the war years, gaining his bronze medallion—No. 18891—in December 1943 and continuing in membership for a total of 66 years. Bill would probably take issue with this tribute as he always believed that the club was bigger than the man, but there was no mistaking the importance of Bill’s contribution to all those who gathered to celebrate his memory in January.

Prior to the service Bill’s coffin was placed in a surf boat—at his direction, and much to Faye’s indignation at the time of the planning—for a final salute across Bate Bay and each of the four clubs. The procession proceeded back onto land and by road up the Kingsway to the Shirelive Church at Sutherland, where he entered via an honour guard in a procession led by Club President Greg Holland and my local pastor, Michael Murphy. His casket was laid at the front of the church in another surf boat suitably named in his honour and positioned between the flags.

Bill’s extraordinary contributions to surf-lifesaving were acknowledged at all levels: national, state, branch, district and club. Bill served in many capacities through his career in surf-lifesaving, and they are too numerous to mention here. At Cronulla he was club captain, club president and esteemed patron for 21 years. He played an important role in the support and membership of each of the other Bate Bay clubs—namely, North Cronulla, Elouera and Wanda. Bill held many senior and executive posts at branch, state and national levels, including five years as president of the Sydney branch, of which he later became patron after the sad passing of the late Bill Singleton, also from the Shire, whom I had the opportunity to honour in this place last year.

For his contribution to surf-lifesaving Bill was awarded life membership of his club in 1958, his branch in 1979, his state in 1982 and at a national level in 1987. He was awarded a world lifesaving certificate of merit in 1983, and in 1996 his many years of service were recognised with the award of the Medal of the Order of Australia. However, he will probably be most remembered for the crowning legacy of completing the centenary history of his club, which was published and launched by Governor Marie Bashir on the eve of the November 2007 election.

At Bill’s memorial service Barry Ezzy said farewell as a lifelong mate and friend of Bill, while Ken English, a life member of Cronulla and Sydney branches, concluded his tribute to Bill in saying:

Bill will no longer feel the sand between his toes from his beloved Cronulla beach … but he can rest peacefully, safe in the knowledge that he has completed his patrol with the vigilance and service required of an Australian Surf Life Saver.