Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak about a dear family friend and a former teacher who, sadly, passed away last month after a long struggle with illness. I imagine that everyone in this place can look back and recall a teacher who made a real difference in their life—a person who inspired them to learn and, perhaps more importantly, a person who believed in them. For me, Don Reid was such a person. He taught me science at Kingscliff High School for four years, from year 7 to year 10. He was unstinting with his knowledge and exacting in his expectations. He combined this with good humour, patience and affection, which is quite an achievement in year 9, as you might imagine.

When I saw him earlier this year, he was facing his illness with that same good humour and patience. Characteristically, his primary concern was not his own troubles but to inquire about my wellbeing and how I was going. He was, really, a marvellous teacher. As students, he gave us a great deal of freedom to identify questions and problems that interested us, but that freedom was matched with accountability and we were all expected to deliver. Don disapproved of laziness, and intellectual laziness in particular. He epitomised creativity and excellence in public schooling. As the first head of science in the brand-new Kingscliff High School, he quickly realised that the school's location, on the edge of a pristine wetland that drained into Cudgen Creek, presented an incredible teaching opportunity. Much of the curriculum was shaped to apply the principles of chemistry, physics and biology in the real world laboratory that was quite literally just outside our classroom. Don and the team he led fed our curiosity about environmental management, species conservation and plant biology. Some of my funniest memories of my high school years involved traipsing around in the swamp, collecting samples and checking the experiments that we'd established in the wetland.

Over the years, Don and his colleagues in the science department won numerous awards for the work undertaken by students in environmental restoration and management. He was also enormously active in the community. He was a person known for his generosity and a clear-eyed sense of the public interest. He was a gold member of Cudgen Headland Surf Life Saving Club and he was much loved in that club. He built his life in the Tweed on his beloved farm at Duranbah. He was a loving husband to Wendy and a loving father to Teddy, Bobby and Anoushka, who were my schoolmates, and he was loved in return.

I attended Don's funeral late last month and the Tweed Valley Chapel was overflowing, including many staff and students from Don's teaching days at Kingscliff High School. It was a send-off that properly reflected the great personal integrity and sense of community that characterised Don's life.