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7 March, 2006: "SHF volunteers win Sydney Harbour Week Awards"
Mar 07, 2006
Long-Serving Sydney Volunteers Receive Award
Two Sydney Heritage Fleet volunteers honoured at start of Harbour Week
At a ceremony aboard James Craig on March 3rd, to mark the start of Harbour Week 2006, Sydney Heritage Fleet was honoured through the presentation of 2 awards to its members. Volunteer and member of the John Oxley Hull Restoration project, Barry Jones, was the recipient of the Community Service Award and Michael York, OAM received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Barry Jones is universally accepted and respected as leader of the volunteers at the Heritage Fleet’s Shipyard and, in recognition of this fact, was presented with a “silver” hard hat by his team. It is appropriate that he received the award on one of the magnificent ships that he has helped restore. His knowledge and experience has been essential in the restoration of James Craig and the current restoration of John Oxley. Barry, at 82, is one of the older of the Fleet’s volunteers. His forty plus years of experience at Cockatoo and Garden Islands have been invaluable to the Heritage Fleet’s restoration projects.
Interestingly, although Barry has worked his entire life in the maritime industry he is not a sailor. Early on he discovered that he was particularly subject to the dreaded “mal de mer” and that point decided a life on the sea was not for him. Barry is a consummate believer in “Social Capital” which, by his definition involves putting back into society what you have gained from it. He is the ultimate role model for this belief, working as he has, virtually every day the shipyard has been open since he became a volunteer with SHF. He has nurtured, encouraged and shared his skills with virtually hundreds of volunteers who have gone through their shipyard. He believes that by giving retirees something to do after they have retired from work, keeps them fitter, stronger, more mentally alert, more productive and, above all happier, than if they were to simply retire. Barry is both an innovator and a stickler for precision. With the Fleet’s limited resources Barry is always able to improvise and see new or easier or more practical ways to get a job done.
Michael York, a Governor of the Sydney Heritage Fleet and for several years its President, is also a worthy winner of a Sydney Harbour Week Award, this one for Lifetime Achievement. Michael, like Barry, is a great supporter of the Fleet and is the regular Master of schooner Boomerang. He has played an important part in the retrieval and subsequent operation of James Craig having been involved from the very beginning with her refloating and return to Sydney for restoration.
Through his efforts the Fleet has obtained innumerable donations of cash and goods for all the Fleet’s heritage vessels.
Apart from his unfailing service to Sydney Heritage Fleet Michael is a very well known and accomplished sailor having sailed in a total of 15 Sydney Hobart races, two America's Cup campaigns in 1962 and 1964, the Admiral's Cup on Caprice of Huon in 1965 and the Olympic Trials on Barranjoey in 1968.
SHF has nearly 600 volunteers working in its shipyard at Rozelle Bay, in its offices in Pyrmont and crewing its ships. In the year 2004/05 volunteers of the Fleet recorded over 125,000 hours of service
Posted by
Hugh Lander on 7 March, 2006
