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JAMES GRAHAM SOMERVILLE AM

James Graham Somerville AM, known as Jim, (12 July 1915-21 May 2014) was a conservationist, pacifist, economist, and environmentalist.

EARLY YEARS

Jim Somerville was born in Murwillumbah, NSW, the middle child of Rev James Herbert Somerville and Margaret Somerville (nee Pollock). He was educated at various schools around NSW as his father moved with the Methodist Church. In 1933 he did the Leaving Certificate at Fort Street Boys High describing himself as 'an indifferent scholar'.

He was unable to find work in the Depression and studied at the Metropolitan Business College graduating as Dux in 1934. He studied at night for some years and qualified as an Accountant and Company Secretary.

In the late 1930s Jim joined the Coast and Mountain Bush Walking Club. This was a significant moment, and Jim later described it as a great and welcome revelation to find that other people shared his great love of the Australian bush.

At the same time Jim also joined Peace Pledge Union and War Resisters International as he was increasingly leaning towards strong pacifist views. When conscription was introduced in 1939 he was refused registration as a conscientious objector. At the same time increasing pressure to sign up was being applied by his father's parishioners. So in 1942, aged 27, he left Sydney and went to North Queensland hoping to avoid embarrassment for his family should he be arrested and possibly imprisoned. Luckily, due to what Jim said was 'bureaucratic ineptitude' he escaped arrest and returned to Sydney where he finally won an appeal in the District Court to be registered as a conscientious objector in 1943.

MARRIAGE

In June 1943 he attended a pacifist weekend at Point Clare near Gosford where he met a 21-year-old trainee nurse from Bemboka on the far south coast of NSW. Her name was Brenda Alcock who was working at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital at the time. Following a 21 month courtship they married on 23 March 1945.

Brenda's mother opposed the marriage as Jim was a Conscientious Objector and no family members from Brenda's side attended the wedding ceremony. Brenda was cut out of her mother's will but subsequently reinstated by her four brothers and sister.

Brenda and Jim enjoyed 52 years of marriage. They had two children, Lindsay, born 1946 and Janet born in 1948. The family lived in the northern Sydney suburbs of Cammeray, Northbridge and Lindfield.

QANTAS

On 20 October 1947 Jim joined Qantas as Estimates Officer and stayed with Qantas for 30 years. By the time he retired in 1976 aged 60 he was Financial Projects Manager. During this time he did many economic studies and some of these are in the National Archives. John Gunn quoted Jim extensively in his history of Qantas, High Corridors.

On one occasion Jim did some penetrating analysis of the then Department of Civil Aviation. When he found them to be incompetent, he expressed his views in no uncertain terms. The Department of Civil Aviation chief rang the Qantas chief at the time, CO Turner, and said to Turner 'get that firebrand Somerville off my back'. This only increased Jim's determination to pursue the matter even more. This quality of polite persistence he happily wore as a badge of honour.

This fighting spirit has seen him lock horns with committees, councils and various people even in his later years including the Narrabeen Academy of Sport and Cromer Golf Club over the Narrabeen Lagoon Trail.

Starting in 1957 he travelled extensively for Qantas making 85 overseas trips in 20 years working on various committees. He said it was the perfect combination of job satisfaction and travel, in his view.

WILDERNESS VISITS

Jim particularly loved visiting wilderness places such as the snow-capped mountains of the Andes, the European Alps and the Rockies. He also loved walking New Zealand's Milford Track and Hollyford trail.

In 1968 he walked with his son, Lindsay 200 km in the Nepalese Himalayas up the Kali Kandaki Gorge near Annapurna. In 1971 Jim and Lindsay went to an outlying island of Fiji where they were the island's first tourists. After retiring from Qantas he made a memorable canoe trip up Glacier Bay in Alaska.

NARRABEEN

Following retirement Brenda and Jim moved to Wimbledon Ave Narrabeen where he loved all aspects of living by the lagoon – sitting beside it, walking around it and kayaking on it. His love of the lagoon led in the 1970s to fight and win against the sand dredging on Sanctuary island. During Jim's 38 years of retirement he was able to devote much of his time to conservation. He also gave his Accountancy advice to Tranby, the Aboriginal college in Glebe.

NARRABEEN LAGOON TRAIL

One of Jim's last hard-fought campaigns was establishing an 8.4 km path around the Lagoon. Jim wrote lots of letters, attended meetings and cajoled many locals to turn his dream into a reality despite immense opposition from Cromer Golf Club and The Academy of Sport. In April 2015 a $4 million federal grant was awarded. The Trail will remain one of Jim's legacies

Despite his protestations about not wanting recognition for this project in his honour a bridge on the trail has been named 'Jim Somerville Bridge'.

ENVIRONMENTAL WORK

Jim's love of the outdoors led to his involvement in several national park and environmental groups in the 1940s and '50s. He was a foundation member of the Heathcote Primitive Area Trust, treasurer of the Nature Conservation Council and director of the Colong Foundation for 45 years from 1968.

Jim's interests in conservation moved from a weekend passion to a full-time endeavour on his retirement in 1976. His first main project was to prevent the logging of Levers Plateau, in north-east NSW. After a long, hard campaign by the Colong Committee, the Labor government led by Neville Wran agreed to save the forest.

However when the same government decided to log Grady's Creek Flora Reserve two years later, Jim shifted his attention to saving it as well. Following a 10-year campaign, the rainforests were eventually saved and were later placed on UNESCO's World Heritage list as part of the Gondwana Rainforests area.

Jim wasn't shy about recruiting people to further his causes and was successful in getting Jill Wran the ear of the then Premier of NSW, Neville Wran to save the rainforest in Terania Creek and Border Ranges National Park.

In fighting his causes he was a constant and eloquent letter writer and even at the end in 2014 he fought Australia Post to keep the posting box opened at the end of his street.

ORDER OF AUSTRALIA

In 1986 he was awarded the medal of the Order of Australia, the AM, for services to conservation. He also served as a commissioner on the State Pollution Control Commission, now the EPA, for 9 years.

LATER YEARS

Jim became a user of the internet and was happy to see his publications freely available on the net.

After Brenda's death in 1998 he continued to travel and on his 90th birthday climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. He usually told people he was 10-15 years younger than he was, and as a testament to his fitness they usually believed him.

Jim had no respect for mindless authority. He often said of authority 'don't ask, they might say no!'

Jim's core values included good living, no alcohol or tobacco and plenty of walking. Many of his friends have said how hard it was to keep up with him when he hit his stride, even in his 90s.

EXTERNAL LINKS

Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/jim-somerville-local-man-fought-to-protect-the-environment-for-future-generations-20140709-zsxk1.html

Nature Conservation Council of Australia http://www.nature.org.au/news/2014/07/jim-somerville-am-gentle-and-persistent-campaigner-for-the-environment/

Pittwater online news http://www.pittwateronlinenews.com/jamesgsomervilleammemorialserviceamunificentlife.php

Colong Foundation for Wilderness http://www.colongwilderness.org.au/files/bulletins/bulletin_249_web.pdf

http://www.colongwilderness.org.au/files/news/narrabeen_lagoon_circuit_jim_somerville_nov12.pdf

Tribute by Jill Wran published on Colong Foundation for Wilderness http://www.colongwilderness.org.au/news/2014/jim-somerville-am-tribute

Warringah Council http://www.warringah.nsw.gov.au/your-council/current-works-and-projects/narrabeen-lagoon-trail-project