Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with great sadness that I rise to put on the record of this House the passing of a great gentleman from the seat of Cunningham, Mr Jim Hagan. I am very pleased that the member for Throsby is with me in the chamber today while we acknowledge Jim’s great work and the great value that he brought to our region. I acknowledge first of all that Jim is survived by his wife, Lois, his sons, John and Jim, and his grandchildren, Clare, Angus and Jasper. Regarding Jim’s two sons, John works for the New South Wales state forestry department and Jim is Australia’s representative on the World Bank board in Washington. I know that Jim took great pride in the work of both of his sons and their achievements.

Jim joined the ALP in 1956. He joined the Thirroul branch in 1966 following his membership at Caringbah and in the ACT while completing his PhD. He was a very well regarded and well respected long-term member of a very active branch at Thirroul. He will be sadly missed by all of us in the party but particularly by his branch colleagues. He chaired the Hughes FEC for approximately 15 years and was President of the Thirroul branch for the past two years; he was Vice-President of the Thirroul branch for 40 years—a level of service that many of us can well admire.

Jim was educated at Bondi Public School and Sydney Boys High School. He originally worked as a teacher at Parramatta, Sutherland and Caringbah high schools. I want to put on the record that, when he was 12, Jim was one of the original Quiz Kids—between 1941 and 1945—and is still well remembered for that role. It was one of the most popular radio programs in the 1940s. Jim was a historian. He had a long history of union activism in the New South Wales Teachers Federation and the University Staff Association. Indeed, he was the author of the book, The history of the ACTU, although he wrote over a dozen books on regional politics in New South Wales and Wollongong local history, as well as parliamentary biographies.

Jim had a very renowned period working at the University of Wollongong as the head of history and politics and was the Dean of Arts. In fact, he was an emeritus professor of history at the University of Wollongong. This came on the back of being Deputy Chancellor at Charles Sturt University for approximately 15 years. Also, I should acknowledge, he was chairman of the Riverina council at Wagga Wagga during his time. So, wherever Jim went, he took an active role in his community. He loved bushwalking, heritage and railways. We loved Jim and he will be very sadly missed by all of us in the Illawarra. Jenny and I are very sad we cannot be there for his funeral on Wednesday to share their memories.