Making his mark

Graham D’Arcy Gallop (above) has been remembered as the man who built airfields and helped create Cooktown’s James Cook Museum.

to Cooktown on Hayles’ Merinda. He was district engineer for the Main Roads Department and was sent to assist in the recovery process. I can recall being profoundly impressed with this picturesque and historic little town,” he wrote.

Although based in Cairns, his father bought a farm, Durham, near Cooktown in 1949, where D’Arcy retired in 1998.

After studying engineering at The University of Queensland, Graham spent five years in the RAAF, building airfields at Darwin and Katherine. By then, he was married to Roberta. They had four children.

One of his three sons, Ross, remembers his father as “a leader, a skilled orator, some- times the life of the party, a hard working man and a good man in a crisis”.

In 1969, he became engineer/administrator of Cook Shire, establishing the first town water supply and restoring St Mary’s Convent to become James Cook Museum.

The property was to be opened by The Queen in 1970, 200 years after James Cook’s ship, HM Bark Endeavour, ran aground off Cooktown. Graham became the host of the visit, which included Prince Philip and Princess Anne.

He also helped with efforts to retrieve Cook’s anchor and cannon from the reef which remain star attractions at the museum.

Free Masonry was central to Graham’s life. He served two terms as Master of Endeavour Lodge and held key positions at the United Grand Lodge of Queensland.

In the 1980s-1990s, he worked for Cairns City Council, becoming plant and buildings manager and executive director of Counter Disaster.

An avid reader, letter writer and classical music lover, D’Arcy was also a larger than life Cape York character, as his mate, balladeer John Williamson recalls: “He loved this country and was a delight to share the billy with around the campfire. He was well versed in bush poetry and his voice was made to spin those yarns from the good old days of horses and hardworking battlers.”