Roy Rush led a rich and varied life
ROY Baden Rush crammed a great deal in to his 84 years, working at diverse careers from a bush property manager to an air force officer in war-torn Vietnam.
He was born on February 9, 1928, in Toowoomba, the eldest of three children to Baden and May Rush.
When Roy was only a few months old, his parents sold the store they owned at Newtown, Toowoomba, and bought a farm in the Kingsthorpe district. In 1930-31, Baden and May exchanged the farm for the Kingsthorpe General Store with a further payment of 500 pounds.
Roy did his early primary schooling at Kingsthorpe and went to the Toowoomba East Primary for his Grade 8 scholarship year. He passed the scholarship exam and attended the Toowoomba Technical College (later the Toowoomba State High School) for two years.
Roy learned the piano and did well in both theory and practical exams, but was not keen enough to keep it up. He also had a fine singing voice tutored by Mr Thomas Slatyer, and sang solo or accompanied by his mother singing at weddings and parties. He won the under 14 boy soprano section at the Queensland Eisteddfod singing Like a Golden Dream.
He was a keen soccer player and, at 17, he was selected to play for Queensland in the under 21 side against the New South Wales side in Sydney.
He was also an excellent cricketer and was still a teenager when he played for the Diggers A grade team in Toowoomba with men much older than himself.
After leaving school, Roy worked for McPhee and Co, Toowoomba stock and station agents. He worked long hours “walking the plank” for the auctioneer at cattle sales in and around Toowoomba. At least one day a week, he would catch the rail motor at Oakey in the early hours of the morning for pig and calf sales. He moved on to work for Australian Estates in Pittsworth.
His wages were not good and eventually he went back to Kingsthorpe to work in the store.
Around this time, Baden bought another general store and garage at Cambooya so mostly he would drive there each day and leave May and Roy to run the Kingsthorpe shop.
In 1948, Roy married and had two children — Rosanne, and renowned Australian actor Geoffrey.
Roy’s mother and father were hard task masters, particularly as they lived through the harsh conditions of the Great Depression.
The complete destruction by fire of the Cambooya store in 1946 also added to their troubles. Roy found working in the stores was not an easy job.
In 1952, Baden bought a 400-hectare property at Leyburn and Roy and his young family moved onto “Wilga” and managed the sheep and cattle property.
The farm life was difficult and the family moved back to Toowoomba, where Roy worked for Chandlers as a successful salesman in their music department. Pa Rush then took over the running of “Wilga”.
Roy’s marriage had broken down and, in 1956, he joined the Royal Australian Air Force as an aircraftsman, quickly working his way to the rank of sergeant.
Soon afterwards, he decided to do accountancy by correspondence. He completed the course in two years and, after six months at officer training school, he was commissioned as a flying officer.
He was posted to Amberley (1961), Glenbrook (1964-66) and Laverton (1967). During this time, Roy had married for the second time and had a son who now lives in Darwin.
In November, 1967, Roy, now a flight lieutenant, was posted aged 40 to South Vietnam as the executive officer of the famous No. 2 Squadron of Canberra Bombers at the large United States Air Force Base at Phan Rang.
After only a few weeks in Vietnam, he and the Catholic padre, Father Pat McCormick, MBE, visited an orphanage and on the way back the jeep rolled on the tarmac with both officers and their sergeant driver thrown out.
Roy suffered severe injuries. His back was broken at the lumbar level, his shoulder blade fractured together with several rib fractures. The other two were unhurt. He was medivaced to Ambon in Thailand for immediate treatment and later transferred to the British Army Hospital at Butterworth in Malaysia, when he spent six weeks healing and recuperating.
Afterwards, Roy returned to Phan Rang where he fulfilled his one-year tour of duty.
In 1968, the base was seriously attacked during the Tet offensive, but Roy didn’t talk much about these experiences.
Roy arrived home in November, 1968, and after a month’s rest and recuperation was posted to the audit staff, which meant he had to travel to every RAAF Base in Australia during a two-year period.
In 1972, he was posted to Fairbairn in Canberra for a year and then to Darwin. He was at the base on the night Cyclone Tracy hit in 1974. Most of the RAAF homes were demolished.
Roy retired from the RAAF in 1976 after 20 years service. He had been awarded six campaign medals — the Australian Active Service Medal, the Viet Nam Medal, the Australian Defence Medal 1945 to 1975, two presidential unit citations for members of the No 2 Squadron (USA and Viet Nam) and the Returned from Active Service Badge.
In 1978, Roy and Maureen were married in Cairns and Roy became the senior accountant for the Cairns City Council.
In 1981, Roy decided he would like to move to Redcliffe. He wanted to be in driving distance of his parents who had retired to Toowoomba.
Roy was also thinking of daughter Debra who was doing so well at school and he wanted her to go to university.
He obtained a position with a company at Lawnton then, after some part-time work for Robertson O’Gorman Solicitors, at age 56, he became accountant office manager for Flower and Hart Solicitors, responsible for more than 70 staff.
This was one of Queensland’s most eminent law firms.
He stayed in this full-time position until age 65 and then worked two days a week as accountant manager for three years. Roy and Maureen retired to the Sunshine Coast until 2000 when they decided to move to Gympie to