After a couple of technical hitches, I have now uploaded some of the photos from the powerpoint throughout the parts of the Eulogy. So even if you have read the eulogy before, please revisit the 4 parts to see some great snaps of Peter throughout his life.
Thanks to those of you who have given me such wonderful feedback about Peter, his amazing life and the compelling eulogy. To paraphrase Peter: "The fact that there is anyone out there who is reading the blog and remembering is not only amazing but brings tears to the eyes."
Grateful thanks
Leanne
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tribute from a Social Work Colleague - Eulogy
(Photo: Peter in 1983)
This is the text from the item :"Memories of Peter and Social Work" by Desley the National Manager of Social Work at Centrelink which formed part of the Memorial gathering on 15 October. For those of you who are outside Australia, Centrelink is the Australian Government department responsible for pensions, benefits and other services and used to be called the Department of Social Security up to about 1999.
I am very grateful to Desley for providing me with the text of her speech, as she was well aware that this is something Peter would have wanted to have, for his records and for posterity. I am also grateful as I learnt a few extra things about Peter, which was very precious as
he is not here to forge new memories with me so havingthe loan of someone else's memories is all I can have from now on. Thank you Desley.
"I feel very honoured to have been asked by Leanne to speak today about Peter's social work career - or at least the part that I know about.
I first met Peter when I became an Area Social Worker in the old Area South Queensland about 20 years ago. He was, at that time, the Assistant Director Social Work based in Sydney in what was then the department of Social Security. However, I did have phone contact with him for a couple of years before that when I worked in the Social Work Unit in DSS Queensland and one of my tasks was to manage a social work recording system which later became known as SWIS (Social Work Information System).
My impression of him, from the phone contact, was of someone with very strong views, a lot of knowledge about statistical analysis and even computers - which left me way out of my depth. He was also very god at identifying what was wrong with the Queensland system and how it could be improved! I was left thinking - Mmmm!! He introduced himself as a Hungarian Jew and often talked about his various investments and the decision-making behind them.
Peter was a man with very strong principles, highly ethical, an advocate for the disadvantaged and with a vision way beyond what the rest of us could comprehend. I remember him having a conversation with me in 1990 about the world of the future and how social workers would be and should be using computers. He researched and wrote prolifically about that in a time when we were still working with Wang "dumb terminals'. I laughed and said "No way, Peter!" We were still moving into an environment where we had to learn to type our own social work reports!! BUT how RIGHT he was! We couldn't imagine a workplace without computers now.
Peter was very committed to the social work profession and for many years was an active member of the Australian Association of Social Workers. He was passionate about high standards of professional practice and wrote prolifically about how to improve professional supervision. He developed a national training and professional development plan and I still have copies of these documents because they remain relevant today.
In November 2004, our Social Work service reached its 60th year milestone. peter sent me so many historical documents that he had kept over the years to ensure they were maintained for posterity. he also invited a number of eminent social workers who had worked in DSS to provide some comment on their time in the Social Work Service. While there was not a huge response, his passion remained and he was very keen to reminisce about the good and the bad old days. He was intensely loyal.
Sometimes Peter could be abrasive, dismissive and on occasion, disagreeable and he did not suffer fools gladly, but he could also be a lot of fun. He had a wicked sense of humour and took pleasure in stating the outrageous and being provocative, just to get a reaction. It usually worked and some of us needed a debrief after the odd teleconference where sparks could fly!
After Peter moved to the Social Work team in Canberra the dynamics changed there too. In talking with Margo and Jenny, who were around in the team at that time, they have many stories about the robust discussions which now occurred face-to-face rather than over the phone.
He loved Coffee lollies and kept a supply in his desk which he regularly offered to Margo and Jenny. he was the only one who liked them but they were too polite to tell him!! He uses to try to bribe them with the lollies , completely unaware of their aversion to them.
If they went to his office to ask a question, they could plan to be there a long time, so they used to work out a strategy to get the other person out with a fake phone call. He loved to talk!!
Peter finally got his way when SWIS was computerised and he was heavily involved in its design and implementation. Not long after Centrelink was created Peter moved to the next stage of his career and into the IT world where he seemed to be in his element. Whenever I bumped into him he was very positive about the work he was doing. (It didn't make an ounce of sense to me - but then I guess you would expect that!!)
Photo: Peter in his office in 2003I went to see him in the hospice not long before he died and jokingly told him I needed his advice on SWIS. despite his state of health, he immediately responded and told me that I was asking the wrong question about SWIS and I really needed to consider looking at the issues from a different perspective. He was as sharp as a tack! he then proceeded to take me to task about sending Centrelink social workers offshore in responding to (international) disasters. I had to justify how that fitted with the "real" role of social workers. I clearly gave the right answers because he then advised me that he was very suited to this role as he was such a well-travelled person. He said he would get well and I would obviously choose to deploy him. Sadly, this was not to be.
To the last he was incredibly positive and optimistic - a real fighter determined not to give in.
I really enjoyed working with peter and respected him highly even when he was being difficult! We did not always agree but I found he was always prepared to listen, consider, provide advice and,occasionally, to change his viewpoint. he was a man of integrity. His legacy in the Social Work Service will continue.
I am grateful for the time that I had to work with him. he taught me much and we will all miss him."
Desley (15.10.2009)
I just want to add that Peter was very grateful that Desley had taken the time out of her very busy schedule to visit him that evening in the hospice. Later, he asked me whether I thought she was being honest when she said to him that he was widely remembered and had made a great impact on the Social Work Service in Centrelink. I replied that Desley would not have said it if it was not true and I thought that he underestimated the impact he had on a vast number of people and services throughout his life. He cogitated on that for a few moments and said that he hoped it was true because otherwise he had wasted his life. I told him that nothing is ever wasted especially the kind of work he had done.
I hope this is true, too, Peter.
Leanne
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Eulogy - Part 1
In response to many people's request, I have placed the eulogy for Peter on this blog. I have divided it into 4 parts so that it is more easily read and manageable as a blog post (scroll down to "older posts" and click there to be taken to the other parts of the eulogy). After the memorial gathering, many people said that they had no idea what a fascinating life Peter had led, how interestin
g he was or that they could hear Peter saying the things I had written and it's true - he was so honestly expressive and in many cases I have used his words, as he wrote them in his life notes which he left for me.
Others were kind enough to let me know the special memories they have of Peter and to repeat some of the things he used to say to them - many of them totally indicative of Peter's hard work and commitment, humour and provocative nature.
I hope you find some insights into him and like me, marvel that so much was contained in one man.
Some of you here today will know more about aspects of Peter than I do, having shared various parts of his life. And so I will not, perhaps, be able to do justice to the memories and experiences you have of him through the different phases of his life, especially those with which I have no knowledge or have not shared. Please forgive me for any oversight you think this Eulogy contains. How to adequately acknowledge the life and contribution of someone is a challenge, however, Peter did leave me some documentation about his early years to supplement my experiences and I hope this summary does go some way to sketching an outline of his life.
Birth (1949-1957)
Peter was born in Budapest, Hungary on 25 January 1949 at the Love Hospital to Leo and Katalin Garas. H
e was an only child and very precious son who may not have been born if World War II had not ended when it did. His mother was the survivor of two concentration camps, Venusberg and Matthausen, who was one of only a hundred or so survivors of over 2,000 women who were set out from Venusberg and were shipped by train to Mauthausen in the last throes of the war. She suffered from typhoid at the time of the liberation of the camp and walked back from the camp to Hungary, via Czechoslovakia, once she was fit enough to do so.
His father was a veteran of World War I and was caught up in the ghetto in Budapest during the Nazi occupation. He was in hospital following a heart attack, at the beginning of the occupation, and had to leave hurriedly to avoid the mass killing of patients there. That his parents survived, married and had Peter was quite an amazing feat!
Peter's mother was an opera singer, a soprano, and his father was a singing teacher. They lived in Budapest and
Peter became a child actor at the age of four, working for the
Hungarian National Radio. He got a number of small parts in children's stories and met his favourite characters from the programs. As a result of his work on radio, he was also offered a number of parts on the stage and appeared in two plays, one being the 'Kremlin Torony Óra' with the famous actor Pécsi Sándor. This play was about the Tower Clock of the Kremlin - some melodrama about the life and times of Vladimir Illyich Ulianov or Lenin.
Peter writes: “There are a number of recollections, which accompany this period of my life. I recall the bitter sorrow when a new director from Russia arrived and took away the lovely red boots which formed part of my costume and replaced them with a used pair of army boots several sizes too large. His rationale was sound - Russian kids simply did not have pretty red boots to wear at the time of the Revolution. I never forgave him anyway.
One night when Pécsi Sándor was ill, the understudy finally had his chance. Everything was going swimmingly until all of a sudden he experienced the most dreaded event in an actor's life. He forgot his lines. There was a pregnant pause, a silence that seemed to fill the theatre. Every eye was on me as my lines came after the ones, which he had forgotten. I remember looking at the understudy, waiting for my cue and not receiving it making up a joining line which led into my lines and the show moved on. There was a palpable sense of relief among the actors. When the curtain came down I found myself hoisted in the air, hugged by grinning people and escorted in full costume across the street to the nearby cake shop where I was treated to as much cake as I could eat. This particular show was on for something like three months. Three months of steady work. I was earning my keep at the age of four or five.”
Photo: Peter 1954
The photograph of Peter taken during this stage play shows his confidence and self-possession even at the age of 5 or 6, which were such an essential part of him for his whole life. John G, who is here today, remembers hearing Peter on the radio in those days as well has having known Peter and his family from then on.
Peter recalled his first day at school in the following words: “On my first day at school, I can recall all the warnings which my mother gave me about how to behave in the class. I cannot recall any anxiety at having to go to school, rather I recall a sense of excitement and adventure. I came home from school with a note from the teacher. I had been whistling in class and had been made to stand in the corner for having transgressed the rules. My mother, exasperated went through the litany of rules, which she had explained to me and asked me how I could possibly have been silly enough to whistle in class. Nonplussed I replied that she had told me not to talk in class, whisper, nudge other children, laugh out loud and a dozen other things, but had NEVER mentioned whistling. At six I was already a smart-arse!”
When Peter was 7 years old, they left the country and escaped over the border to Austria. He learned many years later that his uncle in New York, Louis G, had paid, through some nefarious sources, some people in Hungary to spirit them out of the country. Apparently it cost US$1000 per person to do so, lying in the back of a truck under a load of carrots.
Here is how Peter described it: “This was a memorable trip, which involved lying under a bed of carrots in the back of a truck, which left Budapest and headed towards the border near Györ. Here we stayed overnight in the local synagogue sleeping on the pews with most of the adults fearing capture while we children just sensed the excitement and wondered what it was all about. When we headed out from the synagogue it was pitch black. The only piece of transport for a large group of us was a single ox cart. This was reserved for the ill, the very small children and the frail aged. Naturally I did not qualify for any of these categories and as a result spent a considerably uncomfortable time scrambling over ploughed fields where the furrows seemed to grow with the time that passed as my tired little legs felt like they were climbing over mountains. As we travelled slowly over the dark and forbidding terrain, there were star shells being fired into the sky in front and to our left. The people guiding the party said that these were being sent up by the border guards near the Czechoslovakian border. In silence and with just a little more fear we trudged on.
Suddenly our entire party was bathed in light. In the darkness behind the lights we could make out people and a VW combi-van with a big Red Cross on it. An audible groan of relief escaped from the throats of each adult in the party - we had arrived in Austria."
After time in Vienna and a refugee camp in Salzburg, which were full of adventure for a seven year old, they travelled by ship, the “SS Waterman”, to Australia. They were meant to go to the USA but only Peter's father was allowed entry to the States as he was born in Vienna so, to keep the family together they chose Australia instead, which was more relaxed about country of birth. While this led to disappointments for his parents in terms of work and career options, as well as foregoing family ties in the USA, it ended being the very best thing for Peter.
Photo Above: Salzburg 1956
Photo Below: Katalin, Leo and Peter prior to embarkation with cousin Suzanne, Rotterdam
Unfortunately, Peter's parents were not able to get employment in their chosen professions and, as with many other migrant families throughout the decades, they had to take what work they could find which ended with Peter's mother working as a clothing finisher and the family undertaking piece work on costume jewellery and other items at night. Peter said: :”My parents made this a game for me. However for them, I suspect it was a life and death situation, earning enough money to stay alive.”
The family located around the eastern suburbs of Sydney, sharing with other families in the early period after their arrival. However, Bondi Beach became Peter's home from the time he entered high school and he stayed there for the majority of his adult life, purchasing an apartment in Sir Thomas Mitchell Rd around 1975.
g he was or that they could hear Peter saying the things I had written and it's true - he was so honestly expressive and in many cases I have used his words, as he wrote them in his life notes which he left for me.Others were kind enough to let me know the special memories they have of Peter and to repeat some of the things he used to say to them - many of them totally indicative of Peter's hard work and commitment, humour and provocative nature.
I hope you find some insights into him and like me, marvel that so much was contained in one man.
Eulogy
for
Peter George Garas
22 September 2009
for
Peter George Garas
22 September 2009
Some of you here today will know more about aspects of Peter than I do, having shared various parts of his life. And so I will not, perhaps, be able to do justice to the memories and experiences you have of him through the different phases of his life, especially those with which I have no knowledge or have not shared. Please forgive me for any oversight you think this Eulogy contains. How to adequately acknowledge the life and contribution of someone is a challenge, however, Peter did leave me some documentation about his early years to supplement my experiences and I hope this summary does go some way to sketching an outline of his life.
Birth (1949-1957)
Peter was born in Budapest, Hungary on 25 January 1949 at the Love Hospital to Leo and Katalin Garas. H
e was an only child and very precious son who may not have been born if World War II had not ended when it did. His mother was the survivor of two concentration camps, Venusberg and Matthausen, who was one of only a hundred or so survivors of over 2,000 women who were set out from Venusberg and were shipped by train to Mauthausen in the last throes of the war. She suffered from typhoid at the time of the liberation of the camp and walked back from the camp to Hungary, via Czechoslovakia, once she was fit enough to do so.His father was a veteran of World War I and was caught up in the ghetto in Budapest during the Nazi occupation. He was in hospital following a heart attack, at the beginning of the occupation, and had to leave hurriedly to avoid the mass killing of patients there. That his parents survived, married and had Peter was quite an amazing feat!
Peter's mother was an opera singer, a soprano, and his father was a singing teacher. They lived in Budapest and
Peter became a child actor at the age of four, working for the
Hungarian National Radio. He got a number of small parts in children's stories and met his favourite characters from the programs. As a result of his work on radio, he was also offered a number of parts on the stage and appeared in two plays, one being the 'Kremlin Torony Óra' with the famous actor Pécsi Sándor. This play was about the Tower Clock of the Kremlin - some melodrama about the life and times of Vladimir Illyich Ulianov or Lenin.Peter writes: “There are a number of recollections, which accompany this period of my life. I recall the bitter sorrow when a new director from Russia arrived and took away the lovely red boots which formed part of my costume and replaced them with a used pair of army boots several sizes too large. His rationale was sound - Russian kids simply did not have pretty red boots to wear at the time of the Revolution. I never forgave him anyway.
One night when Pécsi Sándor was ill, the understudy finally had his chance. Everything was going swimmingly until all of a sudden he experienced the most dreaded event in an actor's life. He forgot his lines. There was a pregnant pause, a silence that seemed to fill the theatre. Every eye was on me as my lines came after the ones, which he had forgotten. I remember looking at the understudy, waiting for my cue and not receiving it making up a joining line which led into my lines and the show moved on. There was a palpable sense of relief among the actors. When the curtain came down I found myself hoisted in the air, hugged by grinning people and escorted in full costume across the street to the nearby cake shop where I was treated to as much cake as I could eat. This particular show was on for something like three months. Three months of steady work. I was earning my keep at the age of four or five.”
Photo: Peter 1954
The photograph of Peter taken during this stage play shows his confidence and self-possession even at the age of 5 or 6, which were such an essential part of him for his whole life. John G, who is here today, remembers hearing Peter on the radio in those days as well has having known Peter and his family from then on.
Peter recalled his first day at school in the following words: “On my first day at school, I can recall all the warnings which my mother gave me about how to behave in the class. I cannot recall any anxiety at having to go to school, rather I recall a sense of excitement and adventure. I came home from school with a note from the teacher. I had been whistling in class and had been made to stand in the corner for having transgressed the rules. My mother, exasperated went through the litany of rules, which she had explained to me and asked me how I could possibly have been silly enough to whistle in class. Nonplussed I replied that she had told me not to talk in class, whisper, nudge other children, laugh out loud and a dozen other things, but had NEVER mentioned whistling. At six I was already a smart-arse!”
When Peter was 7 years old, they left the country and escaped over the border to Austria. He learned many years later that his uncle in New York, Louis G, had paid, through some nefarious sources, some people in Hungary to spirit them out of the country. Apparently it cost US$1000 per person to do so, lying in the back of a truck under a load of carrots.
Here is how Peter described it: “This was a memorable trip, which involved lying under a bed of carrots in the back of a truck, which left Budapest and headed towards the border near Györ. Here we stayed overnight in the local synagogue sleeping on the pews with most of the adults fearing capture while we children just sensed the excitement and wondered what it was all about. When we headed out from the synagogue it was pitch black. The only piece of transport for a large group of us was a single ox cart. This was reserved for the ill, the very small children and the frail aged. Naturally I did not qualify for any of these categories and as a result spent a considerably uncomfortable time scrambling over ploughed fields where the furrows seemed to grow with the time that passed as my tired little legs felt like they were climbing over mountains. As we travelled slowly over the dark and forbidding terrain, there were star shells being fired into the sky in front and to our left. The people guiding the party said that these were being sent up by the border guards near the Czechoslovakian border. In silence and with just a little more fear we trudged on.
Suddenly our entire party was bathed in light. In the darkness behind the lights we could make out people and a VW combi-van with a big Red Cross on it. An audible groan of relief escaped from the throats of each adult in the party - we had arrived in Austria."
After time in Vienna and a refugee camp in Salzburg, which were full of adventure for a seven year old, they travelled by ship, the “SS Waterman”, to Australia. They were meant to go to the USA but only Peter's father was allowed entry to the States as he was born in Vienna so, to keep the family together they chose Australia instead, which was more relaxed about country of birth. While this led to disappointments for his parents in terms of work and career options, as well as foregoing family ties in the USA, it ended being the very best thing for Peter.Photo Above: Salzburg 1956
Photo Below: Katalin, Leo and Peter prior to embarkation with cousin Suzanne, Rotterdam
Unfortunately, Peter's parents were not able to get employment in their chosen professions and, as with many other migrant families throughout the decades, they had to take what work they could find which ended with Peter's mother working as a clothing finisher and the family undertaking piece work on costume jewellery and other items at night. Peter said: :”My parents made this a game for me. However for them, I suspect it was a life and death situation, earning enough money to stay alive.”
The family located around the eastern suburbs of Sydney, sharing with other families in the early period after their arrival. However, Bondi Beach became Peter's home from the time he entered high school and he stayed there for the majority of his adult life, purchasing an apartment in Sir Thomas Mitchell Rd around 1975.
Eulogy - Part 2
School and other activities
Peter had no English on arrival in Australia but quickly became proficient. He attended primary schools at Woollahra and South Coogee. To fund his love of Saturday matinee movies, Peter became a marble “hustler”, playing marbles, winning and selling them back to the previous owners for less than the cost of new ones. This proved lucrative enough to help fund tuck shop purchases as well as the 6 pence it cost for the movie tickets. He said that bringing salami and capsicum sandwiches for lunch, while delicious, were not considered appropriate food by his peers, so he had to develop a taste for chip butties and fund them with his wins at marbles. From a photos around this time, I suspect he ate both the chip butties and the salami sandwiches!
Peter attended Randwick Boy's High School for five years. In his opinion he was not very successful at school. He managed to get good marks in English, History and languages. English and History, French, German and Latin were his main subjects along with Maths I and II, the sciences and Music. He went to Vaucluse High for his last year and worked hard, becoming Dux of the school, so he then gained entry into Law school at the University of Sydney. He also won the Goethe prize for German language on at least one occasion.
Living at Bondi Beach, Peter spent many hours at the pool and the beach, learning to swim.
“Life at the beach was a novelty for a boy who came from Budapest. The sea was eternally fascinating and scary. But my mother insisted I learn to swim and I did so, by having a few lessons and watching what the others did; later spending a lot of time down at the pool or beach on hot summer days. I can recall one time when I left home early in the morning on a weekend to go to the beach. It was a really lovely day. My parents probably expected me to come home for lunch and when I did not they began to fret and then to really worry. When I came home about 6:30 p.m. the house was surrounded by people: neighbours and the police were all buzzing around excitedly. I casually walked up to my parents and asked what all the fuss was about.
My mother was utterly dumbfounded. She just stood and stared at me and finally managed to utter a question about how I had gotten lost. With a genuinely innocent expression and tone I told her I had not been lost, I had known where I was all the time. I don't think she knew whether to hug me or hit me. Much to my relief she hugged me in the end.”
It always amazed me, in the last decade or so, that even on the most scorching day I could not get Peter into a swimming pool, lake or sea but he said he had had enough of that as a kid and I couldn't entice him.
He said he didn't make friends easily at school and found he had to stand up for himself pretty quickly which he seemed to do with some success. However, there were many friendships which he made at school and he continued to mention those friends to me regularly.
Peter said that some of his teachers, during high school were memorable, often NOT for inspiring hard work or application. One, called Mr Little, was his science teacher. Apparently, he used to pay Peter not to ask questions in class, so he could have uninterrupted time to work on his language courses!
During his high school years Peter “was sent off to” some Jewish youth groups. He says he was very grateful to AZA, one such international youth group affiliated with B'nai B'rith “ as I was able to learn many skills there, starting with how to work on a committee,... leading to organisational skills, secretarial and treasurer's skills and finally to President.
Photo: Class 4c, Randwick Boys High. Peter - 1st row, far right
This is also where he honed his writing skills, editing and contributing to newsletters. All of these capabilities were important to him as a future public servant and in his voluntary work later in life. Later, Peter was elected the NSW and then Australian President of the B'nai B'rith Youth Organisation, also becoming a “Life Governor” for Australia and New Zealand, which was a very rare thing. Peter said “I learned how to organise camps, conventions, car rallies, parties, social events of all kinds simply by doing and succeeding or learning from what we did wrong. I also learnt how to lead others and how to value their contributions and bind them into a popular organisation so that their commitments to each other, to values and to the giving of themselves, paid off.”
Photo: Peter 1969
Peter said the period from the age of 13 through to his 30's were the most fulfilling times he had ever had. Sadly, he left over a major policy disagreement when he put a principle before his own well-being. Later, in 2004 he wrote: “I missed the companionship dreadfully (once I left). I miss the continuity of my work, I miss the people that I bonded with throughout my teenage years and then later through my adult years. They were, for me, the friends of my life...... I miss those days and often look longingly at the pictures of the conventions I attended.... and think back on the people I went through all of this with and remember them with a pang in my heart and a yearning that is indescribable.... I am not likely to experience this again in my life and I have left it too late, I suspect to try again.”
This year however, he did have some contact with a few people from the period and he was gratified to meet with them or have email and phone contact again. I think that this is something many people find, namely, that those late teenage and university years, or early working years are some of the best you can ever hope to have. We just don't realise it at the time and then when we do it is many years later and life has moved on.
However, most of you will know that Peter, was not at all religious and considered everyone on equal terms. He was always interested in people's views, delighting in challenging and questioning their views. But he was not exclusive and, in fact, had a very eclectic network and range of friends, valued colleagues or acquaintances.
University
Peter studied at Sydney University from 1967 to 1974 in Arts/Law and Social Work.
As is often the case, with university came a burgeoning interest extra-curricular activities. In Peter's case it was in jazz, bridge, movies and billiards.
Photo: Graduation in Arts with parents and Pam, 1970
He left Law. Peter said: 'At the law school I was a very poor student, except in Criminal Law and Contract Law. In these subjects I found a considerable amount of enjoyment. They provided mental exercise and an arena for argument. Basically I hated law. I hated moving from the main campus of Sydney University to the Law School in Phillip Street. I hated the subjects. In short I did everything else but work. There was a sense that justice and the law were only distantly related and there was also a problem that in those days conveyancing and divorce law constituted the bread and butter of legal work. Both subjects being dry and boring.”
He looked for another opportunity and found Social Work, about which he said: “My assessment was that this course of study would provide two things for me:1) a livelihood for which there would be an ongoing and continuing need and 2)an interest which did not pall with time.
As it turns out, so far, my assessment has been correct.”
He graduated in Social Work and also returned to further formal study in 1990 to undertake and graduate as a Master of Social Work. However, he was a great believer in continuing education and never stopped learning or improving his skills and knowledge throughout his life.
Work
Peter undertook a range of jobs while at University, including being a Sydney taxi driver, working in retail at Grace Brothers, Milsons Giftware, Cantori Jewellers and Phillipson's Clothing as well as being a clothing commercial salesman for a time. He would often tell me anecdotes from some of these early jobs, claiming, that he could sell almost anything, especially items that were hard to sell. He mentioned that he would take bets from the other shop assistants that he could sell some of the remaindered items to the next few customers. He would then set about showing the customer all the things in the shop and if they were particularly hard to please would say: “Just a moment, I think there's something out the back that's one of a kind, which we haven't put into the shop that would be fabulous on you!” he would then bring in a particularly interesting garment and the customer would invariably walk out, satisfied and with said hideous item!!!
Photo: Peter 1976 in Migrant Services
When he qualified as a Social Worker his first job was in the Migrant Services Section of the then Department of Immigration and, later, Social Security. He assisted refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, East Timor and the Lebanon. Two of his achievements, about which he could be justly proud, were, firstly, his development, staffing and management of the the first Neighbourhood Information Centre and Neighbourhood Action Centre, known as NIC NAC in East Sydney. The second was the development, and successful testing of an intensive English language program for newly arrived migrants attending school. While this seems self-evident today, the concept of learning English for a period to the exclusion of all other subjects was radical in the early 1970s. However, it was adopted by the then NSW government for all newly arriving migrant children entering the NSW school system. I know that his early refugee experience was absolutely invaluable in informing his work and achievements.
From 1977 to 1982 Peter was promoted to Senior Social Worker in the Department of Social Security, managing and providing social work service in Maroubra, Hornsby, Camperdown, Leichardt and Clarence Street.
For the next 15 years Peter continued in the department finally becoming the Assistant Director of Social Work (second only the to national Director in Canberra) for all social workers. This meant having joint responsibility for over 500 social workers in over 400 locations around the country, with specific responsibility for those in NSW, South Australia and Western Australia.
In 1995 we moved to Canberra and in 1997 Peter was head-hunted within the department (now called Centrelink) to be the Manager of the Knowledge Team which worked on tax reform and payment cycle management information projects, developed records management strategies and policies, as well as developed and distributed software products, amongst other things.
Photo: Peter in 2000
In 2000 he moved to the Information and Technology Change and Integration team and until his retirement due to ill health in May 2006, was variously trouble shooting in a range of areas. These included dealing with audit findings, undertaking negotiations for the IBM computer contract for Centrelink and many other areas which required a quick and strategic assessment and solution.
Peter said he was so lucky, as social work had been his hobby and he was paid for it. Then computers came along and they became his hobby, once more being paid to work on things that were, for him a continuation of his hobbies. This was why he could happily work 14 or more hours a day at work and home and never feel it was a problem or a trial. In this I think he was a rare person, to have found things on which he loved to work.
He met and worked with some wonderful people during his life as a public servant. I understand he was a mentor to a huge number of people and never stinted on sharing knowledge with others. He always seemed so clear and far-sighted about what should be done and how one might achieve the goals at hand. He always gave frank and fearless advice, as he had no fear about the possible consequences, and did not need the approval of others to motivate him. This did not always endear him to others, to say the least..... but, while he believed that his job was to undertake all the tasks he could to ethically and appropriately assist whoever was his manager, his ultimate loyalty was to be ethical, legal and appropriate to the profession, the department and ultimately the Australian public rather than an individual.
Some of his friendships during his working life have remained precious to him. He was without prejudice and gathered many people from diverse backgrounds into his orbit as he thoroughly enjoyed long and philosophical discussions about the backgrounds, views and experiences of people whom he encountered.
While he ultimately was unable to participate very much following his retirement, he maintained a keen interest in what people were doing and what the outcomes were of some of the big projects on which he was involved even in the last few weeks of his life.
Peter had no English on arrival in Australia but quickly became proficient. He attended primary schools at Woollahra and South Coogee. To fund his love of Saturday matinee movies, Peter became a marble “hustler”, playing marbles, winning and selling them back to the previous owners for less than the cost of new ones. This proved lucrative enough to help fund tuck shop purchases as well as the 6 pence it cost for the movie tickets. He said that bringing salami and capsicum sandwiches for lunch, while delicious, were not considered appropriate food by his peers, so he had to develop a taste for chip butties and fund them with his wins at marbles. From a photos around this time, I suspect he ate both the chip butties and the salami sandwiches!
Peter attended Randwick Boy's High School for five years. In his opinion he was not very successful at school. He managed to get good marks in English, History and languages. English and History, French, German and Latin were his main subjects along with Maths I and II, the sciences and Music. He went to Vaucluse High for his last year and worked hard, becoming Dux of the school, so he then gained entry into Law school at the University of Sydney. He also won the Goethe prize for German language on at least one occasion.
Living at Bondi Beach, Peter spent many hours at the pool and the beach, learning to swim.
“Life at the beach was a novelty for a boy who came from Budapest. The sea was eternally fascinating and scary. But my mother insisted I learn to swim and I did so, by having a few lessons and watching what the others did; later spending a lot of time down at the pool or beach on hot summer days. I can recall one time when I left home early in the morning on a weekend to go to the beach. It was a really lovely day. My parents probably expected me to come home for lunch and when I did not they began to fret and then to really worry. When I came home about 6:30 p.m. the house was surrounded by people: neighbours and the police were all buzzing around excitedly. I casually walked up to my parents and asked what all the fuss was about.
My mother was utterly dumbfounded. She just stood and stared at me and finally managed to utter a question about how I had gotten lost. With a genuinely innocent expression and tone I told her I had not been lost, I had known where I was all the time. I don't think she knew whether to hug me or hit me. Much to my relief she hugged me in the end.”
It always amazed me, in the last decade or so, that even on the most scorching day I could not get Peter into a swimming pool, lake or sea but he said he had had enough of that as a kid and I couldn't entice him.
He said he didn't make friends easily at school and found he had to stand up for himself pretty quickly which he seemed to do with some success. However, there were many friendships which he made at school and he continued to mention those friends to me regularly.
Peter said that some of his teachers, during high school were memorable, often NOT for inspiring hard work or application. One, called Mr Little, was his science teacher. Apparently, he used to pay Peter not to ask questions in class, so he could have uninterrupted time to work on his language courses!
During his high school years Peter “was sent off to” some Jewish youth groups. He says he was very grateful to AZA, one such international youth group affiliated with B'nai B'rith “ as I was able to learn many skills there, starting with how to work on a committee,... leading to organisational skills, secretarial and treasurer's skills and finally to President.
Photo: Class 4c, Randwick Boys High. Peter - 1st row, far right
This is also where he honed his writing skills, editing and contributing to newsletters. All of these capabilities were important to him as a future public servant and in his voluntary work later in life. Later, Peter was elected the NSW and then Australian President of the B'nai B'rith Youth Organisation, also becoming a “Life Governor” for Australia and New Zealand, which was a very rare thing. Peter said “I learned how to organise camps, conventions, car rallies, parties, social events of all kinds simply by doing and succeeding or learning from what we did wrong. I also learnt how to lead others and how to value their contributions and bind them into a popular organisation so that their commitments to each other, to values and to the giving of themselves, paid off.”
Photo: Peter 1969Peter said the period from the age of 13 through to his 30's were the most fulfilling times he had ever had. Sadly, he left over a major policy disagreement when he put a principle before his own well-being. Later, in 2004 he wrote: “I missed the companionship dreadfully (once I left). I miss the continuity of my work, I miss the people that I bonded with throughout my teenage years and then later through my adult years. They were, for me, the friends of my life...... I miss those days and often look longingly at the pictures of the conventions I attended.... and think back on the people I went through all of this with and remember them with a pang in my heart and a yearning that is indescribable.... I am not likely to experience this again in my life and I have left it too late, I suspect to try again.”
This year however, he did have some contact with a few people from the period and he was gratified to meet with them or have email and phone contact again. I think that this is something many people find, namely, that those late teenage and university years, or early working years are some of the best you can ever hope to have. We just don't realise it at the time and then when we do it is many years later and life has moved on.
However, most of you will know that Peter, was not at all religious and considered everyone on equal terms. He was always interested in people's views, delighting in challenging and questioning their views. But he was not exclusive and, in fact, had a very eclectic network and range of friends, valued colleagues or acquaintances.
University
Peter studied at Sydney University from 1967 to 1974 in Arts/Law and Social Work.
As is often the case, with university came a burgeoning interest extra-curricular activities. In Peter's case it was in jazz, bridge, movies and billiards.
Photo: Graduation in Arts with parents and Pam, 1970
He left Law. Peter said: 'At the law school I was a very poor student, except in Criminal Law and Contract Law. In these subjects I found a considerable amount of enjoyment. They provided mental exercise and an arena for argument. Basically I hated law. I hated moving from the main campus of Sydney University to the Law School in Phillip Street. I hated the subjects. In short I did everything else but work. There was a sense that justice and the law were only distantly related and there was also a problem that in those days conveyancing and divorce law constituted the bread and butter of legal work. Both subjects being dry and boring.”
He looked for another opportunity and found Social Work, about which he said: “My assessment was that this course of study would provide two things for me:1) a livelihood for which there would be an ongoing and continuing need and 2)an interest which did not pall with time.
As it turns out, so far, my assessment has been correct.”
He graduated in Social Work and also returned to further formal study in 1990 to undertake and graduate as a Master of Social Work. However, he was a great believer in continuing education and never stopped learning or improving his skills and knowledge throughout his life.
Work
Peter undertook a range of jobs while at University, including being a Sydney taxi driver, working in retail at Grace Brothers, Milsons Giftware, Cantori Jewellers and Phillipson's Clothing as well as being a clothing commercial salesman for a time. He would often tell me anecdotes from some of these early jobs, claiming, that he could sell almost anything, especially items that were hard to sell. He mentioned that he would take bets from the other shop assistants that he could sell some of the remaindered items to the next few customers. He would then set about showing the customer all the things in the shop and if they were particularly hard to please would say: “Just a moment, I think there's something out the back that's one of a kind, which we haven't put into the shop that would be fabulous on you!” he would then bring in a particularly interesting garment and the customer would invariably walk out, satisfied and with said hideous item!!!
Photo: Peter 1976 in Migrant Services
When he qualified as a Social Worker his first job was in the Migrant Services Section of the then Department of Immigration and, later, Social Security. He assisted refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, East Timor and the Lebanon. Two of his achievements, about which he could be justly proud, were, firstly, his development, staffing and management of the the first Neighbourhood Information Centre and Neighbourhood Action Centre, known as NIC NAC in East Sydney. The second was the development, and successful testing of an intensive English language program for newly arrived migrants attending school. While this seems self-evident today, the concept of learning English for a period to the exclusion of all other subjects was radical in the early 1970s. However, it was adopted by the then NSW government for all newly arriving migrant children entering the NSW school system. I know that his early refugee experience was absolutely invaluable in informing his work and achievements.From 1977 to 1982 Peter was promoted to Senior Social Worker in the Department of Social Security, managing and providing social work service in Maroubra, Hornsby, Camperdown, Leichardt and Clarence Street.
For the next 15 years Peter continued in the department finally becoming the Assistant Director of Social Work (second only the to national Director in Canberra) for all social workers. This meant having joint responsibility for over 500 social workers in over 400 locations around the country, with specific responsibility for those in NSW, South Australia and Western Australia.
In 1995 we moved to Canberra and in 1997 Peter was head-hunted within the department (now called Centrelink) to be the Manager of the Knowledge Team which worked on tax reform and payment cycle management information projects, developed records management strategies and policies, as well as developed and distributed software products, amongst other things.
Photo: Peter in 2000
In 2000 he moved to the Information and Technology Change and Integration team and until his retirement due to ill health in May 2006, was variously trouble shooting in a range of areas. These included dealing with audit findings, undertaking negotiations for the IBM computer contract for Centrelink and many other areas which required a quick and strategic assessment and solution.
Peter said he was so lucky, as social work had been his hobby and he was paid for it. Then computers came along and they became his hobby, once more being paid to work on things that were, for him a continuation of his hobbies. This was why he could happily work 14 or more hours a day at work and home and never feel it was a problem or a trial. In this I think he was a rare person, to have found things on which he loved to work.
He met and worked with some wonderful people during his life as a public servant. I understand he was a mentor to a huge number of people and never stinted on sharing knowledge with others. He always seemed so clear and far-sighted about what should be done and how one might achieve the goals at hand. He always gave frank and fearless advice, as he had no fear about the possible consequences, and did not need the approval of others to motivate him. This did not always endear him to others, to say the least..... but, while he believed that his job was to undertake all the tasks he could to ethically and appropriately assist whoever was his manager, his ultimate loyalty was to be ethical, legal and appropriate to the profession, the department and ultimately the Australian public rather than an individual.
Some of his friendships during his working life have remained precious to him. He was without prejudice and gathered many people from diverse backgrounds into his orbit as he thoroughly enjoyed long and philosophical discussions about the backgrounds, views and experiences of people whom he encountered.
While he ultimately was unable to participate very much following his retirement, he maintained a keen interest in what people were doing and what the outcomes were of some of the big projects on which he was involved even in the last few weeks of his life.
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