Sadly, many of our Old Sydneians have passed away in recent times, and the School sends condolences to friends and family.
Here below are some prominent old boys, whose obituaries could not be included for the 2022 The Sydneian edition.
James (Jim) Carroll (OS 1941) died 10 June 2022
Jim was born in Chatswood in 1925 and won a scholarship to Sydney Grammar School. He spoke of being quite lonely initially and struggling with the expectations of a ‘Scholarship boy’ but he remembered his teachers as kind and caring. He participated in rugby, cricket, athletics and Cadets.
From a working-class family, university was not an option so after completing school on 7 December 1941 he headed to the Bank of NSW; the very same day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour. Keen to serve, he joined the Air Training Corps, which provided basic training and, on turning 18, he was accepted into the Airforce. After just seven hours on Tiger Moths, he was flying solo and on his way to England. Jim received his commission in the RAF and then joined the Australian 466 squadron. He was just 19 years old when first in command of a bomber flying 18 missions on Wellingtons and Halifaxes, targeting cities including Lubeck and Hamburg.
When the war in Europe ended, Jim headed home, arriving in Sydney three days before his 21st birthday. He went back to the Bank of NSW, but accountancy wasn’t his passion and he responded to a Qantas newspaper advertisement seeking pilots. Jim started in early 1946 and four weeks later, having just turned 22, was at the controls of a flying boat to Singapore. Across a remarkable 37-year career he moved on to Constellations, then the Boeing 707 and finally the Jumbo.
In 1948 Jim met a cabin crew member, one of the first batch of ‘hostesses’, Margaret McLachlan. They married two years later, an enduring partnership for 72 years, that produced three children.
There were some scares with fires and multiple engine failures. There were firsts as well, as he piloted the inaugural Qantas flights to Johannesburg, Bombay (Mumbai) and Bermuda. There was also the escape from the revolutionary regime after the overthrow of the Shah of Iran, Captain Carroll manoeuvring safely out of their airspace despite the pursuing fighter jets.
There were interesting encounters with famous passengers, including Elizabeth Taylor, Prince (now King) Charles, Paul McCartney, Robert Redford, Billy Graham and more politicians than he cared to remember.
He also transported thousands of immigrants from post war Europe, flew into Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) for Operation Babylift as South Vietnam fell, carried the Olympic team to Montreal and even monkeys to the US for the development of the polio vaccine.
In 1964, he headed to London with his family for his initial overseas posting and in the early 1970s he gained some public attention fronting Qantas’ ‘Your Kind of People’ advertising campaign celebrating the airline’s 50th birthday.
He was honoured as a Master Air Pilot by the International Guild of Air Pilots and granted the Freedom of the City of London. On retirement in 1983, Captain Carroll had flown 24 thousand hours and more than 20 million kilometres.
After Qantas, he spent many happy days on his farm, reading and listening to classical music. There was also golf, bowls, Probus, church and travel with Margaret, both in Australia and overseas, and family time.
Jim particularly enjoyed the Anzac Day lunches at Grammar in his later years and always maintained a strong connection to the School through the Old Sydneians. He was proud his sons Mark (1970) and Jim (1976) and grandsons Sam (2008) and Will (2012) followed him to Grammar. Jim is survived by Margaret, three children, nine grandchildren and a great grandson.
Charles Wade OAM (OS 1945) died 11 September 2022
Charles’s father, Frank, attended Grammar, as did his sons, Robert (OS 1976) and James (OS 1977). As a child, Charles lived in Woollahra and attended Edgecliff Preparatory School from Kindergarten. Sandy Phillips was his Headmaster at College Street where he played in the Third XV and was in the Army Cadets.
In 1947 Charles started as a junior Qantas traffic officer at the flying boat in Rose Bay and a year later he worked in New Guinea until 1954. He then travelled overseas occupying various managerial roles all over the world.
When he left Qantas in 1978, he worked for some major corporate travel agencies, as a consultant, dealing with very large accounts at Tooheys, Channel 10 and News Corp. Later, he helped Robert run Wade’s Travel Agency in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.
After retiring, Charles spent time as a volunteer in policing from 2003-2015 and was a member of the Woollahra Council Community Safety Committee. Initially, he was involved in the exhibits and property section at the Paddington Police Station and subsequently he moved to the Rose Bay Station doing data entry, working in the gun cabinet or making follow-up calls to people who may have had a recent break-in. He was awarded the OAM medal on Australia Day 2017 for services to the community through a range of volunteer roles.
Charles passed away at the age of 94 and he is survived by his two children and four grandchildren.
Phillip Bushby (OS 1964-5) died 28 October 2022
Phillip started at Edgecliff Preparatory School when it became part of Sydney Grammar School in 1956 and he later attended College Street in 1960. He was a Company Commander in the Sydney Grammar School Cadet Corps, the hooker of the Second XV team and Senior Prefect in 1965.
After attaining an American Field Service Scholarship, Phillip left for the USA mid-1966. When he returned, he finished his law degree at the University of Sydney. On completion of his articles, he joined his father’s firm that had offices in town and the Eastern Suburbs. He had three children with his first wife, and the two boys Richard and Matthew both attended Grammar from Kindergarten to Form VI.
Phillip became a partner in Lane and Lane and then set up as Phillip Bushby International. In this later portion of his professional career, he worked with a small group of Chinese, Singaporean and Australian lawyers specialising in international trade law. The firm acted on behalf of both Asian and Australian clients to advise on opportunities presented by Australia’s growing trade with Asia in the late 1980s and 1990s. After his second wife died from breast cancer, Phillip continued to practise but downscaled to a number of long-term clients. He devoted much of his time to his family and married Susie six years ago. He sold up in Sydney and moved to the Sunshine Coast, seeking extra time on the beach and the golf course.
Phillip served as a director of the Sydney Club and was a member of Rotary. Throughout his life, he remained close friends with several schoolmates.
Phillip is survived by his children, Richard, Matthew and Elizabeth, stepchildren, four grandchildren, sister Laraine, brother Geoff, and wife Susie.
