RONALD DAVIES
TASMANIA
Former Member House of Representatives
25/6/1919 - 5/6/1980
Ronald Davies was born at Latrobe, Tasmania on the 25th July 1919 the third born child of William Reece Davies and Margaret Davies. William was a local blacksmith with a shop where Mackey's Hotel car park now is. Other children in the family were Fred, Joyce, Vern and Frank. He attended the Latrobe Primary School, Devonport High School and then went to the University of Tasmania in Hobart, where he graduated as a schoolteacher. In his youth he excelled at athletics. A proud moment was on winning the Sprint at the Henley on the Mersey Regatta. His earlier teaching appointments were at Devonport, Ulverstone and Southport He joined the R.A.A.F. during World War 2 and worked in the control tower at Mt Gambier. When he returned from the War he taught at Sprent where he was instrumental in the conversion of the school into an Area School.. He was married to Jennie (nee Griggs) and had two children, Glen and Anne.
His life as a Federal politician commenced in 1958 as a member of the House of Representatives, having been elected by the voters of the Darwin Division in Tasmania. He won the seat from Devonport parliamentarian Aubrey Luck. Darwin a long- time Liberal held seat, was earlier represented in Federal Parliament by Dame Enid Lyons. The notable changing of political parties was reported on the BBC radio news coverage from London to the rest of the world. He was the Labor member for the now newly named Braddon Division and he contested five elections spanning seventeen years. He was known for his untiring work as a politician at grass roots level. Until the 1975 election he had a strong hold on the seat. However, this time after seventeen years, he lost his seat to Ray Groom and Braddon once again was represented by a Liberal Party member.. He had played a major roll in the establishment of the Melbourne- King Island- Stanley- triangular shipping service by the Straitsman in the early 1970's.
Ron Davies had wide sporting interests but his special interest was in the Sport of Woodchopping, which he was mainly responsible for, in lifting it from a backyard sport to a semi- professional sport.
He was an outstanding administrative personality in chopping circles for many years. He led teams to New Zealand, New Guinea and at the time of his death, had just completed a visit with an Australian team to Jakarta in Indonesia.
He was the Organiser of the world Centenary Championships in 1770 and World Championships in 1974. Both of these were staged on North West Tasmania.
He suffered a heart attack early in 1979 and shortly after this his wife Jennie passed away. His health slowly deteriorated and he chose to narrow his main responsibilities down to the Australian Axeman's Council of which he was chairman and the Tasmanian Trotting Control Board.
In 1980 he was manager of the All-Australian axemen's team in Jakarta, Indonesia. Two Tasmanian members of that team were Bill Youd of Deloraine, and David Foster of East Devonport. They had been competing and doing exhibition chops for a week. On the return home, Ron went ahead to Hong Kong to be joined by the members of the team a few days later. This was not to be.
About 4.30 p.m. Australian time on the 5th June 1980 Ron was found dead in his hotel room. He had suffered from a massive heart attack. His body was flown home and on Friday 13th June, 400 mourners packed the St Johns Anglican Church in Devonport for the funeral of Ron Davies Members of the Axemen's Association formed a guard of honour as the cortege left the church. He was survived by his son Glen, his daughter Ann (Duff) and his grandchildren Scott, Sonya, Elizabeth, Matthew and Anthony.
The well-appointed axemen's stadium at the Dial Regional Sports Complex at Penguin, stands as a memorial to Ron Davies for his dedication and foresight in partnership with Penguin identity in the establishment of a first class chopping venue in Australia.
The name of Ron Davies and his indefatigable passion and commitment to the Sport of Woodchopping as a leader, motivator, administrator and organiser will go down in the annals of history.
