AAP General News (Australia)
12-07-2010
FED:Australians who died in 2010
A dame, a lady and two knights - Joan Sutherland, Sonia McMahon, Charles Mackerras
and Edward Woodward - were among the notable Australians who died in 2010. AAP Senior
Correspondent Doug Conway looks back on the passing parade.
Frederick Alan Wooldridge, 41, UN worker. Died January 12. The Hobart-born senior political
affairs officer died in Port-au-Prince's UN building when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit
Haiti.
Ian "Iggy" Gray, 46, former Socceroo. February 15.
Gray, who represented Australia 35 times over nine years, was found dead in his Elizabeth
Bay apartment in Sydney and a report later revealed he had a "plethora of drugs" in his
blood system. Former sex worker Sherryn Marie Davis, 22, pleaded guilty to supplying Gray
with heroin and to stealing $
3,000 worth of his property.
Lady Sonia McMahon, 77, socialite. April 2.
The widow of former prime minister Sir William McMahon and mother of actor Julian McMahon
died at a Sydney hospital after battling cancer for more than a year. She made international
headlines in 1971 when she wore a revealing white dress to the White House during the
Nixon presidency. Sir William McMahon said that from then on people wanted to see him
so they could "have a squiz at Sonia".
Sir Edward Woodward, 81, royal commissioner. April 15.
His legal career spanned 17 royal commissions after prime minister Gough Whitlam first
appointed him in 1973. He also served as a Federal Court judge and a director-general
of ASIO. As a barrister in 1971 he represented the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in Australia's
first major Aboriginal land rights case.
Saxon Bird, 19, surf life saver. March 19.
The 2010 NSW ironman champion became the second competitor in Australian Surf Life
Saving Championship history to die when he drowned in heavy swells after being struck
on the head by a surf ski. Organisers defended their decision to run the ironman competition
despite rough surf caused by a cyclone off the Gold Coast.
Carl Williams, 39, convicted murderer. April 19.
The Melbourne underworld killer was fatally bashed with the metal stem of an exercise
bike by a fellow inmate at Victoria's high security Barwon Prison. Williams was serving
a minimum of 35 years in jail for his role in the murders of crime patriarch Lewis Moran,
his son Jason Moran, Mario Condello and Mark Mallia. Matthew Charles Johnson, 37, has
since been charged with his murder. "He dropped his guard and when he did, a maggot robbed
my daughter of her dad," Williams' wife Roberta said.
Ken Talbot, 59, mining magnate. June 19.
Died along with five fellow executives of West Australian company Sundance Resources
- Don Lewis, Geoff Wedlock, John Jones, Craig Oliver and John Carr-Gregg - when their
plane crashed into dense jungle in the Republic of Congo. The former Macarthur Coal CEO
left a third of his estimated $960 million fortune to charity. He died without facing
charges of corruptly making payments totalling $360,000 to jailed former Queensland government
minister Gordon Nuttall.
Sir Charles Mackerras, 84, conductor. July 15.
His death in London from cancer marked the end of a 60-year association with the Sydney
Symphony Orchestra, which began when he joined as an oboist during World War II. Mackerras
grew up in Sydney, where he defied his parent's wishes to study law and even orchestrated
his own expulsion from high school to follow his passion for music.
Bruce Jones, 64, journalist. July 27.
Died suddenly on a flight between Mauritius and Melbourne with his wife Uli Wilfert
by his side. Jones was the deputy editor of the Canberra Times and a former political
reporter and correspondent with national news agency AAP, who started as a copy boy at
The Daily Telegraph in 1964.
Macchour Chaouk, 65, head of alleged Melbourne crime family. August 13.
Shot dead in his own backyard in front of his three grandchildren in a drive-by shooting
at his fortified Brooklyn home in Melbourne's west. His wife and another family member
ran to his side before he died minutes later. A police investigation continues.
Bill Crews, 26, policeman. September 8.
The young detective constable was accidentally shot in the head by a senior constable
during a drug raid in Bankstown, in Sydney's southwest. Some 5,000 mourners turned out
at his funeral.
Malcolm Douglas, 69, conservationist. September 22.
The outback adventurer was killed at his Broome Wilderness Wildlife Park when he became
pinned between the door of his four wheel drive and a tree. "His legend will live on but
the man is gone. The Kimberly has lost one of its great sons," said his son Lachlan.
Dame Joan Sutherland, 83, opera singer. October 11.
Died at her home near Geneva after a long illness with her husband, the pianist and
conductor Richard Bonynge, at her side. La Stupenda, as she was dubbed, led the renaissance
of Italian bel canto and French romantic operas and was widely considered the greatest
soprano of her generation. Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti called her "the voice of the
century".
Stathi Katsidis, 31, jockey. Died October 19.
Found dead in his Brisbane home by fiancee Melissa Jackson. Autopsy results failed
to determine an exact cause of death, but Katsidis had spent the night before drinking
heavily and had a history of drug problems. Jackson said Katsidis had turned his life
around in the months before his death, saying: "He had become a real family man and father.
He was a shining star".
Roberta "Bobbi" Sykes, 67, activist. November 14.
The trailblazer for indigenous rights and education died at a Sydney hospital after
a series of strokes over eight years. First made headlines in 1972 when she was arrested
at the Aboriginal tent embassy in Canberra. The first black Australian to attend Harvard
University, gaining a PhD in education in the 1980s. In 1994 she was awarded the Australian
Human Rights Medal.
Frank Fenner, 95, virologist. November 22.
He oversaw the global eradication of smallpox, helped control Australia's rabbit plague
by introducing the myxoma virus and fought malaria in PNG. "His name would not be a household
name the way that Ricky Ponting, Greg Norman or Dame Joan Sutherland would be, but the
work that he's done is of supreme importance," said eminent scientist Sir Gustav Nossal.
* Ten Australian soldiers died in Afghanistan this year, bringing the total of Australian
deaths to 21. They were Sapper Jacob Moerland (Moerland), 21; Sapper Darren Smith, 26;
Private Ben Chuck, 27; Private Tim Aplin, 38; Private Scott Palmer, 27; Private Nathan
Bewes, 23; Trooper Jason Brown, 29; Private Grant Kirby, 35; Private Tomas Dale, 21; and
Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney 28. "They lived for the army and they died for their country,"
said Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
* Juan Antonio Samaranch, 89, the former International Olympic Committee president
who declared 'Syd-en-ey' host of the 2000 Olympics in 1993, died on April 21 in his home
town of Barcelona, just five months before the 10-year anniversary of the games he famously
pronounced the "best ever".
AAP dc/cdh/bwl
KEYWORD: YEAR OBITS
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