1981 saw the Cooke & Hutchinson team consolidate the great strides taken the previous year. It was also a year of great celebration when, in April, Gary married his sweetheart Irma, in an intimate ceremony at John’s house in Scarborough. There was further celebration when, a couple of months later, John and Ann celebrated the birth of their fourth daughter, Marnie. This new arrival was the latest in a long line of Hutchinson newborns, and there was still a couple more to come.


Some other notable events of 1981 included:



– The Hon. Terry White becomes Redcliffe’s first State Cabinet Minister;


– Thurechts Sawmill closes after 46 years of operation;


– Clontarf Beach Lifesaving Club registered by Royal Lifesaving Society of Queensland;


– Townsville International Airport opens to the public;


– The Great Barrier Reef is world heritage listed;


– Good Morning Australia, Wheel of Fortune and A Country Practice all debut on Australian television screens;


– the Canberra Raiders become the 14th team accepted into the NSWRL competition;


– Trevor Chappell achieves instant infamy by bowling the final delivery of a one day game against New Zealand underarm;


– US-Iran agreement frees the 52 hostages held in Teheran since 1979;


– Pope John Paul II is wounded by a gunman;


– Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat is assassinated by Islamic extremists in Cairo;


– President Reagan nominates Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female on the US Supreme Court;


– Raiders of the Lost Ark, Chariots of Fire, On Golden Pond, Prince of the City, Das Boot, An American Werewolf in London, Reds and the Australian classics The Road Warrior and Gallipoli are released;


Births:       Lleyton Hewitt (24 February), Daniel Geale (26 February), Michael Clarke (2 April), Lauren Jackson (11 May)


Deaths:      Joe Louis (April 12), Russell Drysdale (29 June), Sir Reginald Ansett (23 December)