1984 saw Hutchinson & Comapny take another big step forward when, in August of that year, they moved into new premises at 23 Redcliffe Parade and joined forces with Cooke Lyons Solicitors to become Cooke Lyons Hutchinson & Company. This new partnership achieved Gary and John’s goal of further expansion while also adding a bit of old school prestige to the new firm as Barry Cooke had practiced law on the peninsula going back to the 1950’s. Leon Scarfe, whose practice John had originally purchased back in ’74, had also done his articles under Mr Cooke. Therefore both John and Gary felt that, with the addition of Cooke’s name to the Practice, they would be able to honour an excellent legal practitioner as well as bring things full circle.

1984 also saw:

– The Newport Marina open on 23 June;

– New $1.25 million grandstand complex at Redcliffe Raceway opens;

– Redcliffe Chamber of Commerce is formed;

– A jar of vegemite is the first item to be electronically scanned at an Australian supermarket in April;

– Advance Australia Fair becomes our national anthem, with green and gold our national colours;

– 1 dollar coin is put into circulation;

– National Film & Sound Archives opens in Canberra;

– The United States and the Vatican exchange diplomats after 116 years;

– Indian Prime Minister Indira Ghandi assassinated by two Sikh bodyguards, 1000 people killed in subsequent anti-Sikh riots;

– Toxic gas leaks at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India kill 2000 people, with a further 150,000 injured;

– Ronald Reagan re-elected in a landslide Republican victory;

– Apple introduces the Macintosh personal computer;

Amadeus, The Killing Fields, Romancing the Stone, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Beverly Hills Cop, The Terminator, This is Spinal Tap, Ghostbusters and Once Upon a Time in America are released;

Births:    Samantha Stosur (30 March), Delta Goodrem (9 November), Andrew Bogut (28 November)

Deaths:   Truman Capote (25 August), Francois Truffaut (October 21)