The Birdman of Torquay

John (Jack) O’MARA was a colourful and well-known personality in Torquay in the early 1970’s and ensuing 30 years. He and his wife Elma STEWART were avid but considered conservationists. They lived in a modest dwelling on a large block facing the Esplanade opposite Whites Beach. Their home was a sanctuary for a variety of sick and injured birds, but it was Jack’s care of young and ailing fairy penguins that earned him special recognition, both locally and further afield. He nursed them to good health and maturity until they could be released back into their ocean home, often taking them for walks along the beach as part of their rehabilitation.

Jack was born at Sandringham in 1912 to John O’MARA and Hannah RICHARDS. He lived in Melbourne until he and Elma moved to Torquay. Elma Kitty STEWART (1912-2001) was Jack’s second wife. She was born in Bright, Victoria, the daughter of Alfred STEWART and Julia HAMEL. They married in 1952 after a divorce by mutual consent from Jack’s first wife Kathleen QUON (1916 – c.1992), whom he had married in 1935. Kathleen was born in Launceston, Tasmania to Leslie QUON and Vera DOOLAN.

In 1924, Jack topped his class at Sandringham State School and his parents decided to send him to Brighton Tech. When Jack left school he worked as an apprentice carpenter/joiner, a trade he proudly espoused for his lifetime. During his apprenticeship he worked as a caddy at the Sandringham Golf Club where he found spare time to initiate and develop his lifetime love of birds.

In the 1920’s, Elma’s father, Alf STEWART who was Clerk of Courts in Colac, purchased a large block of land at Torquay opposite Fisherman’s Beach. The land fronted The Esplanade and Felix Street and Elma and Jack holidayed there in a shed until they built their own house. The shed was likely built substantially from timber salvaged from the beach. When Elma’s father died, his land was subdivided and Elma and Jack were left the block on which their house was erected.

Before he came to Torquay, Jack was very involved in union affairs. He was passionate about human rights and fair treatment for workers. He joined the Communist Party pre 1940 as he was worried about Hitler’s growing lust for power and thought that Russia was the most likely obstacle to Hitler’s advances. His hopes that communism could produce a fairer world were shattered by what he perceived as Stalin’s betrayal of its fundamental principles. Jack joined the Building Workers Industrial Union in 1940 and was a life member. His war time and post war energies were principally spent on local struggles seeking to enhance the wellbeing of Australian workers especially in the building trades.
After coming to live full time in Torquay in 1970, he was actively involved with the Geelong Trades Hall Council where he was a long serving executive member including president from 1973-75.

It was however his love of the natural world, especially birds, that dominated his life in Torquay. If we don’t look after the world, the world won’t look after us. It’s as simple as that, a naive but profound expression of a fundamental principle. I’m not a mad environmentalist but I think there’s a balance and we ought to find the balance. Though not a conventionally religious man, he espoused Christian ethics. You know the one about doing unto others as they would do unto you. I’m a great follower of that and the other one: the injunction to the disciples ….by their deeds you shall know them.
As a dedicated Torquay resident Jack also became an active member of the Torquay Improvement Association (TIA) which supported his approach to the Taylor Park Trustees to construct a pond in the park for the benefit of the diverse resident bird population. Construction was completed in 1976, and after his death Jack’s trustees donated a generous amount of money towards the improvement of the pond.

Until ill health forced Jack and Elma to leave their haven in Torquay in 2000, their home had been a refuge for sick and injured birds of all kinds brought to them from the area and from further places like Ballarat. In their last years at home, they even recruited their Council carer who helped them cater for their feathered friends. Kim DU BOURG was in awe of the couple’s kindness and described Jack as a legend of Torquay, a sentiment echoed by many who knew him.

Jack O’ Mara on Fisherman’s Beach Torquay with fairy penguins.
_{Source Geelong Advertiser (photographer unknown)}

In the early nineties, dead and injured penguins, many covered in oil, started appearing on local beaches. The O’MARAs took the surviving ones into their care until they were able to be returned, sometimes reluctantly, to the sea. For a few, life was too comfortable in their Esplanade abode! With the support of local helpers, the O’MARAs were able to save most of the fairy penguins that were debilitated by an offshore oil dump. Other penguins infested by intestinal worms or starvation were more difficult to save. Jack was convinced that the dereliction of the penguins’ marine environment, through overfishing and increasing pollution, constituted a grave threat to the future of the penguin population along the coast and in Port Phillip Bay.

Jack died in 2003 and his will envisaged a wildlife reserve being established on the Esplanade property. This was not an appropriate use for a relatively small urban property. The trustees of his estate explored the purchase of other sites in the Torquay area but could find none suitable. After some time, they came in contact with the Otway Ranges Environment Group in Apollo Bay. The Group were aware of an impending threat to public access to the walking track to Sabine Falls in the Otway Ranges. They feared that the government of the day was contemplating closing public access to the Falls and allowing more logging in the area. Parts of the walking track traversed freehold land owned by the logging company.

One of the trustees approached the corporate owner who agreed to excise the portions of land that included the walking trail and transfer them to Trust for Nature in consideration of a considerable cash payment from the estate. Trust for Nature subsequently gifted the land to the State and it is now part of the Great Otway Park. Jack O’MARA’s generosity has ensured that public access to the iconic Sabine Falls was maintained in perpetuity via the walking track through pristine forest that provides a natural habitat for Jack’s beloved birds and a plethora of other wild creatures. Subsequently, Jack’s family arranged for a plaque to be placed at the start of the walking trail adjacent to the Sabine Falls car park. The walk is easily accessed on a day trip and well worth the effort. The car park is on Sunnyside Road about a 20-minute easy drive from Forrest.

Plaque at the commencement of the Sabine Falls walking trail
_{Source: F. Vagg}

The O’MARA story is very colourful, sometimes controversial, and in various commentaries a little contradictory, but there is no doubt that Elma and Jack were unique humanitarians, hardworking and dedicated in their efforts to improve the lot of all their fellow earth dwellers. At Torquay History House, we have a small but diverse collection of articles, press cuttings, interviews etc. that offer readers a fascinating though sometimes confusing insight into the lives of The Birdman of Torquay and his loyal and dedicated partner Elma. We will not see their likes again.

Sources:
_{Dunstone C. (Ed). (2000) Jack O’Mara. In Turn of the Tide. Life stories for Torquay 1999. Spring Creek Community House: Torquay Geelong Advertiser 15 July 1987; 20 Nov 2000; 22 Oct 2002}
_{O’Mara Family Tree Ancestry.com}
_{Vic BDM online}