Former Cook Shire Council Chairman Grant Morris was an avid gardener and agriculturalist.
FLAGS flew at half-mast in Cooktown on Friday (9 June) as the town paid tribute to former Cook Shire Council chairman and agricultural pioneer Ken ‘Grant’ Morris.
Locals will remember the smiling faces of Grant and Narelle Morris, who ran the local TAB for more than 30 years, and were stalwarts of many social gatherings, local clubs and events.
Mr Morris was born in Brisbane in 1933, the son of Federal politician and World War II Army Major Sir Ken Morris and Lady Ettie Morris.
He met his future wife Narelle in 1959 and the couple courted for two years, the second by long-distance as Mr Morris moved to Cooktown in 1960 with his father.
The pioneering Morris father and son had bought the properties of Hazelmere and Rosebank with dreams of developing agriculture in Northern Australia.
They began experimenting with pasture improvement, tropical legume production, lime orchards and beef cattle.
The couple married in 1961, but daughter Marilyn recalls her mother refused to move to their property at Hazelmere until there were screens to keep out the snakes.
“Dad built three screened rooms with a verandah on the back of the machinery shed, which is where we were brought up until they built the Hazelmere house in 1971,” she said.
With snake-free housing sorted, Mr and Mrs Morris moved to Cooktown in 1961, driving from Brisbane in a Willys Jeep loaded with their belongings.
Coreena Morris with niece Bella, Luke and Meg Reeves, Jake Morris and nephew Tommy with flags at halfmast at Cook Shire Council in honour of former chairman Grant Morris.
Marilyn recalled their busy childhood on the red dirt country at Hazelmere, with her mother up all night cooking for the farm workers and her father working on the farm and an active part of the community.
“Dad and mum worked so hard, they wanted an ongoing legacy to pass down to us and our kids and their kids.”
Mr Morris became chairman (the role now known as mayor) of Cook Shire Council in 1988, and was instrumental in the building of Cooktown’s student homes, the bridge over the Big Annan River and supplying town water from the Annan.
“Ross Logan was a councillor with dad and told the story of them holding a council meeting in Coen,” Marilyn recalled.
“Apparently there were cattle all through town as they had somehow broken in and Ross says dad took off running the cattle out of town barefoot, with Ross and the others trailing behind.
“Dad also used to train many of the children in athletics and always ran in the Mt Cook Gift Fun Run on the June Weekend and often won, barefoot at first and later he won the over 50s section, with shoes on that time.”
Mr Morris passed away in Kirra on June 2, surrounded by his family.
He is survived by wife Narelle, siblings Barbara, David and Bruce, children Al, Marilyn and Greg, grandchildren Coreena, Jack, Meg, Yasmin and Jake and great-grandchildren Luke, Bella and Tommy.
He was farewelled by family and friends at a service on the Gold Coast on Saturday, June 10, with a Cooktown service on his beloved red soil country planned next month.
