RIP John Dalley

To the Bougainville community, Sadly we have lost another of our number, my personal condolences go the Margaret and the family. David and Elizabeth have presented this so succinctly that there is really nothing for me to add. In all my dealings with John I have found him to be a gentleman a pleasure to work with.  You could say that this family has been dealt a tough hand.  In such circumstances we would expect John to shine.  If only he could have been there to shine for longer.  Go well old friend.  You will be so missed. All of our Bougainville friends, It is with great sadness that we advise of the accidental death of John Dalley at Toowoomba on Wednesday 8th June. Our condolences go to John’s wife Margaret and their children Amelia and Alexander. John enjoyed good health and he had been busy working on their Toowoomba property making it ready for sale. John started his career in the Royal Australian Navy in 1978 as a Marine Engineering Officer. In 1983 he took up a position at the Loy Yang Power Station at the SEC Victoria as a commissioning Engineer with Johns Perry Power Project division. During 1986/87 he was the Power Station Engineer at the Cape Lambert Power Station, before taking on a role as Process Control Engineer at the Anglesea Power Station. John joined Bougainville Copper in 1988 as the Maintenance Superintendent. In 1990, John and his family were forced to leave Bougainville due to the violence of the secessionist movement, although because of John’s role in the power station it is said that he was one of the last to leave. As always John’s commitment to task would ensure that he put his own safety at risk to ensure that essential power supply could be continued for as long as it was needed. After leaving Bougainville, John took up a position as Senior Utilities Manager with Nabalco (the North Australian Bauxite and Alumina company) in early 1990 in Nhulunbuy, located on the Gove peninsula in the NT. John would quickly establish himself as a man to be respected for his knowledge and attention to detail improving the reliability of the electricity and steam supply at every opportunity and was soon promoted to the role of Utilities Manager, which he held until it was time to leave Gove in 2000. John and Margaret relocated to a property, just out of Toowoomba with their children Lachlan, Amelia and Alexander. John then took up a role at the Tarong Power Station as Technical Services Manager from 2000 to 2006. John then returned to Gove on a FIFO basis in 2006 to provide commissioning and technical advice during the Alumina refinery expansion and specifically to the Power Station upgrade. From 2008 to 2014 John continued his career completing various contract roles around Australia involving power station construction and commissioning work. John retired in 2015 and he and Margaret relocated to Brisbane and have preparing to sell their property at Carbarlah, near Toowoomba. It was certainly a shock to all of us the hear the sad news, and we just cannot believe that his death was due to accidental causes. There will be a memorial service for John at 12.30pm, Friday 17th June at T S Burstows Chapel (http://burstows.com.au/facilities/ts-burstow-chapel.aspx) 1020 Ruthven Street Toowoomba. The family will be having a private burial service on the Friday morning. There will be tea and coffee after the Memorial service in the Pioneer Room, at T S Burstows, and then onto The Gaelic Bar upstairs at Fitzy's on Church for a stronger drink. Let me know if you need further information Regards, David Syme John,       Thanks for taking the time to talk myself and Elizabeth last night, it is just very unfortunate that the call happened due to the passing of our friend and colleague John Dalley. It was great to talk with you and hear about the things that are keeping you busy in retirement. I can still remember the day that you walked through the doors of an office in Burnie, straight from the airport, with bags in hand for our BCL interview, that is almost 40 years ago now!             Regards                                David From: David Bach  Date: 16 June 2016 at 9:14:22 AM AEST To: John Davidson <info@johndavidson.com.au> Subject: Re: RIP John Dalley Hi Davo. Very sad to hear of John's death. I remember receiving a hand written letter from him in January 1990. He had written it in December, 1989 whilst still at Loloho Power Station. He was one of the last to leave - flown by helicopter to Aropa to be evacuated from the island. By the time I read the letter he was in Melbourne. We employed him as a Senior Project Engineer at Gove, working specifically on SPS projects. He reported to me for about 2 years. Always the quiet achiever, he came to my office one day and tendered his resignation. I didn't see it coming and refused to accept it without a 'fight' - he was to good to lose. He wanted a role in the Power Station and by day's end (with the assistance of Alan Dundas and Bill Taylor) a position for him was established. Within a few years he was Power Station Manager. John was the best thing that happened to that Power Station in the 90's. Regards David