Henry Robert Jack AMESBURY

May 2013, aged 90

Jack Amesbury was an inspiring, innovative man who made a significant contribution educating and shaping the lives of many people. He was born September 1923 at Kyogle, NSW, and died at Caboolture, Qld.

For much of his life he was widely and affectionately known as “Bugandi Jack”. He earned the nickname from his tireless work in establishing a boarding school amidst thick jungle in a swampy area called Bugandi, outside Lae in New Guinea in the 1960s.

Carved from the jungle by students who cleared bush, installed drainage and established playing fields, food plots and cattle pens, Bugandi High School established a reputation for academic achievement and the quality of its rugby league players. Many Bugandi graduates went on to become political, business and professional leaders in Papua New Guinea.

Amesbury, a handy rugby league player around the New South Wales northern rivers in his youth, is credited with being the first to introduce the game to school boys in PNG. He retained a lifelong involvement with rugby league.

Born in Kyogle, Amesbury and his two sisters attended one-teacher Rosebank School during the depression of the 1930s. From there, he won a bursary to attend Lismore High School where he proved to be a good scholar and sportsman.

He was a top sprinter and his long jump record stood for many years. But rugby league was his forte. A lightweight hooker, he packed down in the school’s top team with notables Jimmy Sharp and Jack Rayner, who later became an international and South Sydney legend.

In 1940, Amesbury was elected school captain at Lismore High and many friendships from those years endured throughout his life.

The following year he started studies as a trainee teacher, but World War Two intervened and by August he had enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy.

Initially he served on the cruiser HMAS Australia but was transferred to the corvette HMAS Mildura when Japan entered the conflict. He later served in the corvette HMAS Warrego for six months before volunteering to train as a gunner on the DEMS (defensively equipped merchant ships). During his stint on merchant ships he was involved in fighting off air attacks where a number of crew received bravery awards.

After four and a half years naval service, Amesbury was discharged and resumed his teacher training as well as playing hooker for Ballina in the Richmond Rugby League competition. His playing career finished four years later when he badly broke a wrist when in action for Newcastle club, Belmont.

He immediately turned to administration and, with close friend Ron Sullivan, worked to establish the Western Suburbs rugby league club in Lismore in 1950.

He was a staunch believer that involvement in team sport, and rugby league in particular, built character and created opportunities.

In 1961, he embarked on a new adventure by accepting an offer to open a high school in Port Moresby. He immediately became involved with the DCA rugby league club as well as formation of a junior rugby league competition.

He then moved on to Lae and undertook the project of establishing Bugandi High School. His positive impact on rugby league in Papua New Guinea was significant and a factor in the code becoming the country’s national sport.

After retiring in 1974, Amesbury relocated to the Caboolture area where he remained involved with rugby league for many years, notably with the Caboolture and Caloundra clubs.

He is survived by his wife Didi and children Hope, Donna and Terri. Charlie Thurgood