Stan Goodhew was a Canberran for virtually all his life and had a personality larger than life. Working mainly in the electrical and mechanical fields, he was perhaps best known as a member of Canberra's ski fraternity for many decades.
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Born in September 1932, Stan grew up in Dawes St, Kingston. The Powerhouse whistle blew not far away. Stan and his sister played good-natured pranks on passers-by. When the Second World War came it was an exciting time for a young boy and Stan had colourful memories of the American and Dutch aircrew in Canberra and bombers overhead.
Tim the Yowie Man's recent Canberra Times feature on Stan's wartime stories included Tim's wonderful present-day photo of Stan in his famous leather flying/motorbike helmet in typical 'Stan' melodramatic pose outside the Hyatt Hotel Canberra. It was that weird mix of drama and humour which made Stan such a loveable guy to all who knew him.
After leaving Canberra High School, Stan was an apprentice electrical fitter at the government workshops in Kingston. In 1954 he worked on the Snowy Scheme, at Eucumbene Portal. When I was a Senior Curator at the National Museum of Australia, Stan donated some of his Snowy objects to the NMA's collection.
Stan became a motorbike fanatic and with a group of friends (read hoons) they would ride around Canberra, delighting in roaring through the curved driveways of various embassies. Security was laxer then.
Stan married Barbara (nee McKinnon) in 1961 and they had two sons, Piers and Miles and the family lived in Hughes. Barbara was a long time employee at the National Library of Australia. Among various types of industrial electrical work, Stan did telemetry for Actew's (now Icon Water's) remote water facilities, and ran a coffee-related business in Canberra too. As he approached retirement, Stan developed two properties, in Yarralumla and Bungendore.
Stan made his first trip to Mt Franklin Chalet in the Brindabellas in 1946 with fellow school students. He also visited the Hotel Kosciusko in the Snowies, but it was the Brindabellas which had a special place for him. Despite a disastrous Franklin trip in 1953 during which he broke both his skis, he decided to join the Canberra Alpine Club which owned the Chalet there. Like many skiers of the time, Stan handmade his own timber skis. One set was crafted at a friend's father's sawmill at Oaks Estate; the timber was Blackwood from Tidbinbilla.
Stan made a major contribution at Franklin over many years. He joined in all the activities like clearing ski runs (gelignite was easily obtained!) and working with the primitive Brumby ski tow which was powered by a Harley Davidson motorbike engine. He served on the committee, entered ski competitions and wrote articles in the club's newsletter Frozen Acres, often under his nom-de-plume 'Hans Gelandesprung'. It was at Franklin where he met Barbara.
Stan played the major role in procuring and installing a replacement kitchen stove for Franklin, from the Prime Minister's Lodge in 1957 (it became available when Dame Pattie Menzies reorganised The Lodge). It was Stan also who made a wind generator at Franklin long before they were widespread.
Stan got to know all the back routes into the Brindabellas. In the 1990s, after I had got to know him following an oral history interview for the Kosciuszko Huts Association, we did a ski trip to Franklin, travelling in Stan's vehicle of the time (he had many over the years, all kept going by Stan's ingenuity), a VW Kombi van. Stan and I were in the front, while in the back sitting in armchairs were friends Keith and Waldek. The armchairs slid around a bit on the corners so Keith in particular was woozy by the time we reached Franklin. Waldek's bottle of home-made slivovitz was welcome when we arrived.
As well as skiing at Franklin, Stan was a member of the group that stayed at Bryan Haig's Bogong Lodge which had been built on private land on the eastern edge of Kosciuszko National Park. The route in was rough and Haig transported guests in an ex-military Bren Gun carrier. Stan's stories about Bogong were legendary, particularly how vehicles, tools or anything mechanical had a short life in Haig's hands.
One time Haig wanted to install a fridge. There was no electricity, so Haig simply got a chainsaw, cut a fridge-sized hole in the wall of the building, and stuck the fridge in it with the bulk exposed to the outside winter air - job done. Stan's only complaint was that the fridge light never came on when you opened the door! Stan had bags of stories like these, all of which remarkably were true.
After friction between Haig and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the NPWS moved the Park boundary, resumed Haig's land and demolished Bogong. But the skiers remained a close group and Stan met with them for lunch and other activities for years; he called the group the Bogong Lodge Old Buffers Association.
In the 1990s when another group of skiers built on private land in that area (Snowy Vale), many of the former Bogong members were in it. Stan wasn't an actual share-owner of Snowy Vale but was a regular "guest", as was I for over a decade through Stan's kindness in getting me the initial invitation. As well as the skiing, a particular charm of Snowy Vale trips was hearing all the Bogong stories from Stan and the others.
Stan also sailed. As part of the crew of the yacht Portobello, he did trips between Sydney and Noumea, and Lord Howe Island. He did a return sail from Hobart to Sydney after the famous race. Stan competed too in orienteering, even going to Japan for a championship.
Weirdness was a key part of Stan's humour, and key in it was his bellowing call known variously as the Alpenhorn or the Tarzan Call. Once when he was at a talk I was giving for the Canberra Bushwalking Club, at intermission people needed to be gathered back together, so at my request Stan let fly. Nothing like it had been heard before in the Hughes Baptist Church Hall, judging by the shell-shocked look on the faces of CBC members!
As Stan aged, the snow's attraction lessened for him and when I sent him photos in recent years he said 'Too cold for me!' but he enjoyed the views nonetheless. He continued to be a support for his aging skiing friends, including those suffering from dementia and other conditions. His own rapid decline from a respiratory illness was a shock to all, though he retained his irrepressible sense of humour to the end.
Barbara sadly died of cancer in 2010. Stan is survived by Piers and Miles and their families.