August 21, 2017
There was standing room only in the Cherbourg Welfare Hall on Friday morning for the funeral service of well-loved local resident Rory Glen Boney.
Uncle Rory died on August 7 after a long illness.
The former Cherbourg councillor and Shire Chairman served the Cherbourg community all his life, including 16 years with the Community Police, rising to the rank of Senior Sergeant.
An honour guard of Queensland Police and Police Liaison Officers – joined by some community members – paid tribute to his life as the hearse, accompanied by a motorcycle escort, travelled between their ranks down Barambah Avenue on its way to Cherbourg Cemetery.
In more recent years, Uncle Rory was probably best known for singing in local band Muddy Flats, calling the rugby league at Cherbourg Oval – playing country music during the breaks – and his role as an announcer at Cherbourg radio station USmob FM.
The service was led by Pastor John Tonga and included prayers, tributes, songs and a moving eulogy read by Bevan Costello Snr.
Mention should also be made of Uncle Rory’s deep fondness for the North Sydney Bears, which grew even stronger for the Manly-Warringah Sea-Eagles when North Sydney were relegated from the competition.
Manly colours flew proudly at the funeral service.
southburnett.com.au has been given permission to reproduce the Eulogy below.
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Eulogy
Rory Glen Boney was born on March 5, 1955, at Cherbourg to Bessie Boney (dec’d) and Bert Combo Snr (dec’d).
Rory’s mother was sent out to work on stations at a young age and due to this he was put into the Baby Quarters and later transferred into the Boys Dormitory.
While in the Dormitory, Rory grew up with, and made life-long friends with, Gordon and Leslie Wragge, Errol Simpson, Jack Anderson, Richard Coleman, and Matthew and Ashley Malone.
Rory often described his life in the dormitory as both sad and difficult, however he never dwelled on those tough times. He would focus on the good and happy times (such as camping, swimming and church picnics with all the Dormitory children).
Rory attended Cherbourg State School until Grade 4 and was one of the first pupils selected to attend the Murgon State School. He left school at the age of 14 and went to work at the Boomerang Factory in Cherbourg where he worked as a carpenter for two to three years.
When Rory was 16 years of age, he left the Dormitory and went to live with Sam and Doris Murray and family.
Rory then went to live with Les and Barbara Stewart and family.
Still at the young age of 16, Rory began assisting Uncle Les Stewart doing police work for the Cherbourg Community Police. This would lead to him serving a long 16 years in the Police Force in Cherbourg.
He eventually became Senior Sergeant of Aboriginal Police, a job that he loved doing (his motto was “Be fair and equal, treat everyone the same”).
The highlight of his police career was when Rory was selected to represent our community and State at the inaugural Australian Police cross-cultural liaison workshop which was held at the Manly Police College in Sydney. He said that he had learned a lot from this workshop.
Rory met Antonia Jacobs in the early 1980s and together they had their first child, Barbara. It was not long after this that they opened their home and took in Roy Jacobs (dec’d), Robert Chermside, Floyd and Ted Leedie and Jarrod Dynevor. The house was noisy and, yes, the boys did get up to mischief playing tricks on Rory and teasing him.
Rory also cared for Luella Blair, Larissa Blair, Chris Costello and Irene Chambers when they camped over for the weekends on holidays.
When the boys left, Rory and Antonia had another three girls: Eileen, Brodie and Glynn.
Lorelle Douglas came to stay with the family and Rory always referred to her as his second eldest daughter.
In 2015, Rory and Antonia were happy to welcome their first grandchild, Brooklyn.
He was proud of all his daughters and granddaughters and loved them unconditionally.
An achievement that Rory was proud of was in the late 1980s when he and Uncle Allan Douglas Snr took up the fight to receive award wages for all Cherbourg Community workers. They went to court in Brisbane and won the fight.
Award wages came into affect in the late 1980s. Rory was happy that he was instrumental in achieving this for the Cherbourg community and our people.
Although Rory left the police force in the early 1990s, he would often be seen assisting and helping the police break up community fights. He would say “It’s tough being a policeman”.
He then began work at the Community Store and on the rubbish truck for a short time before taking up a position as a welfare worker. Rory worked alongside Ada Simpson, Rocko Langton and Jarrad Dynevor.
His duties as a Welfare Worker included helping the community people and he often did, undertaking duties for our people. He spent 13 years in that position. He then went on to work as a Rehabilitation Counsellor at the Cherbourg Rehab Centre counselling clients.
Rory retired from the Rehab Centre in 2006 but it was not in his nature to sit idle and he recommenced work in 2009 at the Cherbourg radio station for two days a week, up until his passing.
Rory loved football and played for Cherbourg, and because of his speed he played on the wing. He played Reserve and A Grade.
He also became president of the Cherbourg junior and senior football club. His fondest memory of being president was having a top A Grade side which won many All Black carnivals.
He had a lot of faith in the players (Sam-Joe Murray, Grant Henry, Simon Fisher, Fred Cobbo, Steve Hill and the rest of the team) and decided to enter the team in the Newtown night trials in Toowoomba. This led to the team becoming dominant for numerous years.
In his later life, Rory maintained his connection with the Cherbourg Rugby League club by becoming the broadcaster at local games (nobody was safe when he was on the mic, poking fun at both spectators and players – always giving everyone a laugh). He loved playing his country music loud during the breaks.
Not everybody knew that Rory was also a boxer and was trained by Henry “Redlight” Collin, and although he was only small in stature he had a big heart, was quick on his feet, fast with his hands, had fast reflexes and won many boxing matches.
Rory loved his community and his people. He was a community-minded person and always wanted to be involved in the community by joining various committees. He was always looking to make the community a better place. These committees included Gundoo Day Care, Barambah Medical Centre, the Health Action Group, Cherbourg State School and the Welfare Association.
He also served on the local Council for a number of years, and served as Mayor of Cherbourg Council as well. These positions he held dearly as it enabled him to continue to serve the community and his people.
Rory loved music and had a gift for singing. He sang for bands including Black Diamonds, back in the 1970s, and then Muddy Flats with band members Sam Murray (dec’d), Fred Douglas (dec’d), Rocko Langton, Shamus Cobbo, Bevan Costello, Colin “Chook” Fewquandie, David Landers (dec’d), Eric Barrett (dec’d) Damian Bond, Jolly Costello and Dean O’Chin. Jarrod Dynevor was roadie and Warren Cobbo and Ronald Watson were the bus drivers for the band.
The highlights of Rory’s singing career was when he sang with the band as opening act for Lee Kernaghan and Troy Casser-Daley at Moura, and The Sunny Cowgirls in the Central Burnett.
Rory believed in God and while in the dormitory he went to church every Sunday along with all the other boys. Later in his life, Granny Tottie Collins was instrumental in instilling his belief in God. We thank her for this.
Throughout Rory’s life he was influenced and guided by elders of the community: Les Stewart, Sam Murray Snr, Allan Douglas Snr, Henry “Redlight” Collins, Charlie and Tottie Collins, and because of their guidance, support and advice Rory become the man he was today.
Even though Rory had a tough life and began work at the young age of 14, he worked hard throughout his life, meeting a lot of people and making many friends along the way up until his sad passing at the age of 62 years.
He has proudly served our community for a period of 46 years – something to be really proud of and to be remembered and honoured for.
