Harold Spencer Cottee Tribute
Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES: I knew Harold Spencer Cottee, AM, for more than 30 years. He had been the joint managing director of Cottee’s General Foods and a director of many of Cottee’s subsidiary companies. In 1961 his late father, Harold W. Cottee, OBE, set up a citrus orchard-fruit block of 500 acres on virgin land at Paringa, in South Australia’s riverland. Upon Harold W. Cottee’s death in 1973, this property and the company Sunlush Pty Ltd were left to Wesley Mission Sydney, which is when I came into the picture.
Wesley Mission held all the shares, and dividends were dedicated to help fund Wesley Dalmar Child and Family Care. In the past five years Wesley Dalmar Child and Family Care has helped more than 17,000 children and more than 9,000 families across Sydney and other parts of New South Wales. The orchard contains 440 acres of citrus, predominantly Valencia oranges but with some navels, lemons, grapefruit and mandarins, and 60 acres of almonds and olives. It requires seven full-time staff and casual picking crews of another 30 staff, which work 11 months of the year.
The Mission wholly owns the board, along with other subsidiary boards, and I asked Mr Harold S. Cottee, AM, to be chairman of the board. I recommended to the Wesley Mission board that other directors be appointed to serve with Harold, and the first two appointees were Professor Alf Pollard, AO, Mr. Harold Green, AM, General Managers Stan Manning, OAM, Richard Menteith, and later Dr Jim Pendlebury, OAM, Dr Ian Pollard and Warrick Cottee.
The families made a significant contribution to Wesley Mission over the years. Harold and Lois Cottee, the parents, also donated, among other things, a fully equipped dental surgery named the Lois and Harold Cottee Dental Clinic, at which thousands of children received free dental care. In 1980 I indicated in a strategic plan that we needed to do more for homeless youth. I wanted to find a good place in the inner city that had at least a dozen bedrooms. But, as members can imagine, such a large property would have cost a mint, and we had no money at that time.
Then I discovered that a group of German nuns were wanting to leave Australia and return to Germany. They had a convent in King Street Ashfield, and it had a beautiful chapel and 18 bedrooms. I made an offer on the property, and they agreed to sell. Harold said to me, “When you visit next, tell my mother about your plans, the convent, and your need of money. She may just help.” Lois asked me how much money I needed. I replied that I would need a gift of at least $100,000. Lois immediately got her chequebook and wrote out a cheque for $100,000.
She asked me how much more I would need, and I said, “At least another $38,000.” So she again opened her chequebook and wrote out a second cheque for $38,000. Since that day, over the past 25 years thousands of young people have been cared for at Cottee Lodge. Harold helped me in many other ways at Wesley Mission, and I honour his life. He was also chairman and director of companies involved in motels, insurance, private investment, real estate and rural companies; the chairman of three radio station applications; and a member and chairman of Federal and State government committees of inquiry into Papua New Guinea co-operatives, restructuring gas industry pricing, electricity regulatory review, and electricity performance. He was Commissioner of the Overseas Telecommunications Commission, and he was the first chairman of Aussat, Australia’s first satellite.
Throughout his life Harold enjoyed spectacular success. He grew Cottee’s and the Passiona Bottling Company to become Australia’s largest food and beverage enterprise. After his marriage in 1951 he and Olga shared everything. Their three children, Harold, Warrick and Gay, and eight grandchildren are a credit to them. Harold very deservedly was awarded the Order of Australia for his services to commerce and the community. I was with Harold two weeks ago in the last hours of his life. As with his mother, I read the scriptures and prayed with him. I told him all that he meant to Wesley Mission and to me personally. I thanked him for his influence on my life and my business decisions, and I told him how much I appreciated his support during our board meetings. We prayed together for God’s peace, for freedom from pain, and for strength for Olga and the children and grandchildren. Harold approved. I promised I would see him again. And I shall. He died a few hours after I left. 18 October 2006.
