When talk of Darcy Lound comes around, local political pundits and the average punter both agree that he will be the next Campbelltown mayor.
The average punters just like him for his down to earth approach, while the pundits see a councillor with a lot of experience under his belt and with growing confidence in himself.
Go to social media and you will find many comments along the lines of: Darcy for Mayor.
The man himself does get out and about a lot, either wearing his Macarthur Football Association chairman’s hat or in his role as a Campbelltown councillor.
Cr Lound, who celebrated his 50th birthday a couple of weeks ago, has certainly been through the mill over the past 10 years.
He was elected to council in 2012 as number two on the late great Fred Borg’s ticket, then won another term as a Labor candidate in 2016.
After the 2021 election Darcy Lound took over the leadership of the Labor team following the resignation from the party of George Brticevic after he lost the mayoral election to George Greiss.
A junior Labor councillor, Margaret Chivers, followed Brticevic to the other side of the chamber where they both now sit as “independents’’.
Cr Lound was left in charge of a team of five, instead of the seven who were elected just a few weeks earlier by the people of Campbelltown.
But he did not let that deter him from trying to do his best for the people of Campbelltown.
“Labor on council will always do what’s best for the community,’’ he tells the South West Voice in Macarthur.
“We work with the mayor and all councillors to serve Campbelltown.
“We are looking to have more transparency and accountability this term – something that should be part of council all of the time.
“As for being the Labor leader, it’s been an exciting challenge.
“It’s such an honour to be leader of Labor on council,’’ says Cr Lound.
When I ask him what he would focus on if he was to become mayor one day, Cr Darcy makes two points.
One is that a back to basics approach is required to make sure the place looks its best.
The second is that too much time was spent on reports during the previous five year term of council, and a change of gear is in order.
“We’ve got a lot of big projects on the go right now, the obvious one being the Billabong,’’ he says.
“To me, we need to make sure we get back to basics, maintaining the city across the whole LGA, that sort of thing.
“For council’s outdoor workers, let’s make sure they are given enough resources and time to get around and do all the maintenance required to make sure Campbelltown looks good.’’
On the bigger picture stuff, Cr Darcy says it’s been five years since the launch of the grand master plan, Reimagine Campbelltown.
“After all the time I haven’t seen a great deal happen,’’ he says.
“We have got to get past doing glossy brochures and get stuck in and actually do some of these things.’’
But let’s go back to the beginning for a moment: when the Lounds moved to Minto from Liverpool in 1978, Darcy was a four year old toddler.
He has very happy memories of growing up.
“It was different then, a lot of young families moving to the area, a lot of kids to play street cricket and soccer, rugby league,’’ he says.
“There was always some kind of sport being played in the street.’’
He went to Grange Public School Minto and then on to St Gregory’s College up on the Scenic Hills of Campbelltown.
His old man was an electrician, so he was on to young Darcy to take up a trade.
“I did have a fair bit of interest in becoming a plumber, but ended up becoming a fitter machinist,’’ he says.
He did that for a couple of years before switching to the more glamorous job of a sales rep.
Then he started his own business in re-selling, and did that for 10 years.
But there was no time to run his own business once he started getting into football administration and politics.
And by then had married the girl next door, literally.
Darcy and Rebecca, who have been married 22 years, have three children, two boys and a daughter, and they live at Minto, where it all started for the Lound family from Liverpool.
“Rebecca moved in next door, I was probably 13-14, she was around 12, we didn’t get together till I was 20-21 and she was 19,’’ he recalls.
“It all started with a friendly hello seeing her going to and from school.
“But I loved her soon as I saw her.’’
Family and career all set up, it was time for the “mayor of Minto’’ as some people have called him over the years, to get involved in community matters.
Darcy Lound says he will never forget the phone call from Fred Borg telling him he had been elected to Campbelltown Council in 2012.
“Fred always wanted to help the community, he was a great man,’’ says Cr Lound.
“I built up a good relationship with him, one thing led to another, and he got me to run number two on his ticket at the next election.
“I was at work, Thursday morning, and I get this phone call at 10am – it’s Freddie, and he says: you’re a councillor, you’re a councillor.
“And I said, what? It still gives me goosebumps today.’’
Ten years on and Darcy Lound is by all accounts mayoral material – it’s just a matter of time when he is given the honour of sitting in the big chair at Campbelltown Council.
The current mayor has been doing a good job, but it’s good to know that when the time comes to fill that post there is someone like Darcy Lound ready to step up to the plate.
The man himself would like to see Campbelltown realise its potential to become a great town.
“What excites me is we have so much opportunity,’’ he says.
