Paying tribute to the life and times of the late Harry Hunt presents a conundrum: where to start? This wonderful man, who lost his life to the darned disease we’ve all been trying to avoid since the start of 2020, knew no bounds when it came to his mission to make his neck of the woods great in every way.
Thus, it was no surprise at all to see the approach the family had taken for this morning’s celebration and memorial for Harry Hunt at Casula Powerhouse’s theatre.
MC Sandra Bartlett invited on to the stage key people in Harry Hunt’s life, from charities he supported such as Lifeline, to business, the hospitality area and Rotary club, as well as members of his family.
They each proceeded to illuminate further the hard working, kind and generous man Harry Hunt was.
And while they had different stories to tell, they all finished with the same conclusion: Harry Hunt may have been small in stature, but in his deeds he was a giant of a man.
And they all landed in the same grand idea that Liverpool, Campbelltown and Camden had never seen the likes of this visionary man who always had an infectious smile on his face.
The thing with Harry was that while he worked hard to make a living through his own business, Hunt’s Motel at the Crossroads, he worked even harder to help make everyone else around him – and indeed the entire area – better off.
As one of the speakers pointed out, he always urged local business owners to use other local business products and services – and leading by example.
The South West Sydney Tourism task force is a case in point: for decades Harry Hunt fervently believed the region had heaps of tourism potential.
All it needed was everyone involved in hospitality working together to bring tourism dollars to the South Western Sydney region.
This is starting to happen now but unfortunately for Harry it has come a bit late for him to enjoy it by flashing one of his famous smiles.
His own business was a lot more than a money making enterprise: over the years Harry opened up the motel to firefighters from interstate here helping put out Sydney fires, Christmas lunches for the less fortunate – the list is almost endless.
So you could also easily describe Harry Hunt as a Good Samaritan, because he definitely was that.
But he was so much more than that, which is why so many people were enlisted to help tell his deeds at Casula Powerhouse this morning.
One of them, his great friend and Liverpool icon June Young, told those in attendance that she had to sit down and write her lengthy tribute.
“He just did so much, Harry,’’ she told the South West Voice after the memorial.
Harry Hunt: September 6, 1944 – February 9, 2022
