Jack Boyd is 88. You will most likely see him scooting around Lemon Tree Passage (LTP) in his new ‘gopher’ as his legs aren’t what they used to be.
He lived most of his life in Medowie where the family ran a poultry farm.
His late father Laurie was a Port Stephens councillor and Jack followed in his footsteps.
His main claim to fame was as a contractor who was engaged in 1962 to build the roads in LTP for Cambridge Credit which subdivided much of the area.
They then sold the newly created housing blocks. In fact, they named a road after Jack as well as naming streets after the directors and their wives.
Cambridge Credit went broke leaving many investors (including locals) with burnt fingers.
“They had an interesting way of selling the blocks,” Jack said.
“The subdivision was heavily advertised in Sydney and they flew prospective buyers up from Rose Bay in Sunderland flying boats.”
“If you bought a block of land you got the flight for free. If not, you paid the return fare.”
Jack operated a quarry in LTP.
He later contracted to the ACI silica sandming company which mined the white sand found in the dunes behind Tanilba Golf Club.
It was used for glass making.
By Geoff WALKER
