Don 'Ducky' Williams was an icon of the Labor movement in Newcastle. He was a great character and a great mate of my late father's. There is an important lesson for Newcastle about his involvement, along with Dennis Nichols, in getting the funding for the development of John Hunter Hospital in the early 1980's.
The Sydney establishment in the health bureaucracy was reluctant to send any money to Newcastle but when Dr. Owen James, (then CEO of the Health service), Denis and Ducky lobbied Neville Wran, they made it clear that the people of Newcastle were united behind them and that they were prepared to block the port if the state government didn't come up with the money.
Even Wran knew he had come up against a stronger force, conceded defeat and agreed to fund the much-needed hospital. Similar efforts of lobbying with united force of the political, union, and business community achieved great results for the region in the troubled economic times of the 1980's - 90's. This is the benefit of the community working together that we need to remember and emulate into the future.