Barry Dallas

Dr Barry Dallas
Born Barry Mitchell Dallas
1 December 1926
Masterton, New Zealand
Died 21 April 1992(1992-04-21) (aged 65)
Greymouth, New Zealand
Nationality New Zealand
Occupation Medical doctor, Chairman of Greymouth Hospital Board
Known for Mayor of Greymouth

Barry Mitchell Dallas OBE JP (1 December 1926 – 21 April 1992) was a New Zealand politician and doctor. He was twice mayor of Greymouth on the West Coast of New Zealand.

Biography

Dallas was born in Masterton and attended Wairarapa College. He qualified as a doctor at the Otago School of Medicine (1950; MB, ChB) and at the Auckland School of Medicine (1960, DipObs).[1] He was a house surgeon at New Plymouth, and then at Greymouth where he became both surgeon and a general practitioner.

He was on the West Coast Hospital Board from 1970, then the Area Health Board. He was Mayor of Greymouth from 1966 to 1968, and later from 1980 until his unexpected death after a long illness in 1992.[2][3] Greymouth was regularly flooded by the Grey River. Since the 1860s, the town had been under water almost two dozen times. When the town was flooded twice in 1988, Dallas embarked on an ambitious project to build a flood protection wall. Since its completion, flooding has not occurred again.[4] Dallas was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to local government and the community in the 1990 New Year Honours,[5] and was also awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.[6]

Dallas stood as an independent candidate for the Westland electorate in 1969; and in 1972 and 1975 for the replacement West Coast electorate. He finished second behind the incumbent Paddy Blanchfield in all three elections; standing as an independent candidate in 1972, and as the National candidate in 1975. In 1969 he trailed Blanchfield by only 1879 votes.[7] In 1972 the majority for Blanchfield was 4242, and in 1975 it was 2401.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Obituary" in The New Zealand Medical Journal, 11 November 1992 p462 (vol 105 no 945)
  2. ↑ "Mayor adds grave-tending to his duties". The Press. 11 July 2003. p. 4.
  3. ↑ Christian, Peter (24 September 1998). "City flood wall highlight, says retiring mayor". The Press. p. 7.
  4. ↑ Crean, Mike (30 May 2008). "A mayor with a big flood idea". The Press. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  5. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 51982. p. 30. 30 December 1989. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  6. ↑ Taylor, Alister; Coddington, Deborah (1994). Honoured by the Queen — New Zealand: recipients of honours 1953–1993. Auckland: New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa. p. 115. ISBN 0908578342.
  7. ↑ Templeton, Ian; Eunson, Keith (1972). In the balance: election '72. Dunedin: John McIndoe. p. 21.
  8. ↑ Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946-1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.
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