Andrew Hugh Campbell, a ‘captain’ of the Port Macquarie community, passed away peacefully at home on October 5, after a 16month illness.
Andrew’s memorial service was held at the Port Macquarie Uniting Church on October 10 and was attended by a large gathering of family, friends and professional colleagues.
Andrew was born on January 19, 1946, the son of Andrew and Joyce Campbell, growing up at Lisarow on the NSW Central Coast with his sisters Ellyn and Margaret.
Andrew was a well-qualified and highly respected professional surveyor and town planner having graduated with a Bachelor of Surveying from UNSW in 1968, a Master of Surveying Science from UNSW in 1972 and a Master of Planning from UTS in 1996.
It was in those early days at UNSW that Andrew met medical student Brenda and they were married in 1969.
Their children Andrew, Jonathan and Sarah were undoubtedly Andrew and Brenda’s pride and joy. The Campbell clan continued to grow with the addition of young Andrew’s partner Michelle and their daughter Lainey, Jonathan’s partner Melissa and their son William Andrew and Sarah’s partner Oceane.
The underlying essence of Andrew’s caring character was never more obvious than when interacting with young children and his two young grandchildren provided valuable opportunity for Andrew to enjoy “Pa” time over the past 18 months.
Andrew and Brenda moved to Port Macquarie in 1973 and formed a partnership with Peter and Saima King who had commenced practicing in 1968.
King & Campbell developed into a very successful surveying and civil engineering consultancy providing services to land development projects generally between Taree and Tweed Heads.
Andrew remained a director of King & Campbell until 2006, by which time the firm had expanded its services to include town planning, landscape architecture, urban design, architecture and interior design.
Andrew continued to play an important role as a consultant and mentor up until the time of his illness.
Andrew was the consummate professional in his approach to consultancy and design work with an unwavering commitment to meticulous preparation and the pursuit of excellence.
His passion for the industry saw him serve in many capacities including as a member of the Board of Surveying and Spatial Information (BOSSI) from 1998 to 2008.
In that time it was always amazing to see that, despite limited available time due to professional, family and community commitments, Andrew always made time to mentor young surveyors as they prepared for their registration exams.
Along with Emeritus Professor John Fryer, Andrew was instrumental in changing BOSSI’s town planning and civil engineering examination processes, resulting in a significant rise in the number of surveyors having the opportunity to complete their registration exams over the past five years.
Andrew’s commitment to the surveying industry was recognised by many professional awards including:
â- The Institution of Surveying (NSW) James Kirkwood Curdie Prize (1997)
â- Excellence in Surveying and Spatial Information Awards (2001 & 2008) and Commendation (2003)
â- Fellow of the Institution of Surveying (NSW)
â- Life Member of the NSW Country Surveyors Association
Andrew enjoyed being an “agent of change”as long as the result of the change was improvement. There is little doubt that the community of Port Macquarie has greatly benefitted from Andrew’s desire to always seek a better outcome.
In the early days, it was in representing the Community Pre-School to obtain government funding, the Sailing Club, the Keep Australia Beautiful Committee and the local and State Councils of Life Education. In more recent times his community involvement was through the Economic Development Board, Town Centre Masterplan Committee, Regional Gallery Advisory Board, Port Macquarie Rowing Club and Port Macquarie Sunrise Rotary Club. His tireless work for the Port Macquarie community was recognised when he was made a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary in 2010.
Sport and fitness also formed an ongoing important part of Andrew’s life.
The competitive spirit burned strongly in AHC, whether that was on the ski slopes of the Snowy Mountains, in a sailing boat or rowing scull on the Hastings River or cycling with the LIMALPS (Lake Innes Mountainbike and Life Preservation Society) where he was aptly known as Andrew “Captain” Campbell.
Strong friendships were formed through all of these endeavours, not to mention invaluable advice on rowing techniques, cadence and bicycle gear changing.
Andrew loved being part of the reworking of history at the Saturday morning breakfast meetings of the LIMALPS and the support and love of these mates was never more obvious than in the last months of his life.
Alan Johnson, a friend of Andrew’s since 1968, remembered Andrew’s life with these words:
“Mate, you have left this world a better place.”
No truer words have been spoken.
Andrew will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by his family, friends and the Port Macquarie and surveying communities.
Rest in peace, Andrew Hugh Campbell.
