Long-serving Queensland politician Warren Pitt AM passed away recently and while much has been written about his time as a minister and serving under three premiers, there was a lot more to his life, including a deep love for sport, teaching and community.
Warren, who was 76 when he passed earlier this month, was an avid sportsman, excelling in cricket, rugby league and boxing.
As many will attest, he was a great supporter of junior sports and community events.
Born in Cairns, his father was a policeman who transferred to numerous places around the state including Cooktown, Mount Isa, Irvinebank, Cooroy and Ingham.
Training as teacher after high school, Warren transferred to Ingham in 1969 where his father was stationed and played rugby league for the Lifesavers club in the local competition as well as Foley Shield for Herbert River.
In an interview from 2008, he recounted how he was among the group of Lifesaver club players who helped shift a building donated by the CSR company to the club’s home ground.
To this day that building, which has been renovated several times, is the home of the Herbert River Crushers who play in the Townsville and District Rugby League competition.
The clubhouse has survived many floods, including the most recent one to affect the Ingham community.
In 1989, Warren was elected to Parliament as the Member for Mulgrave (Cairns) and in 1994 was appointed Minister for Industry and Regional Development under Premier Wayne Goss.
He lost the seat in 1995 and returned to teaching until re-entering Parliament in the same seat at the end of 1998. He remained the member until retiring in 2009.
In 2004, he was appointed Minister for Community and Disability Service under Premier Peter Beattie and served as Minister for Main Roads and Local Government under Premier Anna Bligh from 2007 to 2009.
Warren loved the teaching profession as well, proudly serving his local community. He was named Mulgrave citizen of the year in 1983 and was patron for many local sporting clubs.
He met his wife Linda in school, and she also greatly supported community work and in recent years, part of the Bruce Highway from Gordonvale to Cairns was re-named the “Warren and Linda Pitt Way”.
