The Official Opening Of Andersson House - WIA National Headquarters
Date :
04 /
04 /
2011
Author :
Robert Broomhead - VK3DN
The message below was delivered by WIA President Michael Owen VK3KI during the opening ceremony of Andersson House held 4:30pm Saturday 2nd of April, Unit 20 11-13 Havelock Road Bayswater.
Pictured right, Michael Owen VK3KI holding the commemorative plaque in position where it is to mounted to the wall, to the right hand side of the front entrance door.
Henry Gustaf Andersson VK8HA died in Darwin on 5 October 2004. By his will Henry left his “house and lands” to the WIA. In the July 2005 issue of Amateur Radio magazine, after saying that I had never met Henry Andersson, I said this of his bequest to the WIA: “His generous bequest during this period of change, as we work to create a single national body, gives us great hope and great confidence, because it means that we now have some reserves that at least give us confidence.
As I say, I never met Henry. But we must make sure that we do not forget Henry Gustaf Andersson, VK8HA, SK.” Today we make good that commitment. Today we name our national headquarters in honour of Henry Andersson.
Henry Andersson was born in Sweden and had come to Australia many years ago. Henry built his house at 30 Trippe Road, Humpty Doo in about 1988, on some 5 acres of land. Humpty Doo is on the Arnhem Highway, a few kilometres from the Stuart Highway, in all some 40 minutes or less drive from central Darwin. Henry erected three antenna towers on his land. There were two other amateurs in the Northern Territory who had come from Scandinavia and with a similar background to Henry and who were among his real friends. One was Karl, VK8CAW from Darwin, and the other was Len, VK8DK, from Tennant Creek. I have met them both, and we have talked of Henry. Henry was a passionate CW operator, and became a member of the First Class Operators Club (FOC) in 1970. Henry was an Honorary Life Member of the WIA, his QSL card proudly proclaiming that he was the first Honorary Life Member of the WIA “in VK8. Henry had set up and ran the VK8 QSL Bureau for some 38 years. He was the first Federal Intruder Watch Coordinator, and was appointed National Intruder Watch Coordinator when the WIA Board met in May 2004.
Henry Andersson was a unique person, supporting amateur radio and the WIA over many years, contributing significantly in that most important but often frustrating role of coordinating Intruder Watch, now called the Monitoring System, a task that requires skill to identify the intruder and patience to persist when there is not much response to the reports. It is fitting that in the year we are holding our Annual Conference in Darwin we honour this great radio amateur from Darwin, without whose generosity we would not have our own national headquarters.
It is my privilege to unveil our recognition of Henry Gustaf Andersson’s contribution to amateur radio as we now name our national Headquarters Andersson House.
