The Southern Cross | December 2024

Whether it’s fundraising, organising a golf day, coaching old scholars’ sport or counting the money after Mass, Peter McCarthy is your man.

The list of voluntary positions 83-year-old Peter has held over the years is extensive.

Some are associated with his Catholic faith including a long involvement with Our Lady of Dolours Church, Kingswood (now part of the Emmaus Parish), and his membership of the Knights of the Southern Cross; others stem from his alma mater, St Ignatius’ College.

If that were not enough, when he retired from his position as senior biochemist at the Daw Park Repatriation Hospital 25 years ago, he began volunteering in the Animal Health Centre at the Adelaide Zoo.

A life member of Zoos SA and current member of the Board, his work in biochemistry and pathology for the Zoo’s Veterinarians continues today.

“When I retired, a good friend of mine, David Schultz, was the head Vet at the Zoo and he asked me and another friend to start a laboratory for the Animal Health Centre,” Peter said.

“That’s how I got involved and I have been ever since.

“I go in there two days a week and there’s a team of volunteers that work with me…it’s similar to biochemistry and pathology work that you’d do for humans in a hospital, only it’s for animals. We also become involved in some research work”

Peter and five other volunteers in the Animal Health Centre were bestowed with the honour of Unsung Heroes at the SA Science Awards in 2019.

Similarly, his voluntary roles for the Church including chair of parish pastoral and finance councils, fundraising for Catholic Charities, hands-on assistance at major Church events and his service to the Knights of the Southern Cross earned him an Archbishop’s Award in 2015.

But Peter is as humble as they come and his awards and other achievements such as writing a 384-page history of the Southern Cross Golf Club and life membership of the Old Ignatians Cricket & Football Club had to be coaxed out of him.

He is no slouch when it comes to playing sport. First XI cricket and First XVIII football captain at school, he was the first ‘Iggy’s’ old scholar to play league football. After captaining the Sturt Senior Colts in 1959, he played the first of his 33 games in 1960.

After family and work restricted his league career, Peter won three Mail Medals playing country football for Milang and co-founded the Old Ignatians Cricket Club, winning two premierships in the first three years. Peter also coached the Old Ignatians Football Club from 1973 to 1978 winning three premierships and reaching the A2 Grade after four years.

On retiring from playing cricket at the age of 47, Peter became an umpire. He took on the role of secretary of the Adelaide Turf Cricket Umpires Association, was selected to stand in the A1 Grand Final and was inducted into Umpire’s Hall of Fame in 2021.

Peter spent the first seven years of his life on a farm at Finniss before his father bought a poultry farm at Westbourne Park. The family of six lived across the road from the farm (now All Hallows Nursing Home) and Peter attended Westbourne Park Primary School.

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