Just a couple of days ago I learned of the passing of Peter Montgomery, known to many as “Parra Pete”. The news came via one of Pete’s loves, the Hay Magpies.
There will be better tributes written about Pete than this, and I highly recommend this one from the Battlers For Bush Footy website. However, what shines through from all who knew Pete was that his heart must have been bigger than Phar Lap’s, because there were so many touched by his generosity and his passion for the communities that he lived in.
From family and friends, to sports clubs, and to the wider community, Pete gave of himself and his time. It all began in Parramatta where he completed his schooling at Parra Marist. His support for the Eels began at a young age and by the early 1960’s he was writing about and documenting their history, keeping his scrapbooks and memorabilia from that era.
From Pete’s collection – the Eels 1964 State Cup team
Pete’s work with the Lands Department saw him transfer to Hay in 1966, and from there he became a legend of the Hay Magpies and Country Rugby League. He served the game of rugby league at local, group and state level.
Player, administrator, journalist, editor – he wore many hats. He also became the publican of the Highway Inn Hotel at Hay. Pete was a huge part of his community.
Pete managed the 1981 Country teams
Eventually Pete moved to Thurgoona near Albury, and of course that meant devoting his time to the Albury Thunder. It was in these latter years that I got to know a little about Pete.
The thing is, Pete may have moved away from Parra, but the Eels were always in his heart. To many he wasn’t known as Parra Pete, he was actually known as Parra Montgomery. And his passion for the Blue and Gold led him to reach out to The Cumberland Throw, literally from our inception.
From Pete’s scrap book, Clive Churchill writes about the Eels
I never had the pleasure of meeting Pete in person, but we communicated via email, and soon he was providing historical content for the Cumberland Throw. His series, “The Sleeping Giant Awakens” chronicled the emergence of the Eels as a powerhouse club in the early 1960s, and provided insights to the stars that wore the Blue and Gold.
Accompanying his writing were photos from his life and his scrap book. It was the history of an important era of the Eels club. (A few years back, TCT’s photo gallery was wiped clean so the images disappeared from Pete’s articles. However, I still have the emails with the images so my next task will be to restore the photos to those posts).
Reg Gasnier, Pete, Graeme Langlands
Over the years, Pete continued to contribute his opinions on current Eels matters to The Cumberland Throw. He was always encouraging to us and respectful to our community of supporters. It has been an honour that he felt that bond with our website, and shared his passion and memories with us.
There will be many Eels supporters saddened by the news of Pete’s passing. On behalf of The Cumberland Throw, and our readers, I wish to pass on our sympathies to those closest to Pete – his family and friends.
Parra Pete Montgomery
The mighty Eels will now have another voice in heaven cheering them on.
Rest in peace Parra Pete.
Craig Hawkins (Sixties)
The Hay Scoreboard will forever carry his name
Craig I knew Peter when he was at Parra Marist in the early 1960’s. He and older brother Paul were avid Eels supporters. Peter was a regulator contributor to the Daily Telegraph column crafted by League journo George Crawford. Little did George know that Parra Pete was 15 going on 16. Rest in Peace Peter.
Phil, I remember seeing those contributions years ago. The power of the pen back then.
Thanks for responding with this anecdote.
So sad to hear of the passing of Parra Pete, I will miss him popping in at the other site and dropping his jokes, he seemed like a very nice human being.
Yeah, the name Parra Pete was known by so many because he loved sharing that passion for Parra across the Eels forums. We might have to look at a way of perpetuating his name here.
That would be great if you could do something like that for him, his passing hit me because he was such a positive funny fella that would pop in occasionally and drop a joke that shouldn’t have made me chuckle but it did which often happened at a time when I just needed it, his loss is a case of you don’t realize what you have until its gone.
Thoughts are with Pete and his extended family. Hope he can see some premierships from above over the next period of time.
So sad to hear, never met him, but got to know him thru LU and his passion was obvious and his dad jokes always funny. RIP!