News

Jack Burraston died today in the Frenchmans Road Nursing Home, Randwick

12th Oct 2011

After suffering a stroke while at work at Newmarket, Jack has been in the Frenchmans Road Nursing Home for some years. Jack will be greatly missed by family, friends, staff at Inglis and clients of the firm.

Jack worked for some time at Newmarket for Inglis and to some extent became the outdoor face of the firm during his employment.

Although Jack spent most of his life in and around Sydney he had a great love of the bush and its people. He would travel to the bush when ever he had the chance. Jack was always first to the RAS Show, would attend Warwick Gold Cup and Rodeo each year and would regularly visit his friends in the bush.

He often referred to himself as a ‘concrete cowboy’, but few people had more knowledge of all breeds of horses, chooks and dogs. Jack was an avid reader and read constantly up until yesterday.

When the Stockmans Hall of Fame was being planned, Jack got in touch with the committee and said he would donate his book collection to this museum. In the Stockmans Hall of Fame at Longreach, Central Queensland, you will find The Jack Burraston Book collection.

For the past seven or eight years Jack was bed bound, but his attitude was remarkable. Upon walking into the room Jack would put down his book and greet you with a broad smile and begin to talk about what he was reading or what he had just learned. In all the time that Jack was in this nursing home, he never complained once. The only slight complaint he made, was one day he said, the nurses had said to him, 'you should eat a little less chocolate as you are getting quite fat and you should diet'. Jack’s reply was, 'I am waiting here to die and I want to die fat and happy'.

Some months ago Jack had his leg amputated. I went to visit him soon after the operation and expressed my sympathy that he had lost his leg. Jack said, ‘don’t worry about that' he said, 'it was like winning the lottery, I am out of pain and perfectly comfortable'.

As mentioned Jack loved animals and he always had a dog following him around. On one occasion he had a new dog, a blue cattle dog. A man inquired for what purpose was the dog, Jack explained, 'he is my watch dog'. The man said, is he good at his job and Jack’s reply came straight back, 'he won't let the wind in the gate'.

Jack was a great judge of a horse. He would often find a quality yearling and tell all he could to make sure they inspected it. At a Classic Yearling Sale some years ago, he told Dick Inglis to come and have a look at an outstanding yearling. The yearling turned out to be Silent Witness, the champion sprinter of Hong Kong.

Jack travelled with the Olympic Team to the Mexico Olympics in 1968 as a groom for the Equestrian team. It was a great experience for him as he relived many stories and told many tales of his time in Mexico. One such story was, he became great friends with the man that managed the horse feed. I assume because of quarantine regulations the horses, staff and competitors all left Australia some time before the event. After some weeks in Mexico City, Jack, said to his new friend, 'how about we arrange a senorita for the night and perhaps we could give her as payment a bag of chaff and oats'. As Jack said, wages were light on. It was asked by those listening, was this acceptable to the ‘senorita’, well Jack said,’ she gave us a dozen eggs as change’.

Jack had a great knowledge of all chooks and bantams. Nothing Jack liked more than a trip to the Philippines, watch the cock fighting and go to the owners farms and view their stock. He lived for a while on Roseneath Stud, Cobbitty and lived in an old renovated dairy. He must have had 200 chooks and bantams of all descriptions.

Jack had no enemies, he was loved by all, he had a wonderful sense of humour, loved a drink and a yarn at the end of the day. Many an enjoyable evening was had by all in the Newmarket Room after a sale, listening to Jack tell stories of the past, about his friends, his animals etc. It is a well worn cliché, but Jack was one in a million, a terrific man.

Tribute by Jamie Inglis