Andrew Sinclair posted the text version of the eulogy he delivered as a comment on my post about my memories of Pete. I wanted to make sure people read & saw it. Thanks Andrew.

Prepared & delivered by Andrew Sinclair with the support of Peter’s family and mates.

Good morning Ladies and Gentleman.

I am very honoured to have been asked by Jane Webster to speak today.

I know that Peter would want me to waffle on for at least three hours however I will do my best to keep it to a comfortable duration.

I have had the great, great pleasure of knowing both Jane and Peter for the past 25 years.

I, like Jane and Peter, and many of the guests today, started work together in the early 1980′s as a part of the then QTTC’s cadetship program. In those front line customer services days Peter was a delight to work with as he had the unique ability to look after any client need and always managed to get a laugh from them – particularly the granny’s.

Peter Jon Webster was born on the 16th of July 1960 at the Royal Women’s in Brisbane. He was the third child of Cec and Rosemary Webster. He went home to Annie Street Torwood in Brisbane to be with his older brother and sister, Michael and Tracy. Two years later another brother, Tony was born and ten years later, another sister, Catherine who died at birth.

Peter started school at the Sacred Heart convent at Rosalie. He was in the Prep year of 1966. At the end of that year, Cec got a new job with the Townsville Regional Electricity Board and the family moved North. Peter went for his first aircraft ride in a Trans Australian Airlines Viscount turboprop airliner.

The family lived in Townsville for 4 years. This time saw both Rosemary and Cec getting their driver’s licences and the first family car, a Holden EH wagon. Family trips were made back to Brisbane during the long Christmas holidays and the Townsville region was explored on many a day trip.

Peter started his sporting career in Townsville as a player in the Brothers Junior Rugby League Under-10 team in 1970 as a forward. In the official team photograph for that year, Peter’s name is marked “absent” as just before the season had ended, Cec got a promotion to become Secretary of the Central Western Regional Electricity board in Barcaldine.

The family loaded up the now Holden HR wagon and headed West.

In Barcaldine, Peter lined up with the St. Josephs Under 6 Stone Rugby League team and continued to develop his love of footy. Life in Barcaldine was a fun time with the freedom allowing kids to roam with their mates.

It was in Barcaldine that the first seeds of Peter’s yen for storytelling and eventual skills at creative writing were sown. In those days when Cracker Night meant free access to fireworks for all, Peter was known to head over to the Railway yards to let off a few bungers. When asked by mother Rosemary where he and Tony had been one afternoon, he replied that they had just been over at the Showgrounds kicking the footy.

In 1973, Peter followed Michael off to boarding school at Marist Brothers College Ashgrove. It was here that he developed an interest in the mathematics of statistics and probability as applied to the science of picking winners at the gallops and the dogs. He and a number of his fellow students had transistor radios appropriately disguised and turned down to avoid detection by the supervising Dorm Master. There were occasions when the theory of punting was put into practise with clandestine Thursday night visits to the Gabba Dogs naturally without the approval of the school.

Peter’s punting exploits were not always successful. At the start of each new school term, Rosemary and Cec would give the boys $20.00 to spend on incidentals. Tony went to Ashgrove in 1975 and during his last two years there, Peter is known to have asked Tony for an incidental loan of $5.00 on a number of occasions.

In 1977 Peter finished secondary school and went off briefly to study Accountancy at QIT. This was something of a surprise as he had not shown any interest in numbers at school. Soon after he got a clerical job with the Brisbane City Council. He was well known at the Council Club and spent a bit of time there fine tuning his social skills.

But the work spirit was still restless and Peter left the Council to do a year study at Teachers College. This was not his calling, however his skills and talents steered him to his true calling…… a career in Tourism.

Peter’s cadetship in tourism took him to – Adelaide, Newcastle, Mackay, Melbourne and eventually back to Brisbane. From various landlord reports he wasn’t domesticated.

When talking with a fun spirited young lady called Jane Webster on Tuesday night I confessed that I knew they met at the Brisbane travel centre however I was unsure of the detail. Jane told me it was love at first sight and that she knew she would marry Peter. She also said that her Poppy loved Craven A’s and as Peter smoked them he must be a good sort! More about Jane later!

One of the many fun moments in Peter’s tourism life was being selected from hundreds of people to represent Australia at Expo 86 in Vancouver Canada. Selection for the job required an extensive interview process to ensure they had the best possible young people representing the nation. In one of the interviews, Peter was posed the following scenario:

You have to organise a tour of the vineyards and wineries in the Barossa Valley for a group of wine connoisseurs. What might you suggest? He provided a number of options including: “They could fly to Adelaide, hire a car and drive themselves”.

“Surely not”, replied a panel member, “drinking and driving wouldn’t be right?”

“But you said they are connoisseurs”, shot back Peter. “They always spit it out!”

Peter’s time in Vancouver was great fun. The team worked and played hard! They delivered presentations to unassuming Americans and Canadians – 220 at a time, every 14 minutes, for 6 months. After work they managed to enjoy Peter’s deal with the Australian Consul General to buy XXXX for $5 a carton.

Bruce McKinnon recalled yesterday with me his visit to Vancouver to see “the boys”. He said that after standing around talking with Peter, Peter said “Eric’s outside so lets go”. Bruce, thinking that he was about to meet another of Pete’s new mates, discovered Eric was in fact the large American sedan the boys had acquired and named for transportation.

Peter’s working life in tourism included many, many chapters. In the mid 80′s he had a regular spot on radio with Ian Skippen talking about the great range of holiday options in Queensland. He developed a banter with Ian that made radio immense fun.

Peter for many years managed the Sunshine Rail Experience which was a weekly train tour in the winter months that took 5 days and travelled from Brisbane to Cairns. Each night the train stopped utilising local accommodation. When the market changed and that type of tour no longer appealed, Peter was left with the unenviable job advising local hoteliers in places such as Rockhampton that the business was no longer coming. He deflected with gusto the bullets that came from along the Queensland coast and said that the then Mayor of Bowen hated him but he could live with that as long as he did not shoot him.

In more recent years Peter worked with Glen Miller in specialised areas of tourism marketing. These included segments such as indigenous, gay and lesbian and fishing. When I talked with Glen this week we discussed Peter’s wonderful ability to get on with people and the respect he had gained from many indigenous communities on Cape York. Peter’s job to research fishing product was to me on of the greatest in Australia. One weakness that both Glen and Peter had was their inability to convince the gay and lesbian market they had a true affinity with the product. They decided to cut their losses and seek outside help.

Two very important parts of Peter’s life, apart from family, was his passion for sport and the occasional flutter on the ponies. Peter loved a bet and he managed to turn his passion into activities that others could enjoy.

The first of these was an excellent annual event called “Race Day” which has been held in the Webster’s backyard for the past 12 years. The day evolved from a chat and beers between the Expo 86 boys and then had to happen because a trophy was built by Jack Melican. The day kicked off in the morning with betting on the gallops and stretched into the twighlight with betting on anything in “exotic” places like Toowoomba or anywhere else the TAB were taking bets. Things later ended with a few bets on the trots or greyhounds. The day was as much about being with great mates, as it was about having a bet or two.

Peter also organised a punters club. The “triple B.S”, which was “bookie busters betting syndicate” or “triple the bull….”. It was a conglomerate of like minded punters who throughout the year set about sending the TAB broke and eventually converging on the Gold Coast for an end of season weekend of fun and frivolity, including a visit to the Gold Coast Turf Club. The betting started early and went for nearly 12 hours straight.

Peter and work mate CC, who also likes a bet, got to know the local TAB lady called Rhonda at the Brisbane Transit Centre near Tourism Queensland. Every Wednesday they would head over, have a few bets and few laughs. Chris has posted a few stories about Peter on his BLOG and I would encourage you to read and add to these.

Peter’s use of the English language was extrorniaory. He was one of the most articulate and witty people I have ever come across. He always had a good book in his hand and excelled at his part time university studies to obtain a degree in journalism. The way Peter could articulate himself was often done in just a few words where others would need sentences. One of my favourite stories about Peter’s ability to think on his feet was relayed to me by Geoff Pilbeam. Geoff and Peter had enjoyed a few sherbets and were walking through King George Square. Whilst crossing the square they were set upon by some new age religious zealots misquoting the bible. Peter, to get them off his back, returned fire with corrections to each of the biblical quotes they had misused. The group had no option but to head to the other side of the square. The good news from this story is the years at Marish Brothers Ashgrove were not all about betting and the dogs – there must have some bible moments.

The other story relayed to me featured Samara and Jesse. Jesse and Samara had once heard the ice cream van and told Peter that they wanted an ice cream. Without batting an eyelid, Peter told them that the music the van was playing meant that the van was out of ice cream and it needed to go back to the depot for more.

Sledging mates was a game Peter, Bruce, Geoff and myself played whenever we could at the Irish Club in Elizabeth Street. We enjoyed each others company last week, had a few beers and had one of the funniest nights ever.

Peter’s love and knowledge of music was immense. He could play guitar but rarely would in front of others. His IPOD was full with 3,000 tunes, 300 of these were by Tom Waits. I once remember Peter sitting me down in the Wishart family room and passionately explaining to me the importance of each lyric in various Tom Waits songs. His passion was incredible. At the end of this eulogy we will hear one of Peters favourite Tom Waits tunes entitled “Grapefruit Moon”.

I was talking with Bruce McKinnon yesterday to reflect on Pete’s life. One of Bruce’s proudest moments was when Peter asked him to be his best man. Peter was very very excited about marrying the beautiful and funny Jane Hilton. The actual moment of engagement was at Mexican Petes and Peter’s method of asking Jane was basic yet effective……”what do you reckon?”

Peter and Jane’s wedding day was great fun. It seems like yesterday that a handsome young groom was at the alter in South Brisbane with the love of his life.

Peter’s love of his family was always number one. He took great pride in coaching the mighty U8, U9, U10 and U11 Mt Gravatt Vultures and getting caught kicking the football in with Jesse in the house. He was very proud of Samara’s achievements and development as a young person. Maybe if the gay and lesbian community had known about his ballet steps behind you Samara they would have been more understanding.

In the last few days I have spoken to many people about Peter’s life. I have, in recent days, enjoyed the warmth and friendship displayed by both the Webster and Hilton families and enjoyed hearing stories both new and some retold. To all those I have spoken to thank you.

Peter and Jane have created Jesse and Samara. I know they will grow into fine adults because of the guidance provided to them by both Peter and Jane. The virtues I have seen Peter and Jane instil in their children have included integrity, honesty, concern, fairness and love toward their family and friends.

We will each miss Peter in different ways. Peter was a much loved son, brother, husband, father and mate but most importantly of all he had an unwavering love as a husband and father to Jane, Samara and Jesse.