Monty Omodei (1960)
Monty Omodei (1960) is the son of contract miner Remo ‘Ray’ Omodei and Helen nee Stewart, and was born in Wiluna, on the western edge of the Gibson Desert, in 1943.
By 1947 the Wiluna mine had shut down, and most of the town’s residents departed to find work elsewhere. Monty’s father Ray went on ahead to find work at the Mount Charlotte underground mine (now the Super-Pit, the world’s largest gold mine) and Helen, sons Raymond (now deceased), Monty, and daughter Cathy (now deceased) were among the last to leave Wiluna, walking out of their then-worthless home, leaving most of their belongings behind in the ghost town.
Monty spent the rest of his childhood in Kalgoorlie, attending CBC until 1955 when the family moved to Perth, as Raymond was at Teachers’ Training College, Graylands, and Cathy an announcer at 6KY Radio Station Perth. For the rest of 1955 Monty was at CBC Highgate, but came to St Ildephonsus College, New Norcia, in 1956.
At New Norcia, Monty found another family, the members of which he’s still in touch with today. He was in Sebastian House, played music, and competed ably in athletics, swimming, golf, handball, tennis, cricket, football, boxing and debating. He left New Norcia in 1958, having completed his Junior in English, Arithmetic and Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry, Geography, History, and Art.
Monty has very happy memories of his years at St Ildephonsus – the strict discipline (all to an ever tolling bell), of making your bed, attending mass, eating regular meals, a solid routine, school work, varied sporting activities, religion, singing in the choir as well as at Mass, or with the Benedictine monks, the picnics in the bush – and most of all, the mateship. His least favourite memory was having chicken pox one year, and being the only student left there over Easter during which, understandably, he really missed his family.
Monty came back to his parents’ North Perth home in time for Christmas, but it was quite a rowdy, lively home to which he returned as, from 1955, on behalf of the St Vincent De Paul Society, his parents ran ‘Keane House’, accommodating older boys from Bindoon and Clontarf while they completed their apprenticeships. With roughly another dozen boys there, he was just another boy in line. Monty says his years at New Norcia prepared him well though, and toughened him up a bit, making it a little easier to deal with all the boys at home.
In 1959 his parents bought a home in Dianella and Monty returned to CBC Highgate for his final two years of schooling. On school holidays Monty worked as a labourer in a cordial factory, as well as in the timber yards. In 1961 he was fortunate to win the Perth Zone to get into the Grand Final of “Youth Speaks for Australia,” sponsored by Shell Co of Australia Limited, the programme for which he still has!
In 1962 one of Ray’s friends, (later Sir) Laurence Brodie-Hall, was Executive Director of Western Mining Corporation and gave Monty a start as a junior trainee in the Engineering Division at Cavalier Construction Company in Kwinana, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alcoa.
This allowed him to continue living and working happily in remote areas thereafter, in the mining and resources sector, managing complex engineering operations, and launching new technology into established industries until the early 1990s, when he started his own group of companies, still operating today.
Now partly retired, Monty still works on major equity funding in the mining and resources sector, both within Australian and international markets.
Famlily-wise, Monty married Janet Stuart in Brisbane in 1985, and they have a son Stuart who, with his wife Lauren, has provided Monty with granddaughters Isla and Sienna to dote on.
Monty says he is a simple man who loves life. With a long family history of mining pioneers, publicans, war, and military service, he is very interested in researching and reading about his family history. Now living in Brisbane, distance prevents him from attending SIC reunions, but he remains close to his classmates from so long ago, and speaks to some of them every week.
Images above:
Top: St Ildephonsus College First Years, 1956
Back, L–R: Richard Passamani, Gerard O’Callaghan, Anthony Burke, Wally Deller, Kevin Clark, Maurice Jones, Charles Bermingham, Alan Plant, David Rencoule, Gavin Schwarzbach, Michael Jones, Patrick Dullard, Laurie Shervington, Michael Kinshela, John Ferguson
3rd row: Brian White, Noel Jones, Lawrence Thompson, Theo Keeris, Thomas Morley, Terence Shine, John Stott, Eric Hogan, Neville Bugg, Maurice Priest, Frank Collins, Terence Bourke, Kieran Robinson, Peter Ryan, Denis Halligan
2nd row: Brian Farrell, John McPartland, Peter Downey, Clarence Murray, Deryck Brockhurst, Peter Whittle, James Farrell, James Williams, Leo Yellema, Alan Doyle, Edward Smeding, Kevin Heffron, Peter Klarie, John Gianatti
Front: Harry Davies, Peter Beckett, Terence Durkin, Julian Nussey, John Dwyer, Denis Larter, Ronald Ryan, Geffery Barnett, Monty Omodei, Boyden Marinich
Bottom: Monty and Janet Omodei and their family celebrating Janet’s birthday in April this year.