James (Jim) Cameron
February 1984
- October 1984
FRED NILE'S TRIBUTE TO JAMES ALEXANDER CAMERON IN NSW UPPER HOUSE (14 March 2002):
"I was pleased to make the following Tribute, in the NSW Parliament, to one of God's faithful Parliamentarians - James Alexander Cameron" said Rev Fred Nile MLC, Leader of the Christian Democratic Party.
DEATH OF JAMES ALEXANDER CAMERON, LLM, A FORMER MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
Reverend the Hon. Fred Nile:
"I wish to pay tribute to the life and witness of an outstanding New South Wales parliamentarian James Alexander Cameron, the son of a blacksmith who became truly a wordsmith. He was born in 1930 in the town of Coraki on the Richmond River in northern New South Wales. He was the only child of the local blacksmith, Donald Cameron, and schoolteacher Dorothy Betheras. Two other brothers did not survive owing to a lack of medical services. Jim scraped into the world rather precariously, his health further knocked by contraction of rheumatic fever when he was aged 12.
During his secondary studies at North Newton Intermediate and Canterbury Boys High School, the shy only child discovered a capacity for oratory that would become a feature of his adult life and vocation. However, he failed to matriculate and, after leaving school, took up a staff position at the New South Wales Liberal Party secretariat under the patronage of John, now Sir John, Carrick. He worked as a speech writer to Opposition Leader Pat Morton, a youth organiser and a campaign worker.
Studying at night after work, Mr Cameron matriculated and sold his beloved Jaguar Mark IV to fund a five-year bachelor of laws course at the University of Sydney. He graduated in 1961 and was admitted to the Sydney Bar, where he practised for the next seven years at Selbourne Chambers. His detailed study of the rule of law and parliamentary democracy without Christianity and the Reformation was his first step towards embracing Christianity.
The second great spiritual importance came in the form of a tall, athletic 20-year-old Outward Bound instructor named Helen Bickett - an active Christian and deputy leader of the youth fellowship at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Macquarie Street, which is just across the road from Parliament House. Although rejected eight times, Mr Cameron reflected on matters of personal faith required for consideration by the object of his affection. They finally were married at St Stephen's in March 1963.
Together with his adventurous and forbearing companion - and determined not to repeat the isolation of his own childhood - the marriage produced six children, Jock, Ross, Margaret, Christina, Dundan and Lachlan, who have produced 16 grandchildren.
The 16-year parliamentary career that followed Mr Cameron's election to the State seat of Northcott in 1968 involved serving variously as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Shadow Attorney General, Opposition Leader of the House and briefly as Deputy Leader and acting Leader of the Opposition. He added intellectual ballast to the social conservatives on red-rag issues such as Australia's participation in Vietnam, homosexual law reform, abortion, and as a delegate to three Constitutional conventions in defence of constitutional monarchy. The Liberal Party leadership moved to the left in the early 1980s and Mr Cameron resigned in 1983 to successfully contest an upper House seat on the Call to Australia ticket.
The then Opposition Leader, Bob Carr, attended to hear his inaugural speech as a mark of respect for the "pre-eminent orator of a generation". Eight months later Mr Cameron's parliamentary service ended with a near fatal heart attack while he was addressing a Call to Australia dinner at Cronulla which he attended with me. He was sitting at the table when suddenly he fell from his seat because he had suffered a massive heart attack - an almost fatal heart attack. As a result, he was forced to resign from the upper House because of his heart condition.
Mr Cameron had been the only member of the Legislative Assembly to vote against the establishment of the organ transplants program, and he was the first one to use it. Faced with imminent death, with his youngest son still only eight years of age, he readily abandoned his earlier reservations and submitted to the scalpel of the late Dr Victor Chang to become Australia's forty-third and oldest heart transplant recipient at the age of 55. At that point he was told that he might live for another five years but he certainly lived a lot longer than that.
He made a complete recovery and had hoped to resume his Call to Australia seat in the upper House, but that was not possible as honourable members would know. He spent the following nine years before retirement with the New South Wales Law Society, defending his beloved common law. He was reconciled with the Liberal Party and entertained its State council with contributions of eloquence and humour as well as the defence of core values and great principles until shortly before his death.
His children will remember him as a devoted if demanding father who cared deeply about them and who left a legacy of hope, confidence and the abiding conviction that the world is filled with opportunity, that there is a God in Heaven, and that every human life is precious.
James Alexander Cameron lived from 9 November 1930 until 19 January 2002. We thank God for the memory of James Alexander Cameron".