Packer an altruist: Slattery

By Jen Cowley
Updated November 8 2012 - 8:58pm, first published December 29 2005 - 11:03pm

As tributes from across the nation and the world continue to flood in for the late Kerry Packer, one Dubbo identity has paid special tribute to the media magnate to whom he says Dubbo owes a great debt. Former Dubbo Mayor Tom Slattery today revealed exclusively to the Daily Liberal that the Zoo's black rhino breeding program would not have come to fruition had it not been for Mr Packer's personal generosity. Mr Slattery, a member of the Zoological Parks Board's finance committee during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and a member of the Western Plains Zoo Development Committee, said Mr Packer's personal contribution saved not only the black rhinos but the Zoo's breeding project from almost certain extinction. "Kerry Packer was a fellow Board Member and had an abiding interest in the Western Plains Zoo," Mr Slattery said. "During the development phase of the breeding program a great many problems arose in part as a result of the political climate in Zimbabwe. "Robert Mugabe's intervention and greed had a great bearing on the program, as did the death of the two male black rhinos - one while in quarantine in the Cocos Islands, the other shortly after arrival in Dubbo. "The timetable of the breeding program and the shipment of the animals suffered delays that threatened the entire project by causing a considerable escalation in the costs," Mr Slattery recalled. Enter the philanthropic Mr Packer, whose immediate response to a plea for extra funding meant the program was able to continue as planned. "We approached Kerry with a request for help to meet the shortfall in funds created by the delays, and he readily agreed. "He did not hesitate, despite having already contributed considerable sums of his own money in the Western Plains Zoo." According to Mr Slattery, it was Mr Packer's reluctance to seek recognition for his contribution which cemented the impression of the nation's wealthiest man as a true altruist. Despite being pressed quite heavily to admit the personal support he had given to the black rhino project, he refused to identify himself as the benefactor, choosing instead to give official credit to The Australian Women's Weekly. "Until now, very few people realised that it was actually Kerry Packer himself who made the whole program possible." Mr Slattery said. "We just simply wouldn't have our black rhinos without him, and he also contributed to a number of other projects throughout the Zoo both financially and through his considerable influence." Mr Slattery's recollection of the late media mogul was of a man that few people came to know personally. "But he was always accessible and always very helpful and responsive. "He truly was a great Australian, and I agree wholeheartedly with all the eulogising in the media since his death. "Kerry Packer really was a wonderful man and Dubbo owes him a great debt."

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