A story that needed to be told

Keith Smith
Keith Smith

Keith Smith has dedicated his life to the area 

WHEN I asked 74 year-old Keith Smith if I could do a phone interview with him for a personality profile he told me he would be too hard to catch because he had a lot on his plate.

I realised he wasn’t too keen on sharing his story and when he told me if I had to ring him the best time was at 4am I knew getting his words was going to be a difficult assignment.

Canungra Law

But after 40 years of journalism I wasn’t going to be deterred so I nailed him down for a much more reasonable interview time of 6.30am.

“I really don’t know why you want to hear my story,” he told me at the start.

I explained that an old mate of his, Jeff McConnell, formerly from The Tamborine Mountain SES had contacted us and said ‘you must do a piece on Keith, he has a story that must be told’.

According to Jeff, Keith was a legend not only as a dedicated member of the SES for 40 years, but also as a great community man who would put other people’s problems in front of his own.

The high praise did the trick and Keith mellowed and consented to recounting his life which started as a child on Tamborine Mountain.

“As a lad I was always getting scrap pieces of timber and trying to build things so it was no surprise to my mother and dad, Will and Hilda, when I went off to the Gold Coast to do a carpentry apprenticeship,” he said.

“Once I qualified I starting working locally and one of my first big projects was to build the Presbyterian Church and then the Total Service Station.”

While Keith was well known as a top builder he also started creating a reputation as the man to go to when you needed a tree lopped or removed.

According to his mate, Jeff McConnell, there was nothing Keith couldn’t do with a chain saw in his hands.

Still to this day locals are ringing him asking for advice and help.

You would think at 74 and after two hip replacements, one knee replacement and two shoulder replacements Keith would be ready to put away the saw and take it easy.

“No way, these old blokes who just stop work die and I have too much to do to let that happen,” Keith joked.

“I still drop in too often to the doctor’s and I asked for a brain replacement the other day, but he told me they don’t do those.”

Keith recalls his 40 year stint with the SES as some of the best times in his life.

“Great people and we helped many along the way; I believe I helped save the lives of at least 10 people, and on the sadder side I also assisted in recovering 27 bodies,” he said.

“It was a family affair in the SES and my wife May also dug in as a member for 40 years.

“She did some great work and raised substantial funds for our branch which wasn’t supported by the government at the start.”

If you want to find Keith these days you just need to drop into his workshop on the mountain or to his large timber collection.

He wasn’t lying when he said he was still busy.

While he’s not erecting houses anymore he is still designing and building farm gates and barn doors and the orders keep flowing in as locals rely on his reputation as an expert carpenter.

Helping others in times of need is a trait that has now carried on in the Keith Smith family with his daughter Miriam now working in a senior role with the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service.

Miriam is an air traffic controller during times of emergency directing aerial water bombing.

His other daughter Rosemary works for the government in providing community housing.

Jeff McConnell was right, the Keith Smith story did need to be told and his service to the local community duly recognised.