Mal Whyte’s legacy to the Echuca community is expansive and impressive, the response to his February 16 passing an indication of the esteem in which he was held at a variety of organisations.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
The 83-year-old father of three and grandfather to six was an iconic figure, whether it was at the Echuca 208 Primary School, the Port of Echuca, through the Echuca scouting movement, Apex or Echuca South Cricket Club, he touched the lives of many people.
He received the Order of the Medal of Australia in 2017 for his services to youth, as a teacher, as a scout leader, as a cricket coach and as a member of the community who cared deeply for the future of children who crossed his path.
But there was probably one thing that Mal was known for just as much as any of his above achievements — his famous bicycle.
Such is the status of the bike that when he eventually stopped riding, only a few years ago, the Port of Echuca decided to keep it as a reminder of just how much work he had done for the historic riverside precinct.
His wife of 55 years, Pat, said the bike was used by Malclom (as she refers to her husband) to ride to school as a teenager, when he lived in a small town outside Horsham.
“He never had a car when he went off to teacher’s college, so he rode it for the two years he was at Ballarat,” Pat said.
“He ended up teaching at Beulah (in Victoria’s Mallee region) for five years.
“That period of his life, and his initial time in Echuca, was probably the only time he was separated from the bike.”
In 1964 Mal arrived in Echuca, but when he and Pat started their family the bike came back — in 1969 — because Pat needed the car.
“He rode the bike everywhere,” Pat said.
“I remember it was stolen one time when he was working at the port, laying bricks on the footpath.
“He rang me and said ‘someone stole my bike’
“I started laughing, but he went to the police station.
“They asked ‘does it have brakes, a light, any branding’, a series of questions.
“No was the answer to all those questions, it had no frills or whistles.
“I had to drive down to pick him up.
“Next morning our son (David) was walking with a friend down Hare St and there was the bike laying on the footpath.
“They picked it up and brought it home.”
A family friend saw the bike at the Port of Echuca and asked a long-time friend of Mal, Joe Burton, who owned it. The answer was Mal and the woman took a photo, sending it on to Pat (which is the picture featured on this page).
“The bike still has his helmet on it,” Pat said.
“The bike even had a part in our son’s wedding seven years ago.
“They were married at our house (corner of McKinlay and Hare Sts) and it was leaving on the front gate with a basket holding some flowers.”
Mal spend 35 years as an Echuca 208 school teacher, eventually taking on the gardener’s role at the school for 20 years when he retired from the classroom in 1999.
He was a father of three, David, Craig and Megan, and grandfather to six — D’Arcy, Matthew, Damien, Emma, Georgina and James, the latter two who are in years 3 and 6 at the school where their grandfather is an icon.
Standing as a tribute to his 55 years of service is a rebound wall featuring the words The Mall Whyte Wall. The school oval is also named in his honour.
The school was a huge part of his life, but his passion for paddle steamers would have run a close second.
He worked in the boiler room after spending summer days in the gardens at the school, studying to earn his engineer’s ticket and work on the paddle steamers.
Colleague and Echuca 208 teacher Scott Trewhella said even if it was 40ºC he would head down to the boiler room.
“He was quite famous in the school community for his river camps,” Mr Trewhella said.
“He used to run the camp around horseshoe lagoon, it was an annual event for the senior students.
“The young adults around town would remember them well. He loved the outdoors.”
He said there were still tents from those camps deep in the storage facilities of the school.
Mr Trewhella said such was the longevity of Mr Whyte’s time at the school that one of the Echuca 208 staff members (Greta Pearson) was a student when the mosaic tiles that adorn the Mal Whyte Wall were put in place.
The oval was named after him in 2007.
He said Mal took pride in everything he did, hence the castle-like condition of the family home and its famous yellow picket fence.
The family home is the same house that Pat grew up in as a child, the family moving into the home after the passing of her father in 1977.
Typical of his enthusiasm for life, his retirement from teaching only signalled a new chapter in his life.
He remained just as busy in the gardening role and with his work at the cricket club and Echuca-Moama Apex, being a life member of both organisations.
Mr Trewhella described Mal as “a hardened gentleman”.
“If something needed to be done he would get it done. At times we would be worried about the amount of work he was doing,” Mr Trewhella said.
“One afternoon there was a large puff of smoke from the levee bank when he was mowing and he had tipped it over, but he just loved what he was doing.
“His garden at home is amazing, it remains a bit of a feature of the town.”
Mal stopped working at the school pre-COVID, at the end of 2019.
And he can still envisage Mal with his handle bars tipped up the wrong way riding along the street to the school — complete, of course, with his Echuca 208 broad brimmed hat.
Pat and Mal were married in Echuca, in January 1967.
Mal had started as a teacher at the school in 1964.
After his retirement in 1999 the pair travelled to the Kimberley and soon after he started gardening, which he did until 2020.
“When he was teaching he was always looking after the garden, moving hoses and things like that. When he was leaving they never had a gardener,” Pat said.
“So that’s how he started in that role.”
In a Facebook post the Echuca 208 page, ran by Jo Trewhella (Scott’s wife) wrote:
“Mal quietly went about his business but always made himself available to chat with curious students and offered a friendly greeting to staff as they passed him in the hallway. In addition, he often reminisced of his days in the classroom and shared snippets of wisdom and humour to reflect how education and the role of educators had shifted over time.
“We extend our sincere condolences to the Whyte and Farrell families (Georgina 6B, James 3C) and revere the memory of a true gentleman and friend. Mal's offerings will be forever etched in the pages of 208's history book.
Vale, Mr Whyte. Life is a bike — we hope you enjoyed the ride.’’
Mal’s involvement with scouts came when David was eight and there was no pack leader.
“Malcolm and Carol Whitehead took on the job. He was involved in scouts until just before COVID,” Pat said.
“There was never a rovers in Echuca and they formed a new club, and named after Malcolm. They called it the Mal Whyte rover crew.”
His involvement with the Port of Echuca dates back to the 1970s.
“They didn’t have a port manager, so he and Helen Coulson became the joint managers of the port,” Pat said.
“He loved the river and the boats and he was on the port advisory committee. He volunteered to work with the boats.
“He studied for his engineer’s ticket on the paddle steamers.”
Contributor