Ray Shepherd Biography
Ray Walter Shepherd (1937 – 2005)
Raymond Walter Shepherd was born 23rd May 1937 in Adelaide. Ray first worked with the Post Master General Department as a young boy and at the age of 17 joined the Royal Australian Navy as a radio operator. He spent six and a half years with the Navy which included a tour of active service in Malaysia. After the Navy he was employed as a radio traffic controller with the Department of Civil Aviation and remained there until his retirement in 1992.
In 1961 he moved from Adelaide to the Northern Territory with his wife Lynn and his daughter Lisa and was posted to the busy airport at Tennant Creek. Three years later and after the birth of their son Glen and daughter Tracy, Ray moved to Oodnadatta as Officer In Charge (OIC) with the family. Four years later Ray was posted to Darwin, arriving on 31st December 1965.
Ray and Lynn soon discovered that their son Glen had special needs and services were not available in Darwin to assist them. Ray gathered a group of parents with similar special needs and formed an association called the Handicapped Persons Association. Ray successfully applied for and won grants from the Government which enabled the association to establish a school for children with special needs.
Ray was also instrumental in the forming of the King Cobra Rod and Custom Club. It was hoped that this club would deter young male drivers from using Ross Smith Avenue as a drag strip and creating a disturbance in Parap. The first race meeting for Darwin was held at Sattler’s Airstrip.
Ray’s passions were jazz music, football, cricket and aviation. As a result of the skill and dedication he applied to everything, Ray made an important contribution to the development of the Northern Territory. After his retirement Ray spent many hours in the state library of the Northern Territory researching numerous projects, particularly aviation history. His historical research, personal papers and books were donated and are now held in the Northern Territory Library.