Atherton Tablelands Who's Who
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Distinguished and Famous people from Atherton Tablelands
The Atherton Tablelands have contributed to Australian public life and to some remarkably memorable television music. These biographies trace specific beginnings in Atherton within the wider region.
🤝 Peter Beattie
Peter Beattie's childhood on the Tablelands was spent in Atherton, where his grandmother raised him after his mother's death. He attended the town's state schools and became captain and dux of Atherton State High School in 1970. He later graduated in arts and law from the University of Queensland. His route into government thus began with a country education before university, legal practice and parliamentary life took him south.
🎼 Ron Grainer
Atherton-born Ron Grainer built his musical skills through childhood violin lessons, wartime performances and conservatorium study. In London, television work opened a new career as a composer. His themes for Maigret and Steptoe and Son won Ivor Novello awards, followed by the enduring Doctor Who theme, electronically realised by Delia Derbyshire. He also wrote the score for the stage musical Robert and Elizabeth, showing that his work could fill a theatre as readily as introduce a television programme.
🌳 Jack Mundey
Jack Mundey grew up on a dairy farm in the Atherton Tableland before moving to Sydney, initially to play rugby league. Concern about workplace safety helped draw him into union organising. Under the green bans, builders’ labourers refused work on developments they believed would destroy important places. The campaigns helped protect Sydney’s historic Rocks area and brought unusual allies together: construction workers and residents defending their surroundings. Mundey also campaigned for women’s and Indigenous rights. His story shows how concern for the environment could enter a city through the people being asked to build it.
