The family of “proud Fifer” Colin Blair have paid tribute to their much-loved husband, dad and cousin, who died aged 80 after a short illness.
Andrew Colin Gilbert Blair was born in St Andrews on March 10 1944, the youngest of parents Lucy and Andrew’s five children.
Described by family members as a “bundle of fun”, he was raised on Pittachope Farm near Luthrie.
He attended Bell Baxter High School in Cupar until the earliest he was allowed to leave. He was nicknamed ‘noddy’ as a result of falling asleep in class.
Immediately, Colin was back on the farm with his beloved tractors and trailers, which he would continue to love throughout his life. He was known in his later years for his dogged, self-taught restorations of two vintage Massey Fergusons.
Many Tayside youngsters in Colin’s position may have stayed in the family business of farming. He was charming and popular among the Young Farmers, many of whom he kept in touch with until the end of his life.
But he was also “a dreamer”, not content to stay put.
One-way ticket to a brand new life
So aged 22 he bought a one-way ticket to Perth, Australia, for £10, and never looked back.
Landing in Oz, Colin met a few other Tayside youths who had emigrated for work.
Soon finding his feet in a leadership role in the wines and spirits trade, he was encouraged by a lawyer friend to go north to less-developed Darwin and “make good”.
Colin didn’t just “make good” – he made a life, running the licensed premises and facilities for a group of yacht owners in the Fannie Bay area of town.
But what he built for himself came from the rubble of a tragedy.
Hurricane Tracy showed Colin’s mettle
On Christmas Eve 1974, a 30-year-old Colin found himself sheltering in a concrete structure, surrounded by pitch-dark chaos as Cyclone Tracy ripped through wooden buildings at 135mph, killing 66 people and injuring 600 as well as destroying 80% of the city.
He often recalled the deathly silence of the following morning, and he made himself useful as part of a team who made the damaged Darwin Sailing Club a habitable base for the emergency services to supply food and water to the community.
As a result of his efforts, he was invited to run the administration of the club once it was rebuilt, and he then became its sailing events co-ordinator and later a successful coach tour guide for visiting cruise trips.
Cintya and Colin: A late-in-life romance
Colin was one of the leaders who founded the annual race from Darwin to the spice island of Ambon, and it was here that he met Cintya – his future wife, and the great love of his life.
He was a “late marrier” at 64 and Cintya some decades his junior, but she was “charmed by his Scottishness and storytelling” and he was “completely devoted” to her.
After some time obtaining parental approval, the pair wed in Cintya’s local Christian Church on March 6 2009.
Their daughter Brylie came along shortly after in August 2010, and Colin doted on her, supporting her as she pursued her love of sports to national competition level all over the country.
Colin’s devotion to family – and Fife roots
Colin also made sure to expose Brylie to her Scottish heritage, visiting his homeland of Fife with his family every three years.
One sunny visit in 2014 to the ‘back field’ near Norman’s Law where Cintya and Brylie got to see the view over the Tay was described by the family as “pure joy”.
In 2018 he was diagnosed with cancer and given only three months to live, which was a shock.
Thanks to cutting-edge treatment in Darwin, he recovered to a sense of normality within two years, but remained reliant on medication for the remainder of his life.
Sadly, his plans to return to Scotland this summer were not fulfilled, as Colin died peacefully at home on August 14 2024.
His many friends in Darwin, as well as Cintya and Brylie, paid tribute to Colin, affectionately known as Noddy, at his favourite place – the sailing club overlooking the shimmering Darwin seafront.
As a kilted piper played the lament, a gleaming Massey Ferguson tractor stood sentinel beside his hearse.
Conversation