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John Michael O'Dea AM, KCSG (born 11 November 1938) is an Australian solicitor and former local government politician who served as an alderman and mayor of the Municipality of North Sydney. O'Dea was a solicitor with Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers from 1960 and was a partner from 1963 until his retirement in 2006. He is the father of the Speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly, Jonathan O'Dea.

Early life and career

O'Dea was born in Charlemont Private Hospital (now The Bourbon Hotel) on Darlinghurst Road, Potts Point, New South Wales, on 11 November 1938, the son of John Cecil (Cecil) O'Dea, a solicitor, and Joy Marjorie Roche. O'Dea's grandfather was John Henry (Jack) O'Dea, a prominent bookmaker (being first President of the NSW Bookmakers' Association), property developer, and Alderman of the Municipality of Randwick from 1911 to 1923.

With his father Cecil being an old boy of St Ignatius College, Riverview, O'Dea received his early education there before commencing law studies at the University of Sydney. In 1960 he obtained a Bachelor of Arts, followed by a Bachelor of Laws in 1963 and a Master of Laws in 1972. In 1960 he also joined his father's legal firm, Carroll & O'Dea, becoming a partner of the firm in 1963 when he graduated from law school. He became Managing Partner in 1971 on the departure of his father.

In 1963 he married Marianne Augustina Hubertina Mulders at the Riverview chapel, with Fr Charles Fraser SJ as the celebrant. They would have nine children: three boys and six girls. Following their marriage the O'Dea's moved from 857 New South Head Road, Rose Bay, and by 1968 were listed at Wollstonecraft.

Political career

When the sitting Municipality of North Sydney Belmore Ward alderman, John Francis Cahill, died in February 1969, a by-election was held to fill his seat. On 29 March 1969, O'Dea was elected to fill the vacancy amongst a field of 13 other candidates. O'Dea was re-elected to a second full term on council at the municipal election held on 18 September 1971.

On 27 September 1972 O'Dea was elected to serve a single term as mayor, and was instrumental in progressing the controversial and ultimately unsuccessful Sabemo Ltd redevelopment proposal of the North Sydney Council Chambers site, supporting Council's approval of the plan in May 1973 and unveiling the stage one plans for several office towers on the block bounded by McLaren and Ridge Streets at a cost of $47 million in June 1973. Elected to a second term as mayor on 19 September 1973, O'Dea retired from Council in 1974 when he did not contest the September 1974 municipal elections.

Later life and community service

On his departure from Council, O'Dea returned to his legal practice and was a member of the Advisory Board of St Ignatius College Riverview and St Aloysius' College, the founding Chairman of the Executive Board of Loreto Kirribilli, and a board member of the St Vincent de Paul Society, Sacred Heart Hospice and Mater Misericordiae Hospital. A long-serving member of the Catholic Parish of North Sydney, O'Dea was on the Province Advisory Councils of the Christian Brothers and the St John of God Brothers. O'Dea was the founding chair of the North Sydney Retirement Trust and the James Milson Nursing Home, North Sydney.

In the 1994 Australia Day Honours, O'Dea was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for "service to the care of aged people, particularly through the North Sydney Retirement Trust and the James Milson Nursing Home." In 2002 O'Dea was awarded the Edmund Rice Bicentenary Medal for his "extraordinary support given to the mission of the Christian Brothers" from the Australian Province of the Christian Brothers, and in 2006 received the Jubilee medal of the First Companions from the Australian Province of the Society of Jesus. In 2006 he retired as Managing Partner of Carroll & O'Dea Lawyers and in 2008 was awarded a Papal Knighthood by Pope Benedict XVI as a Knight Commander of the Papal Order of St. Gregory the Great (KCSG), for distinguished services to the Church in the Archdiocese of Sydney.

References

1. "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 12 November 1938. p. 10. Retrieved 7 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
2. "WEDDING". The Burrowa News. New South Wales, Australia. 4 February 1938. p. 8. Retrieved 7 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
3. "Death of Mr. Jack O'Dea". The Sydney Morning Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 6 October 1945. p. 12. Retrieved 7 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
4. "THE LATE MR. JACK O'DEA". The Australian Worker. New South Wales, Australia. 10 October 1945. p. 6. Retrieved 7 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
5. "Councillors since 1859". Randwick City Council. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
6. ^ Raper, Mark (16 December 2006). "Jubilee Medal - Michael O'Dea" (PDF). The Australian Province of the Society of Jesus. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
7. "Alumni Sidneienses". University Archives. University of Sydney. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
8. ^ "Michael O'Dea KCSG AM". Carroll & O'Dea Lawyers. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
9. Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980.
10. "North Sydney alderman dies". The Sydney Morning Herald. 5 February 1969. p. 14.
11. "Municipal, Shire Elections - Municipality of North Sydney. Extraordinary Election of One Alderman". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 March 1969. p. 77.
12. "Election Results - North Sydney (Final)". The Sydney Morning Herald. 20 September 1971. p. 8.
13. "New men at the Town Hall". The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 September 1972. p. 3.
14. "Centre for North Sydney approved". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 May 1973. p. 10.
15. "The shape of North Sydney to come". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 June 1973. p. 2.
16. "N Sydney's Mayor again". The Sydney Morning Herald. 20 September 1973. p. 15.
17. "Municipal and Shire Elections - Municipality of North Sydney Ordinary Election of Aldermen". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 August 1974. p. 23.
18. "O'DEA, John Michael - Member of the Order of Australia". Australian Honours Search Facility. Australian Government. 26 January 1994. Retrieved 9 April 2017. AM/FOR SERVICE TO THE CARE OF AGED PEOPLE, PARTICULARLY THROUGH THE NORTH SYDNEY RETIREMENT TRUST AND THE JAMES MILSON NURSING HOME. AD AWARD 1994

• 1938 births
• Living people
• Politicians from Sydney
• Australian Roman Catholics
• Australian people of Irish descent
• People educated at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview
• Sydney Law School alumni
• Australian solicitors
• Independent politicians in Australia
• Mayors of North Sydney
• Members of the Order of Australia
• Knights Commander of the Order of St Gregory the Great