Peter Wilkinson Goad (8-10-1924 to 5-11-2025) died peacefully on 5 November, one month after his 101st birthday.
Save Albert Park remembers Peter Goad for his decades of leadership and his dedication to holding the Victorian government and the Australian Grand Prix Corporation to account for inaccurate claims about the F1 Grand Prix.
Victoria ‘stole’ the F1 Grand Prix from South Australia in 1996. Since then, members of Save Albert Park have been doing their best to refute boastful claims about the event and highlight the negative impacts upon sports clubs and general park users.
The GP Corporation has had seven highly-paid CEOs, the longest-serving of whom served a term of 12 years. The SAP, meanwhile, has been led by six unpaid Presidents — Peter’s term of 23 years being the longest by far. One of his main duties was the regular production of excellent, compulsively readable newsletters — bulletins which kept us informed and sustained us in our efforts to establish and declare the truth about the annual event that had been visited upon Albert Park.
Peter wore many hats, meticulously. Rosemary, Peter’s beloved wife of 70 years, and his children — Jeremy, Philip and Belinda — cited some of his achievements. He was a metallurgist, an editor, a yachtsman, a skier, an activist and a champion of Save Albert Park. They said he was “a man of many talents and fixer of everything”.
Remarkably, but unsurprisingly, for Peter’s 90th birthday he requested an extension ladder which he used (with the help of his grandson) to install a skylight in his roof. Although Peter became physically fragile after a fall in his 90s, his mind always remained acutely sharp.
For many years, even after his fall, Peter and Rosemary volunteered in the park, improving the amenity for park users. He was instrumental in the build of the wooden seats in the park from trees that made way for a temporary racing circuit.
Peter’s family wrote that Peter was “a man of principle. A fighter to the end.” SAP concurs and thanks him for a life well lived.
Save Albert Park and the wider community extend our condolences to Rosemary and the Goad family on the loss of a man who was very much admired and respected.
