At the start of the walkway to the Visitor Information Centre is a grey granite obelisk, on a low concrete 'crop-topped' pyramid, dedicated to William Henry Clifford. The infilled inscriptions are, as follows, on the northern side:
Erected by his friends
to the memory of
WILLIAM HENRY
CLIFFORD
Died Novr 7th 1928.
Aged 65 years.
___________________
___________________
In recognition of the
valuable services
rendered to the
Dairying Industry
over a period of
33 years.
While in the eastern (Jonson Road side) is the following inscription:
General Manager
of
Norco Co-op. Ltd.
1914 - 1928.
[Norco Coop being the major milk, cream, and butter processor in NSW.]
On the southern side part of the inscription is 'repeated' as follows:
In recognition of the
valuable services
rendered to the
Dairying Industry
over a period of
33 years.
____________________
____________________
THE FATHER
OF THE CREAMERY.
And then, and the western side of the base of the obelisk:
A friend to every man
And every man his friend.
From the Monument Australia website page for this Obelisk, they have the following excerpt, from the 'Northern Star', Lismore's newspaper, from 8 November, 1928:
"Mr. Clifford, who was 65 years of age, was born at Newcastle, Northumberland (England), and came to Australia at the age of 20. After following varied occupations in different parts of the State, he came to the North Coast when the Lismore-Tweed railway line was being constructed. In 1895 he joined Norco, then the North Coast Co-operative and Cold Storage Company, as secretary. In 1910 he was appointed as assistant manager to the late Mr. W. R. Brandon, the then manager. When Mr. Brandon was killed by an accident in 1914, Mr. Clifford succeeded to his position, and when the company's floor was established in Sydney, Mr. Clifford was appointed general manager and went to Sydney to live. He visited America on the company's behalf in 1914. In 1921 he went to England and America for the company, and in 1926 made a business tour of England and the Continent. In that year at the request of the Prime Minister he sat on the Economic Committee as the Australian dairying representative. Mr. Clifford was a member of the Australian Stabilisation Committee, and also represented N.S.W. on the Australian Dairy Produce Export Board. He was also a councillor of the Royal Agricultural Society."
Ex:
William Clifford
Address: 80 Jonson Street, Byron Bay Visitor Centre, Byron Bay, 2481, Australia
Visited: 0638, Sunday, 16 September, 2018