McCONNELL, William Douglas “Doug”
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Passed away peacefully at Anam Cara House Colac aged 81. Dearly loved Husband of Margaret “Maggie.” Loved Father of Ian, Vicki and Alice. Cherished Grandad Doug of Angus and Kieran; Erin and Jacinta; Abigail, Samuel and Alexander. Much loved family member of relatives near and far and friend to many.
Funeral Notice
Service: Saturday June 22, 2024A Celebration of the life of Mr. William “Doug” McConnell will be held in the “Chalet Room” at Star of the Sea Guest House 59 Noel Street, Apollo Bay on Saturday June 22nd 2024 commencing at 11.00 a.m.
In accordance with Doug’s wishes a private cremation has been held.
For those who are unable to attend, Doug’s celebration of life will be live streamed, click here to view the live stream.
16 tributes Leave your tribute
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What a pleasure to have known Doug and what sadness that he is gone. A very special man.
Anastasia Spathis -
Doug was so good at keeping the McConnell family history alive and treasured. He connected our generation of far flung cousins so effectively over the years and I am very grateful for that.
My siblings and I were amongst the youngest of our generation for the McConnell family and Doug was a cousin who featured in my life from a young age. We both grew up in the Castlemaine area and our age difference is not very big. I remember Doug jogging around the Castlemaine area well before jogging became very fashionable, he kept himself so fit.
I also remember Doug having a teaching practicum at Castlemaine High School before he switched to his area of passion, geology. Doug never lost his passion for geology, a walk on the beach at Marengo became a geology lesson when we visited Doug and Marg. How wonderful to love your profession so much that you never tire of it.
Doug along with Marg always made us feel welcome at his home, a conversation was Doug was pleasurable and easy.
He will be missed by his cousins. -
We’ve known Doug and Marg for 30 years, on Magnetic Island and the Atherton Tablelands. Doug was a friend and very important to us. He was a gentle and relaxed person who always appreciated walks, that with Doug always ended over the next hill. He never tired of learning and of good discussion about a range of topics. In recent years we loved talking to Doug and Marg about books, politics and just about everything. He will be missed by us. Our thoughts are with Marg and the family.
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I met Doug and Marg in 2019 while researching the geology of the Otway Coast shoreline. It was the beginning of a new adventure for me and also Doug and Marg I am sure. I feel so greatful to have had Doug as a mentor and to call both Doug and Marg dear friends. Bless you Doug, you’re forever in my heart and thoughts, Tim G.
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We knew Doug and Marg when they lived outside of Ravenshoe on the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland. In fact, we rented the cottage they first built on Vine Creek, after they moved up the hill to the wonderful residence they also built. At that time, we always admired Doug’s committment to replanting a large area of the Vine Creek property with eucalypts, which was appropriate because their land was situated on the transition of rainforest and wet sclerophyl forest.
In addition, John knew Doug as a colleague working at the National Parks office in Atherton and was always impressed by his dedication to environmental planning of National Parks, for which his geological knowledge provided an invaluable basis.
Doug was always warm and most welcoming to us and we enjoyed sharing the many beautiful nature photographs he took of different parts of Australia – especially those of the Wild River Gorge!
In his time in Far North Queensland, cyclone destruction to his native forest became the bane of Doug’s life and triggered the move to Apollo Bay. We then became visitors, instead of neighbours, to another impressive, rural abode. Doug again shared with us his love of his natural environment and among other things, we also then shared our mutual interest in mahjong.
We will miss him.
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Dear Marg and all your precious family,
Have been thinking of you and the family since I heard that you had lost Doug, after he battled so bravely his long illness. He will be sadly missed.
Am not well enough to join you at the celebration of his life tomorrow, but will join in via the live streaming opportunity.
Will be in touch soon.
Loving thoughts and prayers, sincerely Val Flitton -
We have known Doug and Marg since our Townsville days many years ago. We loved visiting them at Vine creek and enjoying a quiet drink around the fire pit. Over the years we have always enjoyed our catch ups and engaging conversations on many topics. Martin and Doug shared a passion for photography and of course we all shared a love of our beautiful country. We will certainly miss Doug’s intellect and his interesting accounts of the geomorphology of our great country. Lots of love Sam n Martin
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A valued friend and travel companion for over 60 years . A great loss to Barb also …from Jack/John Griffiths.
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I got to know Doug and Marg when I came to live in my caravan on my block at Ravenshos. They embraced me and my 2 sons into their family and were so helpful in many ways. We soon discovered a common passion for wilderness and walking and exploring so we soon began exploring the country round Koolmoon Ck or is it a river?. Many great Sundays were spend exploring the old forestry roads always knowing where we were with great navigator Doug. We spent quite a bit of time looking for all the waterfalls marked on the map. Getting down to the river from the easier walking on the ridge was not that easy so Doug always had with him cotton thread which was laid out behind us so we would never get lost. Eventually we “found” all the marked waterfalls and the very high Elizabeth Grant Falls which were spectacular, they all were spectacular and also had lovely pools great swimming in the summer.
There were many other walks round Ravenshoe, Major’s Mtn behind my place other falls and exploring Doug and Marg’s property.
I eventually went to TI but enjoyed visiting now in the big house overlooking the wonderful platypus pool and spending time chatting on the verandah or round the fire up the back looking at all the beautiful photos he had taken of many bushwalks and remote places. There were so many great philosophical discussions. After I became a Christian we had many discussions on Christianity with Doug challenging much of what I said which I loved and which challenged me because it made me really think out why I believed what I did.
We used to go on canoe trips to Shipwreck Bay, north of the Daintree, when the kids were highschool age or maybe a bit older. They were wonderful times canoeing into Shipwreck Bay which can only be reached by sea or walking. Carrying all our food and camping stuff and all the kids. We camped next to a Freshwater Ck and under the great spreading Wonga Nut trees. We fished and snorkled and explored and swam and generally had a lovely, fun time in a stunningly beautiful place. Doug did some research on the lady who owned the land running cattle and so we had a whole interesting story of her adventures in that place.I so admired Doug’s meticulous organization for any trip we did. He made sure all safety measures were followed. He was so good to share adventures with. Even though his health was failing and he had trouble talking too long he still enjoyed a discussion and chat and he was always so positive and thankful for what he could still do. What wonderful friends Doug and Marg have been. Its very hard to put in words the wonderful rich memories I have of walking and boating and canoeing and camping and road trips. Always making sure I didn’t do anything too stupid. Always thinking of others and what they could do to help them.
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I have such fond memories of Doug (and Marg and the family) from their Ravenshoe days, where as a young teenage mate of Ian, I would spend many the school holiday, riding horses, hiking in the wilderness, clearing lantana scrub on the property, swimming in cold streams and playing music in a warm rustic house. I have indelible memories of gentle discussions with Doug, coffee in hand, out on the deck looking over Vine creek, giving considered thought to the problems and issues of the world. We had incredible hikes and canoe trips into wilderness areas and lots of fireside conversations. As I look back, I realize how formative those times were for me and I will always treasure the memories and experiences. Doug and Marg have that wonderful quality of making people feel instantly at ease and welcomed, something my wife Adriana recalls fondly from the first time they met. Vale Doug, your gentle intellect, welcoming disposition and generosity of spirit will always be with us. Big love to Marg, Ian, Vicki and Alice, it has been too long since we caught up. Love Fred and Adri.
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Beautiful service Marg and family.
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Such a wonderful memorial for a beautiful soul.
Our love goes out to our dear Aunt Marg, cousins Vicki, Ian, Alice and their families.
Thank-you for sharing a little of your treasured memories with us in the service, do dearly remembered. -
What a wonderful service and celebration of Doug’s life – such a remarkable man! I feel honoured to have known him. Vicki, I really loved your speech. I can see why our parents became friends with their shared love of nature, conservation and human rights not to mention both our fathers planting thousands of trees by hand regenerating former dairy farms into forests and both being visited by cassowaries that haven’t been seen there before! Remarkable! Alice and Jacinta sang beautifully and how lovely was it that the neighbour’s children wanted to contribute with their music too…which is so fitting knowing how much your family loved music. Everyone spoke so well and the whole service painted such an exciting, adventurous, wonderful life! Memories that you can cherish forever. Love to you Vicki my dear friend and hugs to all your family. X
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It was wonderful to to be able to watch the Livestream of cousin Doug’s Memorial Service yesterday and hear the truly touching memories of the various speakers and their adventures and thoughts of times spent with Doug. What an amazing man …. with an amazing wife Marg as his life’s love and companion for most of those years. . Rex and I were lucky to have visited Doug and Marg at their Ravenshoe beautiful property and were so warmly welcomed and had an unforgettable and magical visit … made me wish I had know them a lot better. . Yesterday was a beautiful tribute to Doug and I’m sure he would have been touched that he had enriched so many lives. . Loving thoughts to Marg and the family
Nancy Wright( McConnell) -
So very glad we were at the beautiful memorial service yesterday for my cousin Doug.
All the adjectives describing Doug “ loving family man, great friend, adventurer, geologist, environmentalist, historian, McConnell patriarch and writer of our McConnell history, passionate photographer” plus many more.. were illustrated in all the speeches. What a treasure of a man was Doug. Sending Marg and all of Doug’s family much love from Fredy and me and thanks for such a wonderful. tribute to him.
Australian author Charmian Clift once wrote “ Let us live with all our candles blazing”. Doug certainly did that. -
It was a beautiful tribute to a wonderful human being. It was an honour and privilege to know him and be counted as a friend. My prayers and thoughts are with you all.
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