Vale Mark Allen Troy OAM
There are people who hold a place together, not through grand gesture or ceremony, but through sheer, quiet constancy. Mark Troy was one of those people.
Mark Troy was Bellingen through and through. He grew up here, made his life here, working as a real estate agent in Bellingen and running the liquor store in Dorrigo, and came to know the Shire the way only a local businessman can: its people, its rhythms, its needs and its nature. When he came to the council table, he brought insight that came from his life here, and from his love of this place and our community. For Bellingen, he was simply a man you could count on, and in a small community, that is everything. He didn’t need a title to command respect, though he carried his with quiet dignity.
Mark’s connection to Bellingen Shire Council began at a by-election in 1990, when he was first elected as Councillor, re-elected at the 1991 General Election and serving two terms as Deputy Mayor. In 1995 he stepped back from local government to devote time to his business interests, but Bellingen had a way of calling its people back. After eight and a half years away, he returned, elected Mayor at the 2004 General Election and re-elected in 2008 and 2012. He held that role until 2016, when he stepped back from local politics to do what he’d earned: time on the farm out of Bellingen, with his wife Gina, herself an amazing community volunteer, their children, and his beloved grandchildren.
Mark was not a career politician, but he was sharp, politically astute, and knew exactly how to get things done for our community. Mark always appreciated being in a position to represent what he called a diverse, dynamic, and progressive community, one he understood deeply, in all its geographic and cultural complexity, its challenges and its possibilities. He was always careful to say Bellingen Shire Council, never just Bellingen Council. The Shire, to him, was not a bureaucratic distinction but a living reality: a diverse tapestry of places and people that couldn’t be flattened into a single name.
That service stretched far beyond the chamber. He represented our community on the Clarence Regional Library and the Bello Youth Hub. He served on the Pacific Highway Taskforce, advocating for years, through decades of tragedy on that road, for the bypass that would finally make our communities safe. He played a key role in establishing Local Government NSW and served on its inaugural board, believing firmly in its power to strengthen the collective voice of councils on behalf of the communities they serve. He co-chaired the Coffs Harbour City/Bellingen Shire Flood Recovery Committee after the devastating floods of 2009. And as the longest-serving elected representative of the Mid North Coast Region of Councils at the time, he brought to that table a phrase that became something of a hallmark: “One region, different communities.”
In 2015, on Australia Day of all days, his country recognised what Bellingen already knew. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia, OAM, for service to local government and to our community. He was also recognised by Local Government NSW as an Emeritus Mayor, a title bestowed in acknowledgment of the extraordinary strength and length of his service to local government. The citations were brief, as those citations always are. The reality was a life shaped by commitment to others.
Mark didn’t court the spotlight. He chaired committees, sat on taskforces, attended meetings, and came back the next week and did it again.
For those who worked alongside him in local government, Mark was the kind of colleague who made hard things feel manageable, steadfast in a flood, unflappable in a crisis, always anchored in what mattered: the people of our place. He understood, in his bones, that local government is the tier of government closest to where people live their lives, and that proximity is both a privilege and a responsibility.
And when he was done, Mark went home to the farm, to Gina, to the grandchildren, and found one more way to serve, chairing the local Red Cross branch with the same quiet dedication he had given to everything else.
Mark leaves a Bellingen shaped by his decades of care, the regional relationships built across conference tables, the quiet fingerprints of a man who steadfastly was there for us.
A good life well lived. Mark died here, as he had lived, belonging to this place.
Rest easy, Mark. The valley remembers.
Mark Allen Troy OAM, Emeritus Mayor, Councillor and Mayor of Bellingen Shire Council, community servant, quiet achiever.
Mr Mark Allen TROY For service to local government, and to the community of Bellingen.
• Mayor, Bellingen Shire Council, since 2004; Deputy Mayor, 1991-1993; Councillor, since 2004, 1990-1995.
• Vice-Chair, Mid North Coast Regional Organisation of Councils; Executive Committee Member.
• Executive Committee Member, New South Wales Country Mayors Association.
• Executive Board Member, Local Government New South Wales, 2012-2013; Member, Economic Committee, 2012-2013; Natural and Built Environment Committee, 2012-2013.
• Deputy Chair, Pacific Highway Taskforce.
• Co-Chair, Coffs Harbour City/Bellingen Shire Flood Recovery Committee, 2009.
• Chair, Bellingen Shire Australia Day Committee, current.
• Member, One Association Local Government Taskforce, 2010-2011.