30th March celebration

Next week a celebration of Jeffs life will be held at the Port Douglas Yacht Club, where many stories will be told about this amazing man.

Boatie Pauly Munro, also a saxophonist, said he and his wife Marlene used to listen to Jeff’s playing from their boat ‘Thirsty Dog’ moored near the Yacht Club. “He was a better player than me” says Paul “we really enjoyed his songs, and he was a top bloke”

Local boatie Bryan Hedge had a tear in his eye when he spoke to Newsport about his dear mate. “So many locals loved Jeff and his wake is going to be huge, not only for locals but so many people are coming up from South Australia, Townsville, Bowen, anywhere he’s ever lived” he said.

Like Bryan, Jeff Whitehill lived on a boat. ‘Meander’ is tied up near the Yacht Club and the word is that Jeff loved that boat so much that if he’d had a choice, he would have seen out his final hours aboard the old girl.

Jeff was a bit of a lad in his younger days

“Jeff was a multi-instrumentalist, painter, potter and all-round good bloke with a dry sense of humour that would have you in stitches” Bryan said.

“He had his wild days though, including having a daughter at the age of 16 and that was 52 years ago”. According to Bryan, Jeff didn’t see his daughter for 27 years.

“Finally, they were reunited and the two gelled like nobody’s business with a few drinking sessions to fully cement the deal.

Furthermore, she re-introduced her mother to Jeff and they also clicked straight away, with the years peeling away and both acting like silly teenagers again”.

Then, 14 years ago Jeff learnt he was going to be a grandfather when his daughter announced she was pregnant. That was certainly a joyful day and Jeff relished his role as a grandfather.

Kadari, another boatie who knew Jeff says he was a unique man. “Jeff was a beautiful soul and a team player in every sense of the word, and you can’t do much better than that”.

Local muso and D J Rockin Rick has worked with Jeff Whitehill at many gigs and said he was a very funny man.

“He was like a Marty Feldman character, you’d look across at him during a song and he’d be looking back with a funny face, he’d break me up every time” says Rick.

He also said Jeff used to disappear from time to time during the breaks “we never knew where he got to, he had his secret spots, but we certainly knew what he was doing, he was puffing on that green stuff” says Rick with a laugh.

He wanted to leave this world in Port Douglas

Jeff could have gone back to Adelaide to spend his last days with medical professionals who had treated him over the years and probably be a bit more comfortable, but he knocked that back said Bryan Hedge.

“He wanted to be in Port where his friends are and where he felt loved and believe me, he was loved. “I’m just a recent person in his world” said Bryan “but Jeff had so many in his life, some he taught art and music to down south and up here as well, let’s say he was part of the fabric of Douglas. In fact, they should make a movie about his life because there’s been so many twists and turns, it could be a drama and rom-com all rolled into one”.

Bryan has come up with an idea to honour Jeff on the day but won’t reveal his plan yet. “That will all be made public on the day, but I reckon it’s a bonza idea that everyone will support” he said.

The celebration of Jeff Whitehill’s life will start at 2.30pm Wednesday 30th March at the Port Douglas Yacht Club 1 Spinnaker Close Port Douglas.