ALBURY’S cable bridge over the Hume Freeway will be named the Harold Mair Bridge.
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Councillors chose the name last night to honour Mr Mair’s public service and his family’s long association with the railways.
Mr Mair, 88, was state Labor member for Albury from 1978 to 1988, mayor in 1976-77 and a long-time businessman and accountant.
As a railwayman’s son, he studied at the railway institute and was an apprentice printer until World War II intervened.
He served in the Army and RAAF, including a period in Borneo, and was in the occupation force in post-war Japan.
Mr Mair said he was proud to be recognised.
“I am especially glad for my father’s sake,” he said.
“He was a migrant from Scotland, but my wife and I were born in Albury and so were all our five children.”
Mr Mair, of Howlong, holds an honorary degree from Charles Sturt University and continues to study for an arts degree.
The bridge name is subject to the full council’s approval next week, but all six councillors present at a committee last night supported the proposal.
Amatex Street and Ken-ilworth Street bridges will retain those names.
Albury Council had invited public suggestions for bridge names.
A group consisting of Mayor Amanda Duncan-Strelec, Cr Kevan Porter, citizen of the year Steve Bowen, young citizen Bianca Smith and journalist Howard Jones considered the suggestions and recommended the Mair name for the $4 million, 134m-long footbridge.
