MOUNT Isa Mayor Tony McGrady gave a fitting farewell to a former local who had a significant role in the city’s history.
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Ivy Little passed away in Warwick last week aged 89 but her significance to Mount Isa was that she was the first Caucasian baby to be born in the city.
Cr McGrady told last week’s council meeting Ivy was born on July 28, 1926.
“Her sister Sylvia was born two years earlier but at the time the local doctor had gone away, so their mother was taken by horse and cart to Cloncurry for the birth of Sylvia,” Cr McGrady said.
“So when Ivy was born two years later it was the first recorded birth for a white baby in Mount Isa.”
The sisters completed their education at St Patrick’s College, Townsville before returning to Mount Isa to work.
Cr McGrady said Ivy met her husband Len Little here and they had one child Gary, born on August 8, 1950.
“Ivy worked with her sister at Menzies Pharmacy for 30 years with owner John Price,” he said.
“In the 80s Ivy and Len retired to the Sunshine Coast until Len passed away a few years ago.”
Since then Ivy lived with Gary at his pub the Darling Downs Hotel near Warwick.
“Ivy loved her league and was an avid Broncos supporter, sitting in the pub during the season cheering on her team,” Cr McGrady said.
“Ivy was a tee-totaller never drinking in her life, but she was the life and soul of every party.”
She is survived by son, four grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.