He died peacefully in the palliative care ward of Bellinger River District Hospital on 27 December 2019.

Harvey was the third of four boys born to Hugh - known as Bob - and Racheal Waugh, who lived a large part of their lives in Nambucca Heads. His brothers were Hugh, Gordon and George.

He was the last surviving child. His only other living sibling, Gordon, died in Sydney just a few days before him.

When he was 12 years old, he travelled with his parents around the New England area and the region immediately to the west of the Great Dividing Range selling clothing and household goods.

This followed Harvey contracting septicaemia after his appendix burst. He was very unwell for a long time, and his parents came up with this idea to improve his health.

He left school at age 14 years and 3 months, and went to work the next day in his father's hardwood sawmill at Nambucca Heads.

He was known by friends and family alike by his nickname, Tiger, rather than by his given name of Harvey. The nickname apparently came from his willingness, as a young man, to get into a physical fight

Harvey moved to Armidale with his parents in 1950.

He married Eileen Isabel McKinnon in 1954 at Armidale. They had four children - Vicki, Christine, Colin and Leonie. Eileen passed away in 1996.

Harvey moved back to Nambucca Heads in the early 1990s to the family home in Short St to look after his ageing mother, his father having died in 1967.

He became self-taught and a keen student in the 'school of life'. Throughout his adult life, Harvey took great pride in his general knowledge, and loved to catch people out and trip them up with obscure facts.

He was a first rate storyteller, and the challenge in any discussion with him was to distinguish fact from fiction. Harvey wasn't a liar, but he did like to compose alternate realities. He didn't let the truth stand in the way of a good story.

From the late fifties, he managed a sawmill at Kingstown, west of Armidale and worked around Armidale as a builder. His working life was cut short by a back injury.

It was never wise to get into a discussion with Harvey on either religion or politics. If former NSW Premier, Bob Carr, ever wanted to meet his greatest critic, he need look no further than this resident of Short St, Nambucca Heads.

While Carr was the target of much of Harvey's anti-politician outlook, he wasn't the only one Harvey despised. In fact, he thought all politicians were oxygen thieves, regardless of whether they were State or Federal, left or right.

You could argue as passionately and convincingly as you liked with him, but all to no avail because he wasn't about to change his opinion for anyone. He spent a lifetime collecting and building his opinions and wasn't inclined to let them go easily.

Harvey loved fishing with his mates and it was a sadness to him that, as older age and illness possessed him, and some of his mates died, he had to forgo that pleasure.

Like all fishermen, you could never be sure just how many he actually caught on a given day, and how big they were. However, the home freezer was never empty of fish. The V-Wall and Shelly Beach were his favourite fishing locations and he was never short of a companion when he went there.

Harvey placed great store in knowledge and imbued his children with an appreciation of literature, particularly Australian poetry.

Right to his last days he was a reader, and he was well known to Nambucca Library staff. He also loved to do the Daily Telegraph crossword, although it often wasn't a great challenge to him.

He was well known around the Nambucca community, and devoted almost 20 years as a Meals-on-Wheels volunteer before ill-health stopped him.

Harvey loved being on the water fishing, being out in the bush and hunting. He was a crack marksman. As a younger man, he loved to go shooting rabbits, ducks and other game, often the main ingredient of meals enjoyed by his family.

In later years, he channelled his shooting expertise into club competitions, winning many trophies year after year with the Coffs Harbour Gun Club Sporting Shooters Association. Along the way, he defeated local shooters who'd competed at Commonwealth Games level.

He was justifiably proud of a NSW bravery award he received for going into a burning house across the road in Short St to rescue an elderly neighbour.

The citation presented to him by the NSW Police for that act of bravery said:

"In recognition of your courage and devotion to civic duty when on 14 May 1998, you entered a dwelling at 6 Short Street Nambucca Heads which was well affected by intense smoke and fire.

Your actions were conducted with little regard for your own personal safety and you are commended for your display of civic leadership in attempting to save the life of Mr John (Jack) Allsopp (85 years) who was known to be inside the burning building."

Harvey had his faults but he also had strong character traits which drove his life and his approach to it. He had an imposing presence in any group he was part of, and he possessed an ability to charm and entertain people with his wit.

Vale Harvey Charles Waugh... son, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, builder, raconteur and good mate.

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