The Campton family reflect on the life of Paul ‘Campo’ Campton, tragically killed in Bangalow in July.
Paul ‘Campo’ Campton once considered learning a trade – it’s a good thing he didn’t or he wouldn’t have met his life-long partner, Jannine. The pair met working together at the Commonwealth Bank branch in Manly and spent a few years together on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, including a stint as a branch manager in Dee Why, before moving to the Hinterland in 1994. “One of Paul’s absolute best friends lived up here and one of my best friends lived up here, so we’d come up to visit them and we thought, ‘oh, yeah, that would be nice’,” says Jannine.
It wasn’t long before the couple, then in their early 30s, settled into a quieter life on acreage in Binna Burra but “it didn’t take long for Paul to get into the social side of things,” says Jannine, of her famously social husband. She joined in the celebrations until the couple’s daughters came along a few years later – Marlie in 1998, and Brianna in 2001. Paul’s eldest daughter Kristy moved to the Northern Rivers with her mum, Annie, around 11 years ago, and now has three of her own children, who called Campo ‘Poppy Paul.’ “He cried when Kristy told him she was pregnant. He was just so happy,” says Brianna.
Campo relished fatherhood and grandparenting. When Brianna and Marlie were young, he used to shout the girls to ‘chips and a drink’ – usually a pink lemonade – as a weekly treat at the pub each Thursday while Jannine did a late shift at the hospital. Known for his baked beans on toast kids’ meals, he once wowed the family with a stuffed roast chicken dinner that took all day to prepare, using a recipe sourced – with great hilarity – from the front bar regulars. “He couldn’t cook and wanted to prove us wrong. And honestly, it was incredible, but that was the one time he ever cooked,” says Marlie. He was, however, quite at home behind the BBQ, and this was demonstrated for many years as he and the family sizzled sausages outside Herne’s butcher shop of a Saturday morning, raising funds for the then-primary school-aged Campton girls to compete in out-of-town athletics events. “He was never a pushy sports parent, and he always respected and supported all the kids. He was so excited for them and proud of everyone. So genuine. He just loved the sport,” says Brianna. “He had the gift of the gab,” says Jannine. “They sold a LOT of sausages. People would buy a sausage just to get away, I think,” she laughs. “He did like a chat.”
After the girls finished school, the Camptons embraced a modern approach to family life, with two households allowing each family member independence while still retaining the close bonds of marriage and family. “We never got divorced,” says Jannine, “we just lived in our own spaces. I want people to understand we were a happy family. Separate but together. Paul needed to be who Paul is – who the Bangalow community saw. That’s the real Paul.”
He was always humbled by the interest and support his family received while nurturing the Campton girls’ sporting pursuits. “Sometimes it was hard to see Paul’s gratitude because he’s always busy dancing and singing, but you know, he felt real feelings about things too that you wouldn’t always see,” says Jannine. He endeavoured to pay that community support forward through his involvement in the Bangalow Pub Social Club, a group of grassroots philanthropists who enjoy a beverage and work quietly behind the scenes to give financial support to locals in need, including other up-and-coming young sports people.
Campo worked at Commonwealth Bank branches in the Northern Rivers for 30 years, making friends with staff and customers from Murwillumbah to Lismore and to Ballina to Mullum. “He’s just a person that connects with people,” says Jannine, adding that he considered his work mates his ‘bank family.’ “He was such a hard worker,” says Brianna, “Everyone sees his crazy side at the pub, but he would get up every morning and go to work.” Until last year, he worked four days at the bank, also, since 1994, kept a friend’s acreage property in Dunoon ‘pretty immaculate’ two days a week. “And then Sunday, because we lived on a property then, he worked there too,” says Brianna. “We had sheep and chickens growing up,” she says. “Dad was a Chicken Whisperer. They followed him around everywhere. They loved him, and he loved his animals.”
After years of hard work, Campo had been looking forward to taking some long service leave for the first time. “He had really good tickets to The Ashes. He was going to go up to Brisbane with Grant, Billy and Anthony,” says Jannine, naming some of his many front bar family. He’d also started daydreaming about retirement, taking an outback pub crawl with Brianna, and a trip to Ireland with mates Dave and Jackie. “He’s been cheated of that,” Jannine says.
He was a footy fanatic, supporting the St George Dragons in the NRL, and locally, a life-long Bangalow rugby club member. “He played up here for the Bangalow Royals rugby league team, and then when he stopped playing, he helped coach them,” says Marlie. After the Royals folded, his support moved to the Bangalow Rebels Rugby Union team, which in recent years joined with the Byron Bay team to become the Byron Shire Rebels. His involvement with the club was acknowledged with an oversized tribute to Campo painted on the grass before a memorial rugby match held at the Bangalow sports fields one week after his tragic death. “He was the grounds manager, which he was so proud of – and would remind us of every year,” says Marlie. “He’d get so excited for going to footy every week.”
For all his smiles and jolliness, Jannine hints at a complex side to Campo that most people never saw, and an upbringing that made the man determined to be a committed and involved parent in his own children’s lives. The beach was a place of solace for Campo, who in his earlier years had been a keen surfer and later taught his daughter to surf. He enjoyed walking on Broken Head Beach, sometimes with the family, sometimes just in his own company.
Campo absolutely loved music. The girls describe their regular ‘dance parties’ at home, where their Dad would load up the CD stacker and blast out the tunes. “We’d have the Saints, the Clash, R.E.M., Tom Jones, and we got to put in one – The Veronicas or the Wiggles or something random, and we’d all be dancing,” says Brianna, recalling happier times for the family. “It didn’t matter what song, he would say ‘Oh! I love this one!’ I’ve been hearing this for 40 years,” Jannine says, “I can hear him saying it.”
Sally Schofield
Paul ‘Campo’ Campton died after he was struck by a vehicle on Raftons Road, Bangalow, at around 3am on Sunday 6 July.
The driver failed to stop and has not come forward.
Contact Crime Stoppers to report any information anonymously: nsw.crimestoppers.com.au | 1800 333 000