Chic Henry, born Anthony Robert Henry (15 December 1946 – 14 April 2022), was a car enthusiast and the founder of the

Summernats Summernats (a portmanteau of "Summer" and "National"), is an annual car festival held in Canberra, Australia since 1987, except 2021 due to COVID. Summernats, which is usually held at the start of the year, is a specialist car enthusia ...

motor festival in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. He was the Summernats director between 1988 and 2009.

Life and career

On 15 December 1946, Henry was born in Launceston, Tasmania to returned serviceman father Robert Henry and mother Alma Horton. Henry's great, great grandfather had been Tasmania's first Postmaster; his great grandfather had worked on the project to lay underwater phone cable between Tasmania and mainland Australia; and his grandfather and father had both served with the

Postmaster-General's Department The Postmaster-General's Department (PMG) was a department of the Australian federal government, established at Federation in 1901, whose responsibilities included the provision of postal and telegraphic services throughout Australia. It was ...

. Henry attended Queechy High School in

Norwood, Tasmania Norwood is a residential locality in the local government area (LGA) of Launceston in the Launceston LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about south-east of the town of Launceston. The 2016 census recorded a population of 3734 for the st ...

, repeating his last year. At school he was a strong competitive swimmer and board diver. Accepting an apprenticeship with the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

, Henry moved to Melbourne in 1964. His army career saw him living in Sydney and Townsville before his resignation in 1973. In the 1980s, Henry was involved with the Australian Street Machine Federation. In 1987, Henry built a dedicated burnout track at

Exhibition Park in Canberra Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) is a 70 hectare showground and multi-building venue for exhibitions, conferences, and events located in the suburb of Lyneham, Australian Capital Territory, Lyneham (though commonly listed in the adjacent Mit ...

(EPIC, then known as Natex), and he held the first

at the venue in January 1988. Thousands of attendees turned up at the event, which featured cars and entertainment from rock and bush bands, including hundreds for the first Summernats Street parade down

Northbourne Avenue Northbourne Avenue is a major road in Canberra, Australia. It extends from City Hill in the south, to the Federal Highway in the north. It is a north–south running road which has three lanes for motorised traffic, and one lane for bicycl ...

on 2 January. Henry told media that promotion costs amounted to around $500,000. Summernats went on to become one of Canberra's premier tourism events. In January 2009, Henry was cautioned after he drove 77 kilometres an hour in a special 40 kilometre zone outside the Summernats venue. Henry explained to police that he had not seen the new sign and avoided a fine. After the 2009 event drew fewer attendees than expected, Henry entered negotiations with a possible buyer for the business. He confirmed the sale of the business to an undisclosed buyer in July 2009. Henry ran for a seat at the 2012 ACT election, contesting in the northern suburbs electorate of Ginninderra for the Australian Motorist Party. Ahead of the election, Henry told voters to give their second preferences to the Canberra Liberals. At the end of 2013, Henry left the Australian Motorist Party and joined the ACT Liberal Party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Chic 1946 births 2022 deaths People from Launceston, Tasmania Australian founders Festival founders Australian car collectors