Ian Black, a popular cop who made a big difference to Canberra

After the ACT Advisory Council was abolished in September 1974, to be replaced by the ACT Legislative Assembly, Ian successfully sought re-election as an Independent, topping the poll and almost doubling the vote of the combined ALP and Liberal teams of eight.

Ian was a police officer, legislator, restaurateur, winemaker, history buff and bon vivant.

He was a lifelong Collingwood supporter who as a teenager tried out with Collingwood for the VFL before moving to Canberra to join the Commonwealth Police in the late 1960s. He played football in Canberra for the Ainslie Football Club.

He was born in the Victorian wine community of Corowa and developed a great love and expertise in wine around the Rutherglen region, where he worked with local wineries.

He was later to attempt to plant one of the Canberra region's first vineyards, at Burra in the early 1970s, only to see it razed by a bushfire.

Ian transferred to the ACT Police where he built his popularity and profile as a community-based officer hosting a children's TV show on CTC-7 for several years.

He decided to seek election for the part-time ACT Advisory Council in 1970, a decision which caused great consternation for the hierarchy of ACT Police, fearing a conflict of interest.

Ian submitted his nomination to the returning officer on a Friday afternoon three weeks before the September 1970 election, only to be visited by two uniformed policemen on Saturday morning after The Canberra Times had reported that morning Constable Black was running for office.

Ian was on leave but told to put his uniform on and accompany them to a meeting with the commissioner, who expressed his dissatisfaction and requested Ian withdraw his nomination.

However, it was too late to do so and Constable Black's name appeared on the ballot paper and he went on to be elected, the first ACT police officer to serve in the ACT Advisory Council.

Ian's "reward" for his actions was a long stint working night shift as a sentry outside the Russian Embassy in Canberra.

That lasted until fellow councillors asked why he was not attending meetings, and embarrassingly rectified soon after.

Over his eight years of service with the Advisory Council and Legislative Assembly Ian chaired the Assembly standing committees on finance and tourism and recreation; chaired the select committee on gambling, the historic sites and building committee and the ACT Milk Authority; as well as membership of the standing committee on police.

He was a member of the Canberra Show Ground Trust, the ACT Road Safety Council and was a board member of the Royal Canberra Hospital.

After leaving the police force, Ian was the first community development officer in the ACT, working with the NCDC to help settle new arrivals and collect statistical information to assist short and long-term objectives associated with social planning and development of Canberra.

The work was to be more widely applied to other areas of regional and municipal growth such as Albury-Wodonga.

Canberra was often criticised at the time as a city with no identity, no soul and no ethos.

Determined to do something about that, Ian was elected as chairman of the Canberra Day Festival Committee in 1971.

The festival was to commemorate the naming of Canberra on March 12, 1913.

The committee was responsible for a week of activities in March each year, featuring a procession and the crowning of a King or Queen of Canberra.

Dennis Lillee was King one year, Aunty Jack Queen another year.

In addition, to help cater for the needs of Canberra youth, Ian was involved in the creation of the Canberra Concert committee, which provided a stage in Garema Place available as a venue for local bands to display their talents.

Most of his constituents were in newly-developing Weston and Tuggeranong which lacked infrastructure and major food chains were not interested. Ia

n's solution was to help establish a co-operative to own and run a supermarket capable of providing for the needs of a developing community, which was later sold to a major chain.

With his interest in wine, and as a member of the Canberra Show Ground Trust, Ian fostered the Canberra Wine Show, which was to go on and become an important annual event on the Australian wine-judging show circuit.

Following the abolition of the ACT Legislative Assembly in 1978, Ian pursued his interest in food and wine, opening Canberra's first BYO restaurant - Truffles in Kingston.

Two years later Ian purchased one of Canberra's early homesteads, Hill Station, which had been empty for some years and needed total restoration.

Because of his interest in the preservation of early Australian buildings, Hill Station was restored at considerable cost to become a restaurant, winery and cellar.

In 1984 Ian left Canberra to establish a vineyard at Nug Nug in north-eastern Victoria.

He moved an abandoned historic 1860 homestead, Goombargona from the Albury district to Nug Nug, and spent the last 20 years of his life restoring the magnificent homestead.

Ian is survived by his partner, artist Clare Leeuwin-Clark, and children Darren, Simon, Glenn, Marnie and Joel.