1928 08 Mar - born at Emmaville NSW.
1956 Jun qtr - son Christopher Charles born at Islington RD: Hulley Christopher Charles (mother's
maiden name Lugl) Islington 6c 1546 (freeBMD).
1956 17 May - son Christopher Charles born at London.
1992 21 Mar - son Christopher Charles married at Seaforth.
2009 13 Jun - NEWS REPORT IN THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
After the corporate world, a second and fascinating life
Charles Hulley, 1928-2009
RETIREMENT at 51 took Charles Hulley from the business world to work for the community. For many years he was a member of the board of St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney and was later chairman of the Curran Foundation, a charity supporting the St Vincent's campus.
In his 25 years with the foundation, Hulley presided over capital growth that provided more than $7.5 million in grants to the hospital. He was also president of the CG Jung Society of Sydney for many years, a member of the Theosophical Society in Australia and worked with the Art Deco Society of NSW.
Charles Edward Hulley, who has died aged 82, was born in the Vegetable Creek hospital at Emmaville in northern NSW, once a tin-mining town and now famous for gemstones. He was the only child of Canon Charles Hulley and his wife Hilda May.
Charles' early days were spent in Armidale, where he developed interests that stayed with him all his life - cricket, golf, literature, music and the cinema. When his parents moved to Sydney, he went to Trinity College then to the University of Sydney to study law and literature.
After graduation, Hulley was on holiday in Europe when he met a young Austrian woman, Eva Lügl, on the Orient Express between Vienna and Istanbul. Hulley said of their meeting that Eva was sitting on a small blow-up cushion and looked up and smiled at him. He thought that if someone could be pleasant under such conditions she was probably worth knowing. They married in 1955 in London.
The couple, now with a son, returned to Australia in 1956. He left the law and took positions with WD Scott and then Coca-Cola. His career as senior vice-president of Coca-Cola took the family around the world, to India, Pakistan, Lebanon, England, Turkey, Greece and Hong Kong.
Hulley was always interested in people, and his pleasure in company, food and wine led to a wide circle of friends. Every Christmas, hundreds of cards arrived from all over the world. After the rigours of corporate life, Hulley left business early, saying he wanted time for himself, his family and to put something back into the world that had given him so much.
After his years overseas, he wanted to reconnect with Australia and in his studies discovered the paintings of Ainslie Roberts (the Aboriginal elder on the $2 coin is taken from one of Roberts' lithographs) and the research of the anthropologist Charles Mountford, an expert on Aboriginal art.
Not a diffident man, Hulley phoned Roberts and asked to meet him. He flew to Adelaide, and their relationship developed from there. Hulley wrote Roberts' biography, Ainslie Roberts And The Dreamtime (1988) and made a TV documentary about Roberts with John Lind, Beyond The Dreamtime (1994).
Hulley also wrote a novel, The Fire Crystal (1994), and two books about Aboriginal mythology, Dreamtime Moon (1996) and The Rainbow Serpent (1999).
Hulley was appointed a member of the Order of Australia in 2005 for his work with the Curran Foundation and his contribution to multiculturalism and the better understanding of indigenous culture. He retired again on his 80th birthday.
Charles Hulley is survived by Eva, their son Christopher, daughter-in-law Michelle, and grandsons Ben and Tom.
Harriet Veitch
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