John Baylis

John Baylis (d. 5 March 2015) was a retired tugboat captain and voluntary euthanasia advocate, who spent most of his life in the Northern Territory of Australia. He died aged 83 of motor neurone disease.

Manchester-born Baylis was raised in a boys' home and joined the merchant navy as a 14-year-old; he jumped ship illegally in Sydney at 19, saying that "he liked the look of the girls." (Hansard 2015; Poulsen, 2015).

Nova Peris, Senator for the Northern Territory, remembered him:

"[Baylis] took a job with Qantas which eventually landed him in Darwin and he fell in love with the Top End lifestyle. In Darwin, he had many jobs before he finally settled in as a tug master for 30 years before he succumbed to motor neurone disease, commonly known as MND, which pushed him into retirement. Mr Baylis's job included being a union delegate for the Northern Territory Maritime Union, which became affiliated with the Queensland federation under his watch. He was a salvage diver after World War II, recovering ships from the bottom of Darwin Harbour and sending them back to Japan [...] He was also a land surveyor for the Department of Works. He played footy for the local Darwin Buffaloes team and he helped resurrect the Roma soccer club. Mr Baylis was a well-known and very well-respected Territorian."

"Baylis became an avid supporter of the dying with dignity legislation, and he became known as a 'euthanasia warrior' after initially being opposed to it, early in his life; he did not know that one day he would be looking for it. Uncle John was hopeful that it would again become law in the Northern Territory and across the nation so that he and others suffering could die with dignity but, sadly, this was not to be. He supported the former Northern Territory Chief Minister Marshall Perron's euthanasia law, which passed the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in 1995 before it was overturned by the Australian parliament, led by Mr Kevin Andrews." (Hansard 2015).

Hansard Commonwealth, Parliamentary debates, Senate, 17 March 2015, 1711. Adjournment: Mr John Baylis. (Nova Peris, Senator for the Northern Territory). (Austl.) https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22chamber/hansards/0fbbf150-9651-4cc2-b372-126e8ad7404e/0174%22

Poulsen, J. (2015, March 7). Euthanasia warrior John Baylis yields to fight with ‘monster inside’. Northern Territory News. https://tinyurl.com/59pczypa