Bruce Baird

Hello Fellow JCTs,

The majority of you may have already heard about the sad passing of Bruce Baird AM, on Friday 02 October 2026, at 84 years of age.

However, what some of you may not be aware of is that Bruce was one of our original Junior Commercial Trainees (JCT).

Bruce joined Qantas in 1959 under the 'office boy' system. In June 1959, Qantas announced the creation of the Junior Commercial Trainee Scheme and announced that all office boys who had joined Qantas since January 1958 would now come under this new JCT Scheme. This, therefore, included Bruce.

After completing the Scheme, Bruce became an Education and Training Officer in the Personnel Department and was directly responsible for recruiting and mentoring many of us future JCTs. I remember he, along with Warwick Hamill, interviewed me in 1965.

Bruce subsequently spent time in the Sales Department before leaving Qantas.

Among his various activities after leaving Qantas, was time spent in politics, both for NSW and Federal Parliaments.

After I first started organising JCT Reunions in 2015, the Red Tail Road to 100 committee was created to help Qantas celebrate its 100th birthday in 2020. I was asked to bring the JCT Group under the umbrella of Red Tail Road, so we could join in the 'fun and games' to happen. As part of this, I approached Bruce to become Patron of the JCT Chapter, which he gladly agreed to and has continued that role on an ongoing basis.

Our condolences go out to Bruce's family.

Kind regards

Chris Kewley