[2] In this year he joined the Australian Air League, where he was involved in building model planes[5] and observing flying objects in the airspace due to an impending Japanese invasion of Australia during World War II.

[6] In 1944 he passed the examination for the award medal of the Royal Life Saving Society Australia.

[9] From 1951 he held various positions as a salesman, until 1955 with International Harvester Company in South Melbourne,[10] until 1957 with Donovan-Brush Motors in Wangaratta,[11] until 1958 with Wormald Brothers in South Melbourne,[12] and most recently as General Sales Manager for Hardboard Australia, for which he relocated to Sydney with his family in 1976.

[2] From 1988 to 1992, he volunteered to run the Sydney office of Clean Up Australia together with Kim McKay, who had started the initiative with Ian Kiernan.

[2][13] From there he organised the help of 40.000 people, who hauled about 4,000 tonnes of garbage from 140 locations in Sydney Harbour alone on January 21, 1989.

[15] John Edward Barrett died in Kingswood, New South Wales on 11 August 2023, at the age of 94.

[16] Barrett played Australian rules football as early as his high school days.

In the 1945 season, the school's senior team, captained by John Barrett, did not lose a single game.

[2] In 1982, Barrett was elected to the board of directors of Australian Rules Football club Sydney Swans,[28] where he served for three years.