By Matthew Sims
Both Doug Hamilton and Bill Pearson’s achievements and actions represent a love for the value of farming and the value of community.
During its annual dinner on Friday 25 August, the Victorian Farmers Federation Cardinia branch awarded a posthumous Agricultural Achievement Award to Mr Hamilton and an Agricultural Achievement award to Mr Pearson.
VFF Cardinia branch vice-president Ian Anderson spoke about Mr Hamilton’s achievements and the passion he had for farming across the South East and the love he had for his community.
Born in Oakleigh on 31 August 1937, Mr Hamilton was the youngest son of Hugh and Gladys Hamilton and had three older siblings in Maurice, Joyce and Betty.
His life started in Clayton, where his parents were dairy farmers.
After attending Clayton South Primary School, when it came time to start high school, the family moved to Yannathan and farmed on South Yannathan Road.
The Hamiltons then moved to the farm which Doug spent about 70 years on, a farm on the corner of Westernport Road and Priestley’s Road (Heads Road) at Yannathan South.
Married in 1963 to Pamela, the pair purchased the family farm and worked hard to improve it.
Heavily involved in the farming community, Mr Hamilton was president of the West Gippsland Artificial Breeders and played a pivotal part in the bringing together of the numerous local and regional artificial breeding associations under one umbrella to form a peak body, the Herd Improvement Organisation (HIO).
He was state president of the HIO in the late ‘70s representing the interests of dairy farmers to governments, both local, state and federally and also worked at Heinz from 1978 to 1995.
Outside of work, Mr Hamilton was a footballer with Catani, played tennis with the Yannathan South tennis team and was a keen Collingwood Football Club supporter.
He was a proud member of the Young Farmers Club and also became a member of the Private Water Diverters Committee, representing farmers from the Kooweerup Swamp and West Gippsland.
In 1974, the Rotary Club of Cranbourne sponsored and established the Rotary Club of Kooweerup – Lang Lang and Mr Hamilton joined the steering committee and became president in the mid-90s.
In the midst of everything, he was a Scout leader at First Catani alongside his wife, who was a cub leader and district cub leader.
Mr Hamilton also helped start up the flag raising ceremony in Lang Lang, which soon transformed into the Australia Day ceremony, as well as the Kooweerup Bendigo Bank branch and was elected as a Cardinia Shire councillor in 2002, serving until 2008.
“Doug was also a great community person,” Mr Anderson said.
“He kept on giving to his community.
“Doug was one of the founding members of the Kooweerup Bendigo Bank.”
Mr Hamilton was also a keen Rotarian, becoming a Paul Harris Fellow in 2005.
“He was very proud to represent the rural community,” he said.
“I always found him to be a humble man of great intellect.”
Mr Anderson said more than anything, Mr Hamilton loved working for the improvement of the farming industry.
“Doug was awfully proud of his farm,” he said.
Mr Hamilton died on Saturday 25 January 2020.
His son Scott accepted the award and said his Dad would have been proud to receive the award.
“He would have been thrilled to bits,” he said.
Scott said his Dad loved working with beef cattle and improving his farm.
“It was a family farm,” he said.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better upbringing.”
Bunyip North’s Bill Pearson has also fought hard to support and protect his community over the years, including fundraising for Hillview Bunyip Aged Care and three stints as a Cardinia councillor in the late ’80s, then in 1993 and finally in 2008 as mayor.
“He’s been a stalwart of our community for a long time,” Mr Anderson said.
“Bill served his council and his community extremely well.”
Mr Anderson also recalled Mr Pearson’s actions during and following the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, which coincided with his time as the Cardinia mayor.
“It was a time when Cardinia Shire needed a leader,” he said.
“Bill put the area back together.”
It was at around 10am on Saturday 7 February 2009 when Mr Pearson was standing on the verandah of his Bunyip North home, watching the sky change from grey to red.
He made the immediate decision for his wife Kay and grandson Jack to leave as the fire was travelling their way.
Fifteen minutes later they had left, and the fire changed direction, crossing over the Bunyip River into Labertouche, avoiding Bunyip North.
Mr Anderson said Mr Pearson also advocated on behalf of agricultural interests, including pushing back against overhead transmission lines proposed for Tynong to Wonthaggi and fighting back against a proposed quarry in Bunyip North put forward by Hanson Construction Materials as a member of the Mount Cannibal Creek Preservation Society.
“The Cardinia Shire Council really had the back of agriculture,” he said.
“He’s a person who’s worked tirelessly for his community.”
Mr Pearson said all he did was for the improvement of the South East area.
“You either love where you live or you don’t,” he said.
“My family and I, we love where we live.”
