Brian Hunt OAM – Getting Things Done

AT 83 years of age and having received an Order of Australia most people would have spent yesterday taking some time to celebrate and relax, but not Brian Hunt, there were things that needed to be done in the community.

“I’m on the King of the Ranges committee and we’ve got the Cobb and Co coach, we’ve got some indigenous stockmen and we’ve got to be at bottom end of Peel Street at a quarter-to-eight in the morning, I think we’ve got 12 riders, trick riders and some kids to get organised,” said Mr Hunt.

Nat Doonan who nominated Brian for the award has been friends with him for more than 40 years and said he is an icon in the community.

“He was at a dinner last night for the committee and he was there until 10 o’clock last night and he was up again at 5 this morning to go to the Tamworth Festival to represent the King of the Ranges, so that is the sort of commitment that Brian has, he just does it all the time,” said Mr Doonan.

“His volunteer work would be unsurpassed as I know it, he’s been doing this for a period of more than 60 years and a lot of time at his own cost,” he said.

“He has spent a lot of time doing announcing often in the heat and the dust and the freezing cold and he’s there from 6 o’clock in the morning sometimes until 6 or 7 in the evening and then do the buck jumping at night, it’s quite a commitment from Brian,” he said.

“But he’s just one of those down to earth blokes, he’s a good bloke to be a friend of I think because he always has a bit of humour about him and a joke.

“He’s an easy person to describe because of the things that he does.

“He doesn’t make an issue he just says ‘oh yeah, I’ll be there.’

“In the wool industry, he helped kids along the way who were down on their luck a bit and he has been known to help them, get them up and going and give them a job when nobody else wanted to and he’s a generous, compassionate person.

“When Brian thanked me for the nomination I said ‘well you gave me plenty of material to work with’ and it’s true.

“You can say all those nice things about Brian, because they are all true,” said Nat Doonan.

Brian said he really appreciated the award and in a small community it is important to keep things going.

“Well I just thought we’re a small community and there’s been a couple of occasions where we have been to a meeting or something and they say ‘well no one wants to be president or secretary so we might have to close up’,” said Mr Hunt.

“We were always sheep dog people and in 1960 it looked like the sheep dog trial was going to fold I said I’d be president until the next meeting and I ended up being president for 41 years, from 1960 to 2001,” he said.

“A classic example is I’ve got a great old mate up at Uralla, Craig Williams, he’s a top sheep dog man…he’d been a member of the Uralla show committee for 65 years, he joined when he was about 15 and he’s about 80 now and they had a meeting the week before and the Uralla show has been going for 126 years, but they couldn’t get a committee so the Uralla show has folded, there’ll be no show this year because there’s not enough local support,” said Brian Hunt.

While most people might pitch in to make sure an event keeps running, Brian takes things to another level with his commitment and even at 83 years of age he is there for the long haul for the community.

Many of the organisations he has been president of decades ago, he still remains an active supporter of today.

“I was president of the pony club here for years and after that they made me a life member,” said Brian.

“I was made a life member of Timor rodeo committee after I’d done the broadcasting for 25 years, that was about 10 years ago and I’m still active there,” he said.

“I started broadcasting with the Bushman’s Carnival here in 1968 and there will be a little celebration this year, because it’s 50 years this year and I’m still one of the announcers.

“I was the Scone VIP in 2007, Citizen of the Year Murrurundi in 2014… I did get a medal about 15 years ago and the deputy prime minister gave it to me at the time, it was Kevin Anderson, but I just can’t think what the medal was for. (It was the Centenary Medal for services to the community.)

“I was first president of the polocrosse and that was a long time ago, about 1959 and I played rugby league here from ’51 to ’66.

“I’ve been involved with the King of the Ranges since it begun and we’re now in the fifteenth year and we are having a special celebration for that in four weeks time,” he said.

“The King of the Ranges is the biggest thing that has happened here and there is a lot of time and effort that goes into it throughout the year and a handful of people, but when the time comes we get it done,” Brian Hunt said.

With Brian part of the Murrurundi community, things will certainly continue to ‘get done’.

Some of Brian’s achievements include:

• Attended Murrurundi Catholic School 1940 – 1946
• Attended Murrurundi Central High School and attained intermediate certificate
• School captain in 1949
• Did one year wool classing school by correspondence
• Attended East Sydney Technical College to finish wool classing course
• Awarded a gold wool classing certificate for 50 years as professional wool classer 1963 – 2013
• Woolclasser for 63 years in the wool industry
• Shearing contractor for 58 years and continuing
• During his time as a shearer and contractor he has employed hundreds of men and women and been their mentor in many cases
• President of the Murrurundi polocrosse club from 1959 and was a participant member
• Played rugby league for Murrurundi 1951 – 1966, played in several representative sides, he was selected to represent in group 21 in 1956 in three different leagues and he continues to support the rugby league in Murrurundi and nationally
• Shire Councillor on the former Murrurundi Shire Council 1983 – 1991
• President of the Murrurundi Sheep Dog Trials for 41 years a member of the dog trials for 56 years and he has been a public announcer of the trials since inception
• President of the Murrurundi Polo Club for 10 years and announcer for more than 40 years and still active in the club
• Committee member of the Murrurundi Bushman’s Carnival and public announcer
• He also organised polocrosse and rodeo events as an announcer
• He was the official announcer at camp drafts, rodeos throughout the Hunter and North-west region including Tamworth, Bendemeer, Quirindi, Coolah, Willow tree, Timor, Aberdeen, Dungowan and Wingen. Some of these events take place over three days and involve considerable traveling and time and there are occasions when Brian has to hire extra staff in the operation of his business while he attends these events at his own expense and time.
• Life memberships:
  • Timor Bushman’s Carnival,
  • Murrurundi Sheep Dog Trials,
  • Murrurundi Pony Club.
• Awards:
  • Wool classing gold certificate for 50 years loyal service 1963-2013
  • Centenary Medal by Governor General for services to the community 2003
  • Murrurundi Australia Day award 2000
  • Scone Horse Festival VIP 2009
  • Murrurundi Citizen of the Year 2014