OBITUARY
Born: 28 March, 1921
Died: 28 October, 2011
FRED HUNTER was born in his parent’s home on Hunter Road in Wandin on 28 March 1921. His great-grandparents were among the first pioneers of the district, settling in 1872 to farm 402 acres of land between Queen’s and Hunter roads.
Fred was the third of seven children, and he attended Wandin Yallock Primary School, and continued schooling until the age of 14 when he joined his father, working for property owners in the Wandin and Silvan districts.
He entered the timber industry at the age of 16, helping his father snig the logs that had fallen using draught horses. He was involved in fruit picking, wood cutting and, for one season, grape picking in Mildura.
After the 1939 bushfires, Fred worked for different sawmills in the mountain ranges to the east and northeast of Wandin, felling the burnt trees with axe and cross cut saw and, later, chainsaws; snigging logs to the mills with bulldozers, and trucking them to more distant mills on timber jinkers.
In 1942, Fred married Dorothy Routley of Wandin East. They started their married life living in tents at the milling camps. Their daughter Wanda was born at Tanjil Bren and son Rod when they were at Horsefall.
After building their first home in Noojee, they returned to Wandin in 1949.
Fred continued to work in the bush for a while longer with axe and chainsaw, felling trees and driving dozers in the Otways and later around Marysville.
He constructed many farm fences and stockyards in the district well into the ’60s, but by the early ’50s he had retired from the timber industry.
Fred was an active member of the Yarra Glen Trotting Club, and he owned and trained trotters and pacers, and also raced pacers for a short while.
Fred spent time competing and assisting with wood chopping and crosscut sawing competitions at local events, including the Lilydale Show, the Kings Birthday sports carnival and other events at Wandin, the Tolmie Show, and the Royal Melbourne Show.
After leaving the timber industry, Fred worked at the Lilydale limestone quarry, and then at British Nylon Spinners in Bayswater where he became a leading hand.In 1961, Fred and Dot purchased a milk bar on Warburton Highway in Wandin. The business soon expanded with acquisition of a Mobilco dealership for chainsaws and rotary hoes, and an increasing range of other farm equipment. This side of the business continued to grow, and they sold the milk bar in 1966 to move to Main Street, Lilydale. The business grew, and three years later Fred was joined by his daughter Wanda and her husband Clive, and the business became Hunter and McPherson, expanding into purpose built premises on Maroondah Highway.
Fred sold his share of the business in 1986, and two years later moved into breeding Belgium Blue cattle.
At the age of 67, Fred increased his farm with larger land at Millgrove, and completed a course in artificial insemination. He went on to initiate the establishment of protocols for importation of Belgium Blue embryos into Australia from Belgium, visiting the country to facilitate the process.
Fred was a founding member of the Australian Belgium Blue Cattle Society, continuing his involvement until he sold his property in Hunter Road in 2008.
Fred continued farming in plastic bins in the back garden of the house in Wandin, growing vegetables and propagating eucalyptus trees.
But he had not retired. He became convinced of the value to soil fertility of rock dust, and sought every opportunity to promote it locally and, informally, throughout Australia.
Fred, who was already virtually blind, deaf and finding it hard to walk, became Dot’s carer after she had a stroke several years ago and expanded his small scale farming roles to the indoor duties of cooking, washing, ironing and shopping until he was well past 89.
Fred was a generous man, proud of his family, region and heritage, and will be missed by his friends and family, including 10 grandchildren and six great grandchildren. -Mara Pattison-Sowden
