The unusually cold summer weather continued as community members and visitors gathered in Riverside Park Barham to eat together and celebrate the broader community.

Local farmer and Lions volunteer Alan Millar welcomed the crowd and dignitaries, including Gannawarra Shire Council CEO Geoff Rollinson, guest speaker Keith Cummins from Cohuna and Murray River councillor Neil Gorey.

Guest speaker Keith Cummins has an agricultural background, the family moving to a South Gippsland farm in 1956.

As a young man, Keith share farmed at Coldstream in the Yarra Valley before returning to the family farm after his father’s passing.

In 1979, Keith purchased his own farm and was very active within the farming region of northern Victoria, serving as a director of Northern Herd Development Co-Op for eight years and speaking at farming seminars.

Keith was also passionate about passing knowledge to younger generations through Skill Share programs and helping train apprentices.

“It’s a day to reflect on local communities and what makes local communities,” said Keith.

“There’s no doubt, I often thought the biggest influence in local communities is the volunteers.

“If you think back to all the times that you have played sport, the coaches… all the organisations in the community, that, really, in my belief, is what makes a community function.

“What really makes a community is the people in it.” Keith spoke of a time on the farm when, at age 11, one son went above and beyond, milking their 150 cows when he was only meant to yard them.

A medical appointment had seen Keith and his wife, Ellie, delayed in Bendigo and the initiative shown had Keith in a bind – was the child to be congratulated or reprimanded for not following instructions?

“In the young people now, we don’t really understand their potential, and let’s face it, the future is theirs.

“We need to be an example to the children, the kids who are coming along.”

Keith believes one of the biggest dangers we face is the inability to have discussions and listen to other people’s ideas.

In recalling boardroom discussions at Northern Herd, “It was only through discussion that we arrived at the best decision.

“The reason for that was among those directors, there was definitely respect, and you went in the board room wondering what is the best thing for the co-op.

“We’d sit down and everybody would listen to everybody else, they actually listened.

“I think that’s something we can improve on, not just here, but in Australia and around the world.

“I’m right and there’s no arguing – I think that’s the biggest danger we face.

“If you don’t listen, you don’t understand where the other person is coming from.” 

See the full Australia Day coverage in the issue.

This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 2 February 2023.