Grant and Mavis Gillman (centre row, 2nd and 3rd from left) with the Chiltern Fire Brigade circa 1949.
Grant Gillman celebrated his centenary last week with family at Karinya Aged Care Residential, after spending all but four months of those hundred years living in Indigo Shire.
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Mr Gillman’s daughter Carol said recent health issues had precipitated her father’s move from across the border earlier this year, and she was moved by the attendance at his birthday celebration.
“It was great to see everyone who turned up; Dad was chuffed,” Carol said.
“We had people from the local Neighbourhood Watch, the Rutherglen SES, and Roberta Horne from Indigo Shire, all turned up to celebrate this milestone with him.
“It was good to see him get this recognition, especially having spent almost his whole life in Indigo.”
Mr Gillman was a fourth-generation Indigo native, born in Rutherglen on July 23, 1926.
He attended school at Cornishtown Primary School and St Joseph’s Convent School in Chiltern until age 14, and for reasons still a mystery to him, was employed for a short time by Beechworth Tannery.
“Dad would ride the bike he still has on unsealed roads to Beechworth each weekend and board with Mrs Sumsion on Gorge Rd,” Carol said.
“He’d spend the week working at the tannery stamping imitation crocodile imprints onto tanned leather skins.
“On one return trip he developed appendicitis, which precluded him from returning to work.
“He’s grateful for that to this day because he found the work more ‘putrid and vile smelling’ than gruelling.”
After recovering from appendicitis, Mr Gillman returned to school to complete his leaving certificate, required for public service, and was subsequently retained as manpower, thwarting his desire to join the air force during World War II.
Grant Gillman in his younger days; as well as lobbying for change in Indigo throughout his lifetime, Mr Gillman experimented on his farm growing tobacco, peas and beans, turnips and pumpkins in competition with ravenous kangaroos.
He returned at war’s end to assist on the family farm in Indigo, simultaneously working for Scott’s Grocery in Chiltern, delivering groceries, fuel, stock and poultry feed around the local area.
In 1948 Grant married the love of his life, Mavis Lee of Rutherglen, and after living in a bond-wood caravan behind his aunt and uncle’s fish shop in Chiltern, they bought the farm where they welcomed daughter Carol in 1951.
After trading in the farm for a more reliable water source at what is now known as ‘Gillmans’, they welcomed their second daughter Susan in 1953.
Grant was known throughout Indigo for his tireless lobbying, which brought about advantages such as the supply of electricity and a ‘party-line’ telephone service to Toveys Rd in Chiltern South, the formation of Chiltern South Fire Brigade and acquisition of a suitable truck, and the extension of the Rutherglen High School bus line to Chiltern South.
Grant Gillman celebrates his 100th birthday with friends Wendy and Tim McNamara.
With little spare time for recreation, he played cricket and a little football, which he called “a mug’s game”, and was involved in regional Fire Brigade competitions for Chiltern for a short while.
Grant and Mavis sold the farm in 1968 and returned to Rutherglen where they ran a service business and involved themselves in the community, volunteering for the SES, Neighbourhood Watch, Progress Association, Glenview, and Meals on Wheels.
Mr Gillman ‘retired’ and closed the business in 1996, volunteering at another local business on a daily basis until he was made redundant by the new owners at age 90.
Volunteering with Rutherglen SES until age 80, and Neighbourhood Watch until age 95, he retained an active involvement in Rutherglen’s civic interest, from the first flush of discontent in the late 60s until last year.
Happy birthday Grant Gillman, and congratulations on reaching 100 years.
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