Graham Stanley Wakefield

Citizen of the Year - Waranga Ward - Shire of Campaspe - 2007

Graham was born in East Melbourne in 1948. His parents were sharefarming on a dairy farm at Heidelberg at the time. He is the eldest of four, he has three sisters. His father and mother took up one of the first soldier settlement farms at Waai north of Shepparton. He lived there till he was 14, then the family moved to Tongala, where he finished his schooling. After working on a farm and on the local shire as a roller driver he went to Mount Isa to work at the mines for a year.

He met Patricia in Bendigo and was married in 1971. They have two sons and three grand children.
After sharefarming in the Kyabram district for four years Graham got a job with Goulburn--Murray Water. They moved to Stanhope in 1977 when he was promoted to Senior Baliff and lived in the baliffs residence on the Midland Highway..

Graham worked for Goulburn--Murray Water for over 28 years He retired from G-M W.in 2003.
In 1992 he started to learn the Bowen Soft Tissue Therapy Technique. He has gone on to complete his Diploma in Bowen, one of the very first and few who have achieved this.

In 1994 they built a home on 90acres on the west side of Stanhope where they still live. Graham has a love of horse riding, western reining and trail riding.

He has been a member of the Rushworth Concert Band for over 25 years. He plays the E Flat Bass, the didgerido and guitar.He was secretary of the band for 6years. He was involved with junior cricket and junior football as his sons were growing up .He was a member of the Rushworth Historical Society.

He is a member of Landcare and the farm where they live is a Land For Wild Life property.

Graham was nominated and recieved the Citizen of The Year for the Shire of Campaspe 2006/2007.
Some of the reasons people gave for nominating him were that he makes a highly valued and often unseen contibution to the community, gives his time and skills at no charge to assist people in need.

He is selfless, caring, and humane. His tenacity and ingenuity in developing solutions appropriate to the people and their needs. People have become aware of the contrbution that he has made and continues to make to Stanhope and the wider community in a very quiet unassuming manner. Lastly Graham has a jolly sense of humour and always enjoys a laugh.