Former Buln Buln councillor dies
A motion carried by Baw Baw Shire councillors at their meeting last Wednesday expressed their condolences to the family of Doug Hatfield, a councillor and president of the former Buln Buln shire, who died on August 13.
Mr Hatfield, aged 87, spent most of his adult life at Ripplebrook before in later years with wife Barbara moving to Drouin in retirement and finally to Lyrebird Village where they both lived.
Mr Hatfield initially served on Buln Buln shire from 1973-1976 and then again from 1984-1990 including as shire president in 1988-1989.
His father, John, a bank manager, was posted to Drouin for about 18 months in the late 1930s he and his wife and bought 168 acres of uncleared land at Ripplebrook that would eventually become the family farm.
Mr Hatfield was also a strong advocate for dairyfarmers and involved himself heavily in the local community.
Frustrated with the payments farmers were getting for their milk he was a central figure in a “blockade” of the dairy factory at Drouin and farmers taking their milk to Melbourne, distributing it for free and marching on Parliament House behind a jersey cow.
Due to his father’s banking career there were not infrequent moves between locations and schools for a young Doug Hatfield.
One of those schools was the Errol Street State School in North Melbourne.
It was there he set eyes on Barbara Ralph and family legend has it that Mr Hatfield first proposed marriage to her when he was 10 years old.
After finishing secondary schooling and a farm mechanics’ course at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology he would spend more of his time between the city and the property at Ripplebrook helping clear it with little more than a rotary hoe.
The earlier connection with Barbara had been lost until one of those “it was meant to be” events on New Year’s Eve in 1950.
Mr Hatfield was swimming, as he often did with mates, in the Yarra River when a tiger snake attached itself to his finger.
A photograph of him with a bandaged hand at the Royal Melbourne Hospital that appeared on page one of the Sun Newspaper was followed by a visit by a nurse at the hospital, Barbara Ralph. They married in 1954. Their four children all born while the farm at Ripplebrook was developed and where Mr Hatfield completed a house that he’d started to build before marrying, attended Drouin South primary school.
Mr Hatfield involved himself heavily in working bees at the school and also saw a need for young boys in the area to have an interest.
He sought funds to establish and equip Ripplebrook Youth Club and conducted sessions at the CWA hall with boxing one of the main sports.
After moving to dairying from sheep and cattle raising agri-industry politics became a passion for Mr Hatfield.
When his vision to establish an Australia Dairy Centre faltered after there was a change of Federal government he joined Victorian Farmers’ Union, later United Dairyfarmers’ Victoria, becoming local branch chairman and a member of its Central Council.
Mr Hatfield also served on the Tarago Water board including a term as chairman, helped establish Drouin Nature Reserve and held various positions with Drouin Probus.
The eldest son Ralph, who’d established the Ripplebrook Holstein Stud and was to have taken over the family farm, took ill and died aged 38 forcing Mr and Mrs Hatfield to continue to work the farm but only several years later, 1995, decided to sell and retire in Drouin.
Mr and Mrs Hatfield, the only children in their families, had four children – Ralph (deceased), Lance, Brenda (Barnes) and Gary, and have 15 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.
The funeral conducted by Neilsen Funerals was held on August 16.