COMMUNITY STALWART REMEMBERED
GREATER Hamilton lost another civic-minded contributor on June 2 with the passing of Peter Schroder, aged 78.
Having worked in Hamilton since 1972, Mr Schroder was well known for his consultant and advisory work in pasture development and had contributed significantly to improving local pasture productivity, stocking rate, profitability and mental health of farmers.
For this he was named Hamilton Wool and Rural Monarch for 2015/2016.
Previously working for the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Peter later worked as principal consultant at his business Peter Schroder Rural Consulting.
He once told your correspondent he was an “agricultural tragic”.
Having studied a Bachelor of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Adelaide, Peter held Honours in Pasture Agronomy and a post-graduate Diploma in Agricultural Extension.
Using his skills and experience to help farmers improve their productivity and profitability, he regarded his most notable project the work with the Trikkala sub clover in the late 1970s.
In an interview with The Spec following his Monarch honor he told us: “When we came to Hamilton , the general mood of things seemed to be that things were crook and that it never rained at the right time, and at first it was too much and then it was too little, and then it was this and then it was that, it was a regular pain in the neck,” he said.
“I looked at what they were achieving out at the Pastoral Research Station in their trials and I took the view that there were a lot of reasons to be positive, so I went on a campaign to turn around and instead of looking backwards, to look forward.
My main summary was cutting 100 kilograms of wool per hectare.”
Peter also written his own manual on Occupational Health and Safety.
VENTURING outside his work on the land, Peter was heavily involved with Rotary Hamilton.
He served as president of the club in 2009-10 and had a special love for the world-wide service club.
He was a direct descendant of Walter Drummond, the man who brought the concept of this club to Australia following a trip to America.
Drummond was an architect and became secretary of Melbourne Rotary Club, the first established in Australia in 1921.
Drummond was born in Hamilton and spent his boyhood years here.
His father was a printer at the Spectator.
PETER Schroder was the driving force behind Rotary Hamilton’s involvement with a project to build more low-cost but strong homes for the poor following catastrophic Cyclone Winston in Fiji.
The so-called Rotahomes were built principally at the village of Koroipita, on the north-east of the main island of Viti Levu.
Cyclone Winston, which struck with staggeringly powerful winds of up to 350 km/h, killing at least 42 people and wreaking destruction across the islands, left all 231 Rotahomes in Koroipita virtually unscathed.
In all there were 943 Rotahomes in the village and in the hills and cane belt of Viti Levu.
Peter with several club members and other Hamiltonians travelled to Fiji in 2010, 2012 and 2013 to work on construction.
Rotary Hamilton had also sponsored an apprentice working with Ron Huf, of Cavendish, to travel with them and work there.
Peter told us so limited was the impact of the cyclone on the basic homes that school classes were able to resume the day after the initial impact of the storm.
He remembered that about 15 people from Hamilton had worked on the project.
PETER and fellow Rotarian, Kevin Safe, for three years worked with then RSL president John Lowcock to erect a statue honoring our VC winner, Ted Kenna.
Schroder and Safe liaised with sculptor, Peter Corbett, on the design, and oversaw fundraising for the $100,000 cost.
The larger-than-life bronze reminder of Kenna’s heroics is situated along Lonsdale St., opposite McDonalds.
The statue was unveiled in front of a big crowd in March 2013.
NOT resting on his laurels Peter Schroder later joined with luminaries Roger Hallam and Rex Beveridge (convenor) to get shire council permission to place a life-size bronze bust honoring Malcolm Fraser in the Hamilton Botanical Gardens.
Approval was granted in 2018, however, the project has been on the back-burner with subsequent debate around alternate sites, less likely to attract damage or vandalism.
Council staff had suggested the Sir Reginald Ansett Museum grounds as an option, or the Sam Fitzpatrick Gardens, opposite Melville Oval.
The Oval surrounds won.
The bust will be set on a Grampians sandstone plinth.
An accomplished sculptor had been selected.
Following Peter’s death, Kevin Safe has joined the small committee bringing experience after his work with the Kenna statue.
A Malcolm Fraser Memorial Appeal has now been launched. See page ??? in this edition for details.
A substantial sum has already been committed.
Peter would have been chuffed at recent progress.
FOOTNOTE: Following the funeral service at the Southern Grampians Life Centre yesterday the cortege left for the Hamilton Lawn Cemetery.
