Great Scot December 2019 Great Scot 158_December_ONLINE | Page 80
OSCA
LEFT TO RIGHT: NEIL BARKER (’65), PHILIP BARTON (’69), MICHAEL EBELING (’78), TOM MITCHELL-TAVERNER (’89), JASON ANDREW (’90)
the 2019 AFL Grand Final, with his rendition of
Waltzing Matilda. John told The Age that singing
‘Australia’s greatest song’ on grand final day was
a career ambition, now fulfilled. ‘It is the only song
that all Australians will sing from the heart,’ he told
the newspaper.
NEIL BARKER (’65) is assisting in the
integration of his Melbourne-based fresh
produce exporter, BGP International, with Fresh
Solutions Group, another Australian-owned
fresh produce company. Neil will become a
director of the merged group, and BGP will
continue to operate under its own name as a
separate entity. Neil sees the move as positive
for both companies. ‘The synergy between
the two companies is really good – there is
no duplication of what we both do,’ he said.
‘We are strong in exports and Fresh Solutions
Group is strong domestically in Australia.’
Book number 34 by ROLAND PERRY (‘65),
Tea and Scotch with Bradman, gives revealing
insights into the life of arguably Australia’s
greatest-ever sportsman, Sir Donald Bradman.
Back in 1995, Roland wrote to Sir Donald,
requesting an interview for a biography he was
writing about ‘The Don’. To Roland’s surprise,
Sir Donald agreed, and so began a series
of interviews and phone calls over a six-year
period, during which the great man provided
Roland with insights into his thinking on a
myriad of cricket-related issues – and on other
issues such as his tastes in music.
Roland told Great Scot: ‘Every prime
minister since 1930 has said that Bradman was
the greatest Australian ever. But apart from his
mighty batting average of 99.94, most people
couldn’t name one other feature of the man.
An intimate and revealing portrait of Bradman
emerged from my many conversations with
him.’ Roland’s book was launched in South
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Great Scot Issue 158 – December 2019
Melbourne on 21 November. For more
information: [email protected].
PHILIP BARTON (’69) was a member of
the Scotch Athletics team in 1966, 1968 and
1969, and he has maintained his involvement in
athletics through the Old Scotch Athletics Club,
first as a sprinter from 1966-1983 and for the
last decade in cross country. He believes the
club is now at its best for many years. ‘We have
some very good middle-aged athletes, aged
from 40 to 55, dedicated female athletes, and
a spate of good young athletes, encouraged by
the coaching dedication of GREGOR EVANS
(’68) and David Lightfoot.
Philip is married, with two children. He is a
barrister. As well as running, Philip’s interests
include church, singing (he is a member of
the Open Door Gospel Singers), Rostrum,
gardening, history and literature. ‘I am now on
Dickens’ Great Expectations for the fifth time, to
which I was introduced by Mr Harrison in 5 Lit
in 1968,’ he said.
1970s
MICHAEL EBELING (’78) joined real
estate firm R T Edgar in 1996 and became
a Director in 1999. He is now a Director of R
T Edgar Toorak, and also a Director of R T
Edgar’s franchising division, the franchisor for
the company’s 19 other offices. R T Edgar is a
well-known name and a leader in Melbourne
real estate. Last Christmas, Michael and his
family enjoyed two weeks’ sailing around
Pittwater in Sydney, and he sailed to Melbourne
with friends in mid-January. Michael also enjoys
cycling, and he rides with friends along Beach
Road on weekends.
After completing Physiotherapy, playing
rugby for Melbourne University and doing a
bit of travelling, PAUL FARGHER (‘79) settled
down with his wife Janine in Ocean Grove,
where they have lived for 32 years. Paul and
Janine brought up three beautiful daughters,
and they now have a young granddaughter.
Paul plans to keep working as a physiotherapist
in Geelong and Ocean Grove, then retire to
spend more time with his grandchildren, get
back to surfing, and continue to hit a little white
ball at Barwon Heads Golf Club.
1980s
For the past eight years PETER NANCE
(‘87) has worked at Myer Pty Ltd as General
Manager, Supply Chain. Before that he
worked at Ikea and Nike, after graduating from
RMIT with a degree in Transport/Logistics
Management. In October, Peter and 60 friends,
including former schoolmates from the Class of
’87, LYNDON HOPKINS, DAVID TAINSH and
DAVID DUFF celebrated Peter’s 50th birthday
at Byron Bay.
After leaving school, TOM MITCHELL-
TAVERNER (‘89) studied Architecture,
registered as an architect, then set off to travel
the world. His travels took him to both London
and Abu Dhabi, where he was involved in
a number of major transport infrastructure
projects. Back in Australia Tom moved to
Sydney and joined his family’s market research
business. During the global financial crisis Tom
started an insights technology company which
he then ran for 10 years, and he says he is now
working on disrupting the not-for-profit sector
with a new digital fundraising platform (www.
the-good-crowd.com).