Excited: Charlie Mead sitting on the bench he has donated to the Southern Aurora memorial garden in Violet Town.
Photo by
Simon Ruppert
While Benalla has hundreds of selfless, community-minded residents, very few are as respected and well-known as Charlie Mead.
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This month he decided he wanted to offer a donation to the Southern Aurora Memorial Garden in Violet Town, of which he is a committee member.
He chose to donate a bench and have it placed in the shade, under his favourite tree.
Charlie, who worked on the railway his whole life, would often be found at Benalla Station on cold nights handing out blankets to weary travellers awaiting their train, long after he retired.
And he has always tried to do his bit for the community he loves.
When the 50th anniversary of the Southern Aurora railway disaster, which happened near Violet Town, arrived in 2019 he wanted to get involved in its memorial, which resulted in the garden being created, a site he has since spent many hours maintaining.
For Charlie, donating a bench to the garden was much more than just doing his bit. He wanted to create a place people could sit and contemplate the tragedy of 1969 for years to come.
Selfless: Charlie Mead (centre, looking at camera) at the Southern Aurora crash site in 1969.
Photo by
Contributed
“I decided to donate the bench because I was here at the crash site for 16 days in 1969,” Charlie said.
“And I’m on the Southern Aurora Garden Committee here, which is a big honour.
“So I thought that I would donate a seat in memory of me.”
Charlie, who is a very active community member, might be jumping the gun when he talks about the bench being in his memory.
"It’s not only for me, but for other people who come to visit the garden,“ he said.
“I really wanted it underneath this tree, with the shade it’s a lovely place to sit.
“It was fantastic that the Memorial Garden got the gold award (at the Australian Street Art Awards) recently.
“I’ve now got my bench in an award-winning garden which is the icing on the cake.”
Generous donation: Whilst the inscription is in past-tense Charlie Mead has no plans of clocking-off from his community work just yet.
Photo by
Simon Ruppert
Since its grand opening the Southern Aurora Memorial Garden has been constantly expanding and improving, all thanks to its dedicated team of volunteers.
“We all volunteer here, and to get a big prize for volunteer workers I reckon is just fantastic,” he said.
"Getting an award like that boosts all the volunteers up.
“I’m really happy, not only for myself, but for everyone on the committee and the Violet Town community.
“We want to keep improving the garden and soon we’ll have the inside of the carriage done,” he said.
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