Graham Harris

(OTG 1961)

I had a great time at Trinity, I didn’t want to leave school. My father used to tell me I’d have a beard round my knees by the time I left. But sooner or later you’ve got to bite the bullet and go to work, and as soon as I got the opportunity to make something of myself, I got on with the job.

My parents came along when I was leaving school to a Careers Night, and spoke to the careers officer, Ian Munroe (who I had a great respect for, lovely man). Ian Munroe said to my father, “All your son wants to do is work in the butcher shop that you’ve got,” but my mother and father had accolades that I was going to be a solicitor or a doctor or some superstar. The end result was that after that discussion, I worked in the butcher shop with my father, then went and got my own shop which was very successful. Then I sold the shop and bought into the oil business with Caltex, and ended up with the largest distributorship in Victoria. Life got better from there – I sold out to Caltex, worked for them for four years, then I retired! When we sold the business, it was doing about 160 million litres, with 40 subagents and about 30 people on the staff. So yeah, it was good little business!

Trinity grounded me. It created what I consider to be a pretty good person out of me. I think, as a result of the time I spent there, I’m a people person, and I understand people. I think that basically came from being educated the way I was.

The best piece of advice I was every given was that there are two sides to every story. Don’t take anything at face value – you should always be available to look at both sides. I’ve carried that right through my business life, right through my life up until now and I’m 75. Even today, if someone comes up to me (I’m President of our local Gold Club and people come up to me and say, “Oh, this happened, that happened,”), I’ve got to make sure I hear the other side of the story before I make a decision as to what has to be done.

I’ve never had one regret in my life about anything I’ve ever done, ever. I think I’m very fortunate. I’m very happy to be able to say that if I were to die tomorrow, I’ve had a very happy life. I’ve been lucky enough to be reasonably successful, and I’ve had a great time. As a young man, I worked very, very hard, and that’s paid off in the long run. I’m in the stage of being part of a successful retirement with a lovely lady and some great kids.

I’m retired now, and I’m loving it. It’s really good. I was frightened to retire because I thought my wife would have me painting the house or doing gardening. But what happened was she encouraged me to go down and play a bit of golf. And I started playing golf, and I’m not a good golfer but I play four times a week, and I’ve been the President of the Thurgoona Golf Club in Albury for about eight years. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my position, the golf, and making golfing friends. We’ve been on a few trips to New Zealand, to China, to Thailand, the Hunter Valley, everywhere. It’s just been a great association. When I gave up work, I needed something to replace it, and golf, and the friends I’ve made at golf have replaced work. It’s that good, I wish I had’ve retired earlier!

We’ve been all round the world, and been on some wonderful trips. We’ve met some lovely people, been on cruises, on aeroplanes, seen many different things. But the best place that I’ve ever been to is Australia. And, to take it a little bit further, Albury Wodonga! Where I live now, I think, is the best place on earth, and I’m very happy. That’s the most important thing; I’m very happy.

I think that the secret to being happy is all about having a good life, working hard. Part of it is having a bit of success, that gives you the ability to do things you would never have done, if we weren’t successful in business, then we wouldn’t be able to go on trips around the world and do things like that. But I’ve been there and done all that, so I just think I’ve had a very complete life.

Actually, there’s one thing that could have improved it. If Collingwood had won a couple more flags, I’m a one-eyed Collingwood fan and I can’t believe that we’ve lost 27 grand finals.

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