Taree's Ted Hill receives an OAM in Australia Day Honours

So exclaimed Edwin 'Ted' Hill when he was told he earned an OAM in the Australia Day Honours List for service to the community of Taree.

Ted, rising 87, was born in Melbourne and lived for a while in London while working for Qantas. He moved to Taree around 50 years ago with his young family.

"I wasn't sure at that stage it we'd be staying in Taree or not,'' Ted recalled.

"But then I started as the spare parts manager for Osmond Motors, run by Harry Dreyer and we'd pretty well settled here by then.''

He had a few business ventures around the town after leading Osmonds - including Ted Hill Marine. However, that was a casualty of the disastrous 1978 flood.

Ted was a keen sailor - he was a member of a crew that contested the 1952 Sydney to Hobart - so the river was an instant attraction when he moved here.

"I'll never forget when I first arrived. I went down to the old VJ club to organise to get a sail,'' Ted said.

"Here I met Don Solomon and I asked him how I'd go about it. Don said 'you're a lbit big for the VJs. I'll send you up to meet Mr Stewart Dawson, who is the president of the VS club.'

"Don loved to tell that story later at presentation nights we attended. " 'Four years after I sent him up to meet Mr Stewart Dawson, he was the president of the VS club,' '' Ted laughed.

At various times during the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s Ted served as commodore, president and treasurer of the Manning Vee Ess Sailing Club (now Taree Aquatic Club). He was also president of the Vee Ess Sailing National Association from 1968 to 71. Ted's a life member of the sailing club.

It was through the sailing club that Ted began a lengthy association with what was Taree's marquee event, the Manning River Aquatic Festival. While he served as president, promotions officer and pit controller for the powerboats from 1979 to 1986, it was his role as emcee of the Aquatic Festival Parade on the Saturday morning of the event that he's best remembered.

While the festival had started the previous Wednesday night, the parade was the official launch, and also signalled the start of daytime entertainment, including the sideshows at Queen Elizabeth Park.

"We could have anything up to 10,000 people in Victoria Street for the parade and hundreds of floats,'' Ted smiled.

"We'd set up an official area in Victoria Street, in front of what was then Woolworths.''

Various community and sporting organisations along with business houses would enter floats and the prizes in the categories were much sought after. It was Ted's job to keep the crowd entertained while also giving a running commentary on the floats as they passed the official area. This involved non-stop talk for more than an hour, sometimes longer, often in blistering late January heat.

Ted was never lost for words.

"I always enjoyed that job,'' he laughed.

"But with the aquatic, we always had a great committee and the business community in this town really go behind us. That made it so much easier,'' Ted added.

The festival became the biggest of its kind in the southern hemisphere. Ted admits its demise in the mid-1990s for reasons too lengthy to go into here 'broke my heart.'

Ted was also heavily involved in the Taree Lions Club during the 1980s. He was president, vice president and secretary and also served a term as district zone chairman in 1986.

He served in the army from 1953 to 1958 and these days he's busy with the Taree RSL Sub-Branch. He's been secretary since 2016 and is also a former treasurer.

"I love Taree,'' Ted added.

"The people here are wonderful. And look what we have here the mountains to the beautiful coastal systems. And of course the river, although I really don't think we utilise that enough.''

At nearly 87 Ted admits he's starting to slow down a bit.

"I'm not quite ready for retirement yet, but it's getting close,'' he said.

"But getting an award like this (the OAM) ... I'm just so proud and so grateful to this town.''

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