Pearcedale resident Henry Mosely, pictured with his late wife Heath, died in September this year.By Bridget Cook
THE Pearcedale community and local dairy industry farewelled one of its longstanding members on Sunday at a special celebration of the life of Henry Mosely.
Mr Mosely was granted his greatest wish towards the end of his life on 19 September this year – ‘to go to bed and wake up dead’ – dying at the age of 94. His body was cremated in Eaton, Western Australia, where he lived for the last six years of his life. A special gathering was catered for by Pearcedale CFA in the Pearcedale Public Hall – near the place he called home for most of his life.
Mr Mosely was an active member of many local community organisations, but was best known for his involvement in the region’s dairy industry. The youngest of four children, Mr Mosely was born in Balham, London, in 1917 during the latter part of World War I. As an infant, the family moved out of the centre of London to a property called Appleyards to avoid the threat of zeppelins.
Mr Mosely’s son, Derek, said his father lived a charming life, living in a big house during the Great Depression, boarding at a private school and gaining his matriculation to Oxford and Cambridge. Being too young to start university straight away, he started working on the London stock exchange, until he decided to go on an adventure to Australia at the age of 17.
He stayed at the Hotel Metropole in Sydney, while looking for a job. In 1937, Mr Mosley married his first wife – Phil Stead and travelle to the UK. While there he attended the Hartford Agricultural College.
He returned to Australia and bought his first farm at Highlands, north of Yea, which he used for mixed crop and pig farming.
He later sold Highlands and moved to Berwick , closer to schooling for his three daughters. In 1951 he bought a small dairy in Harkaway.
He later worked as a groundsman at St Margaret’s to augment the income from his dairy farm to offset the fees and served on the board of governors at the school.
After losing his first wife, Mr Mosely married Heath in 1957 and they started on a bigger dairy farm named Boolaboo in Pearcedale the following year. They had three sons, sadly two pre-deceased them.
Boolaboo continued producing milk until 2000 when Mr Mosely surrendered the remainder of his whole milk contract.
He was more than just a farmer in the dairy industry, having served as the deputy chairman of the Victorian Dairy Industry Authority (VDIA), treasurer of the United Dairy farmers of Victoria and secretary of the West Gippsland District Committee of Victorian Farmers and Graziers Association. Mr Mosely held committee posts in the Victorian Farmers’ Union, which is now the Victorian Farmers Federation, and was involved in rationalising the dairy industry from a protected milk contract to a market-driven base.
Mr Mosley’s contributions included involvement with the development of the winter milk incentive scheme.
Peter Lavery, who was also part of the VDIA, said Mr Mosely would be missed by many.
“His quiet but thoughtful and significant contributions to what were frequently rather stormy debates were of great value,” he said.
“Indeed, Henry was both a gentleman and a gentle man,” he said.
“I think fondly of Henry and his contribution to the dairy industry.”
On moving to Pearcedale, Mr Mosely joined the Pearcedale CFA and was an active member for many years and was made a life member in 1989.
He received a certificate of Appreciation on 2001 in recognition of voluntary service to the community for his work as a volunteer treasurer on a number of organisations and with the CFA.
Derek said he would remember his father in a number of ways.
“We remember Dad as a man who surrounded himself with talkers, but if there was ever a gap in conversation, he could be a talker too,” he said.
“Even more so, he loved language and continued to use words to the fullest in his writing and yarns.”
“In our modern lives Henry inspired in all who were around him, to be inquisitive and to seek knowledge of how things worked, and to be able to tell others,” he said.
Mr Mosely leaves behind four children, Sal, Lu, Jo and Derek, eleven grandchildren Steven, Craig, Lynn, Russell, Mark, Tony, Tim, Justine, Pip, Geraldine, Grace, many great grandchildren and one great great grandchild.
