A MAN who helped keep one of the city's most significant piece of firefighting history in Bendigo has been remembered for his dedication to the community.
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Family and friends farewelled George Ellis on Friday, after he died at 90-years-of-age.
His son Alan remembered him as a highly principled, hardworking man with a strong sense of community, whose proudest achievements included his role helping to keep the CFA's historic horse-drawn Shand Mason ladder in Bendigo.
The early firefighting appliance was the city's most significant piece of fire history and had been destined for a Melbourne museum, Alan said. Instead, it found a home with the Central Victorian Fire Preservation Society.
His other great achievement was the part he played in helping restore the Victoria Hill mining reserve, where he later volunteered, Alan said.
"His knowledge on both this history as well as the geology of the site became quite renowned with both overseas and interstate visitors seeking him out for guided tours, which he did often and for no reward other than simply for the enjoyment in brought him," Alan said.
The former Bendigo South Rotary Club president did not miss one meeting in over 29 years and sat on numerous other boards and committees.
He also served with the Bendigo Fire Brigade for more than 70 years, writing two books on its history.
Alan said his father had a pride in where he came from and wrote books on the history of Victoria Hill, St Just's Point and Long Gully, the suburb he lived in.
"Dad explained to me once that the reason he wrote about Long Gully was that it was always a working class suburb, mainly full of Cornish miners who came out and did most of the grunt work underground," Alan said.
"Whilst they were responsible for most of Bendigo's wealth, they were just poor working class people who had a red hot go.
"They were honest people. And out of that a lot of good people who rose to fame. He was very disappointed with the image that Long Gully had come to have."
George's efforts to preserve Cornish history in town led to him being made a Bard of Cornwall in 1995, with the name Map Bendygo, meaning "son of Bendigo", Alan said.
He received the Centenary Medal in 2001 for contributing to Australia's first 100 years.
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Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
