When a committee of forward-thinking Kyabram citizens was formed to establish what is now Warramunda Village, George “Basil’’ Coleman was in his 30s and was about as far removed from the community-minded activity of his mother-in-law as you could imagine.
The mother of his bride was Grace Beach (born Grace Pierre-Humbers), who had a place on the first Warramunda committee and later became a resident of the village.
Her daughter and Basil’s wife, Betty, was also a resident until she passed away in 2019. She and her husband lived for 12 years in a unit at the expansive central Kyabram facility before she died at 91.
Fast forward 60 years from the formation of the original Warramunda committee and a 94-year-old Basil was one of the residents toasted at Warramunda Village’s 60th birthday celebrations.
Basil hosted his daughter Kay and her husband Bob Peterson from Melbourne, son Geoff and his wife Barbara, who live in Hervey Bay, and two further generations — grandson Wayne Peterson and his wife, Kim, along with great-grandaughter Tennille Peterson — at the barbecue.
“We try and get up monthly,” Kay said.
“Our grandmother was a big part of the first committee.”
Both the Coleman children were born in Kyabram, Geoff proudly explaining how driving past the modern-day Kyabram Club (site of the former Kyabram Hospital) reminded him of his origins.
The 60th birthday was the first time all four generations had been together for some time.