Stuart Williams and Stephen Harvie looked quite at home behind the barbecue on the grounds of the Kyvalley community park and pool on Australia Day last week.
It was a far cry from the 1970s and 80s when the pair were students at the tiny community’s now closed primary school.
Stuart is one of four children who were brought up just down the road by Kyvalley stalwarts Neil and Bev Williams.
Steve is one of four Harvie brothers who belong to Isobel and Keith Harvie, who also share a rich history with the district.
Stuart and Steve were on sausage, hamburger and onion duties last Wednesday as the tiny community hosted several Campaspe shire dignitaries.
The Kyvalley school was closed in 1992 and the former Deakin Shire Council purchased the site from the Education Department for $36,500 and gifted it to the community to operate.
Both Stuart and Steve play significant roles in the operation of the park, as do members of their immediate family.
Stuart has three sisters, Julie and Donna, who still reside in the area, and Debbie, who despite living in Melbourne, remains on the park committee.
Steve’s brothers are Mitchell, Clinton and Stacey.
Along with the Moody family, who had eight children belonging to Joan and Bill Moody, they represented a strong portion of the school population.
“We both went to school here,” Stephen said.
“When I was here there were only 34 kids, through the late 1970s-early 1980s, but when Stuart was here it grew to 60 kids.”
Stephen rides his bike to the park every day, having relocated to help on the home front with his parents after working interstate for many years.
“I ride my push bike every day at 6am. I do some chores around the place,” he said.
“I just moved back from Queensland.”
Stuart runs the Kyvalley pool and is vice president of the park committee.
“We have seven or eight on the group,” he said.
“People buy a membership to the pool and they are given their own key to swim during daylight hours for the season.
“We run the pool by ourselves, we fund-raise at various times by putting acts on at the hall, running fashion events and other things.
“We cover the cost of its operation. We took it over 10 or 12 years ago.”
The group is in the process of building a cricket pitch and nets at the park.
The pool was paid for by the community through the carting of square hay bales and was opened in 1982, the first Victorian state school to have its own park.
"I helped to build the pool and didn’t get to swim it until this year,“ Stuart said.
Steve said he saw the ‘volunteers always welcome’ sign and approached Debbie Williams (Stuart’s sister) about assisting.
"I do an hour or so every day here,“ he said.
Kyvalley Tennis Club is just about to become an incorporated body, with Melissa Williams leading the development of the facility.
"As long as you have people prepared to chip in, a community will continue to exist,“ she said.
“I am the treasurer of the tennis club, we have six synthetic grass courts and we have just refurbished the last two.”
Melissa, and the current tennis club committee, took over eight years ago, with the club having been in recess for eight years.
“At that time there was two synthetic grass,” she said.
“We received some Pick my Project funding for two courts and then received support from the Bendigo Bank and Kyabram Club to fix up another two.”
There are two senior teams and six junior teams now, along with two midweek teams.
Kyvalley is alive and strong.