Milton Bernard

Bernard Milton Seebeck M.B.E., J.P

Bernie Seebeck passed away at the South Eastern Hospital in Dandenong on 20 November 2000. The following is an edited version of the eulogy prepared by the family and read by the Rev Alan Baker at Bernie’s funeral at St James, Dandenong on 24 November.

An honour guard was composed of 20 CFA members of the Rowville, Boronia and Ferntree Gully brigades. The coffin bearers were from the Rowville brigade: Captain Rex Stubbs, Alan Richardson, Mitch Emmett, Geoff Walledge, Charles Ralfe, Trevor Hair; cap bearer was John Egbers.
Bryan Power
EARLY LIFE

Bernie was born at Kerrie near Romsey on 20 September 1907, the son of Gustave and Emily Seebeck. Gustave was a timber worker and Bernie was born in the home of the owner of the sawmill that Gustave was managing at the time.

The family moved to Warburton where the last two of the 11 children (four girls and seven boys) were born. In 1919 the sawmill that Gustave was managing at Lavers Hill was destroyed in a bush fire but the family survived by sheltering in a railway cutting.

The next move was to the city and the family settled in Northcote. While living there Bernie finished his schooling at Collingwood Tech and went on to do an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker. He also completed his compulsory army training in the Light Horse Brigade.

TO SPRINGVALE

In the 1930s Gustave bought land in Springvale and sent Bernie and two of his younger brothers, Lew and Charles, to set up a poultry farming business. They sold the eggs for three pence a dozen.

Bernie had always been a keen sportsman and played football for Oakleigh in the VFA and became the team’s captain. Later he was appointed captain/coach of Springvale Football Club. Bernie was also a very good cricketer and played at sub-district level with Preston and Caulfield.

MARRIED TO AMY

When he was in his late 20s Bernie met his future wife, Amy, at a social function in Dandenong. They were married at St James in 1939 and moved to Rowville in the same year. They renamed their property “Arcadia”, a name that is now preserved in the large reserve between Taylor’s Lane and Turramurra Drive. World War Two broke out shortly after and Bernie was drafted into the Civic Construction Corps and sent to Bairnsdale to work on the construction of air force barracks.

After the war he moved fowl sheds from Springvale to Rowville and established a flock of 2000 hens. Bernie and Amy also developed the Amberly Park Shorthorn Stud and milked cows until the 1960s. (The name Amberly was composed of the first parts of their Christian names plus the names of their two sons, Bernard and Lyall.)

In 1958 Bernie converted the old fowl sheds into a factory where he manufactured fibrous plaster until a fire destroyed the sheds. The operation was then moved to a building on the south bank of Corrhanwarrabul Creek that had been formerly used by George Leeworthy for a sawmill.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Bernie joined with other Rowville residents in the late 1940s in the running of aquatic carnivals at Heany Park to raise money for the maintenance and improvements to the pool and facilities there. As time went on Bernie became more and more involved in community affairs such as the push to have electricity, telephone lines and a water supply brought to Rowville and he was elected to the Shire of Ferntree Gully in 1951. Within five years his energy and shrewd good sense were so well recognised by his fellow councillors that he was elected to the office of Shire President in 1956. This was the year of the Melbourne Olympics and Bernie enjoyed a busy time during the games entertaining many dignitaries who were brought out from the city to visit the Dandenongs.

In 1957 Bernie was appointed as a Justice of the Peace.

Following the severance of the old Ferntree Gully Council into two new councils Bernie was one of the inaugural members of the Knox Shire Council and was elected President in 1965. He saw the huge growth in Knox that turned it from a shire to a city and became its mayor in 1978.

During this period his greatest honour was to be made a Member of the British Empire by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, for his outstanding services to the community.

Bernie finally retired from Council at the age of 76 after 33 years of unbroken service.

Other positions of note held by Bernie were: President of Scoresby Primary School; Foundation President of the Ferntree Gully Community Chest; President of Rowville-Lysterfield Fire Brigade; Foundation President of Rowville Primary School Council, Foundation President of Rowville Football Club (where the ovals are named in his honour and where the players wear the brown and gold of his beloved Hawthorn). It is fitting that the nearby meeting hall is named in honour of Amy who was not only a great support to Bernie in his public duties but also a major contributor to community advancement in her own right. As well, Amy was a recipient of the Knox Civic Award and the Aimee Seebeck Netball Centre is a further tribute to her community involvement.

A MAN OF GREAT DETERMINATION

Few men had Bernie’s strength of character and determination, given that throughout much of this time he suffered constant pain due to osteoarthritis and during the 1950s he could only walk with the aid of two sticks. A double hip replacement only provided temporary relief and in the late 1960s he underwent the same operation again, this time, thankfully, with more success. His newfound mobility gave Bernie a new lease of life and he formed a family partnership with Amy and his sons that saw many business ventures taken on and rewarded with success. In all of this he was acknowledged as the patriarch of the family and was affectionately referred to as “The Boss”. He was a man of vision and strong ideas and could argue persuasively in support of his proposals. Even in his final months of life Bernie was still negotiating business investments.

In recent years Bernie and Amy bought No 1 Ann St in Berwick and they finally left the old farm in Rowville after almost 55 years. The sheds were demolished, a clearing sale held and the old house was relocated to a farm in Greenhill Road, Pakenham.

Bernie is survived by his brothers, Lew and Charles, his sons and daughters-in-law, Bernard and Meredith and Lyall and Sue, and grandchildren, Dean, Fleur and Alema.