Max Burnside may humbly downplay his contributions but is a worthy recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia.
“I am honoured but I honestly don't think I deserve it, there are so many other people involved in things,” Mr Burnside said.
“There's not much to it, I'm just an ordinary bloke.”
Born in Nathalia in 1932, he has called Euroa home since 1935, he got his licence at 17 because of the manpower shortage after World War II, leading to a long career as truck driver while raising six children with his late wife Maureen Cummins.
But it was later in life that Mr Burnside found his true passion.
“I'm very very keen on history, I love history,” he said.
“The longer you live the more you're involved in history, it just sort of wraps itself around you.
“I think it's very important, extremely so, just so the next generation will know what went on.”
Mr Burnside was a foundation member of Euroa Historical Society and has a long legacy with the Euroa Cemetery, as a committee member, chair of the Cemetery Trust, caretaker and volunteer.
He helped revive the cemetery from a jungle of rubbish, weeds and blackberries and said he was proud to see what it had become today.
“The cemetery is a big history book and that's why I liked it,” Mr Burnside said.
“I absolutely loved locating unmarked graves for people. It's a good feeling to be able to do that.
“I think there was two different families from England I helped find their relatives, which in turn led them to find an extended family in Australia that they knew nothing about.”
Mr Burnside has uncovered much history from the cemetery.
“There was a grave, no-one knew much about it, it was just a Celtic cross stranding there and a chap came one day looking for his grandfather Dr John Pearson Rowe, and it turned out it was that particular grave,” he said.
“Dr John Pearson Rowe owned Seven Creeks Estate at one time, had big land holdings in Mansfield, shifted over to Terricks South, built an inn where the miners were crossing the Campaspe River, and he called it Rose Inn and it became Chester Rose, that is now Rochester.
“Another one that came to light was a grave of Marshall Cann, a farmer bloke from Strathbogie who ended up introducing to the world — or definitely the Commonwealth — the method we have today for fast walking.
“He was a competitive man, he won many many races and he has a big belt in the museum in the Melbourne Cricket Ground that he won as the Australian champion.”
Having written verses on Australiana, Mr Burnside is also an award-winning poet.“It's another way of telling a story,” he said.
“I did write a little poetry book but it was pretty ordinary.”
Australian icon Slim Dusty did not agree.
“My son had a hot bread shop at the time and Slim was in there having a coffee and I had some of my poetry on the wall,” Mr Burnside said.
“One of the girls rang and said Slim wanted to talk to me, there were two poems he liked and asked could he put them into song and publish them.
“I said ‘I don't want to be paid, I'd be absolutely honored'.“Unfortunately, I received a letter from his wife some time later to say that Slim had passed away and the stuff had never been used.
“It would have been the icing on the cake, really.”Now 88 years old, Mr Burnside said his memory was not what it used to be — but it is clear his passion for Euroa's rich history will never falter.
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