Indigo Interview: A love of history

Mervyn Rea was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. He left there in the early 1990s, working and living in England. “I emigrated to Australia with my family in 2003 and have lived in Chiltern since 2021,” he said. What do you do workwise? I’ve always worked in the commercial insurance industry. I worked for the same company for 40 years (Zurich) which gave me many opportunities internationally, before stepping down to a part-time role for another company. I am currently head of the Risk Engineering team at Howden Insurance Brokers. We evaluate operational risk from both insurance and non-insurance perspectives. I specialise in commercial properties, logistics sector, mining and railways. What led you to your role/career? I went to university to study sound engineering but it wasn’t for me, so took on a graduate role as an underwriter in insurance, quite by accident! What do you love about your work? Helping businesses navigate and avoid risks, and better still, managing risks to create opportunities. I get great satisfaction when clients become more resilient, and avoid anything that could negatively impact their business success. What do you do in the community? I’m president of the Chiltern Tourism & Development committee, and love to help organise events locally, and to encourage more visitors to come to Chiltern and therefore help local businesses prosper. I also volunteer with the National Trust as a guide at Lake View House and Dow’s Pharmacy. I love history and unlocking the many amazing stories that are concealed in the past, sharing them with visitors. If we know more about our past, we can prepare for our future. Is there an important community issue that you think needs addressing? Economic stresses at a global level trickle down and really impact local business, people and communities. Our local communities need to band together, be more tolerant and more resilient. What would you do to solve change or improve that situation? I think our politicians need to be more accountable, and so I’d introduce performance-based pay initiatives, key performance indicators, objectives, incentives and targets. What do you see as one of the most important current world issues? There is a real lack of tolerance today. We all need to be more accepting, friendly, and respectful. We also need to improve standards and quality. If people you would most like to meet came to Indigo Shire (past or present), or were already here, who would they be, what would you show them, and why? From the past, David James McEwen. He was Chiltern’s pharmacist 120 years ago, and had a tragic life. He came from Northern Ireland, like me. I’d like him to see Chiltern today, how it has changed, and how his legacy still remains, and also to discover how his son, John, became a prominent politician and statesman for Australia. In particular, I’d take him to see Dow’s Pharmacy – frozen in time in 1968, and also to the Athenaeum, where there are many artefacts of his, and of his son’s. I’d also love to bring my parents to see Chiltern. They are too old to travel, but I’d like them to compare and contrast a beautiful community like ours, with their own. They’d appreciate the agricultural environment, as well as the history. What book are you reading? The diaries of Henry Handel Richardson, and some of her novels, to increase my knowledge of her work, and her time when she lived at Lake View House in Chiltern. After penning my first book ‘The Chiltern Chemist,’ I am also researching for the subject of my second book.

Indigo Interview: A love of history

Indigo Interview: Volunteering a way of giving back

Indigo Interview: A love of being creative

Indigo Interview: A rewarding career in education

North East local to represent Australia in Canicross World Championships

Indigo Interview: A rewarding career in education

Police target speeding on high-risk local roads

Vital conversations around dementia needed

State-of-the-art learning facilities officially opened

Green Street to become more user friendly

Most popular stories