DAMIAN Jones was born in Melbourne but spent some early years in Glenelg Shire’s historic rural town of Casterton in the far southwestern region of Victoria. His dad was a veterinarian there before the family settled in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton. He moved to Beechworth last March after meeting and falling in love with a local girl.
What do you do workwise?
I work in sales for Red Energy owned by Snowy Hydro. It’s great to work remotely for an Australian-owned and operated company.
What brought you to your role/career?
I believe having an Irish ancestry gift of the gab makes it easy for me to relate to people which is 90 per cent of the role. I am looking at a major career change into secondary education though. You are never too old to reinvent yourself.
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What do you love about your work?
I love having a chat with people because everyone has a great tale to tell.
What do you do in the community?
I’m training to be a CFA firefighter in the Beechworth Fire Brigade as I believe it’s a great organisation where you can directly be of service to your community.
This year I’m also running the rural games at Spring Ditch being held at the Stanley Sports Ground on March 2 where we will have local teams competing for bragging rights. Teams will be competing in four old traditional throwing events - standing stone throw, standing heavy weight for distance, weight over the bar and steinstossen (Swiss variant of stone put - throwing a heavy stone overhead for the longest distance) to see who is the region’s champion. This will be a great event and if it goes well, I may look at organising a family fun highland gathering in our region. It’s time to bring the pipes, the dancers and the heavy games athletes to the High Country!
With my love of the Highland Games and competing when I get the chance, I hope to get to the Braemar Gathering in Scotland later this year.
Is there an important community issue that you think needs addressing?
It would be nice to see the local council provide transport for the community members who don’t have access to getting around for their daily tasks and needs.
Also, it would be nice to have Spring Creek bridge repaired at the Gorge. This is an incredible asset to our town that can’t be utilised right now until Parks Victoria start rectification works.
What do you see as one of the most important current world issues?
The war in Gaza. The number of innocent lives being lost is vile.
If the person you would most like to meet came to Indigo Shire (past or present), or was already here, who would that be, what would you show them, and why?
One of Liverpool Football Club’s former and greatest soccer players and captain, as well as a captain for England, Steven Gerrard. I’d take him to the Gorge for some cold-water therapy. I think he would enjoy that having been a professional athlete.
What book are you reading?
‘Si Senor - My Liverpool Years’ by Roberto (Bobby) Firmino. It’s a revelatory memoir from the Liverpool legend and global football star.
