Dick Dashwood keeping busy at 94

A WELL-known face in Yea, Dick Dashwood is 94 years old, and he’s certainly packed a lot into his busy life. At the time we spoke, he was about to have a carpel tunnel operation and other medical checks, but all in all, he’s in good order.

Dick’s son Rob came to Yea at around Christmas in 1983, having been moved to the State Bank in Yea as the accountant. Dick and his wife Pam decided to make the move to Yea about six months later.

Rob explained, “Probably about six months later, I was looking at land out at Junction Hill that was in a couple of titles, but they wanted to sell everything. It was 300 acres in three titles, and I couldn’t afford all of it, so I talked to Mum and Dad about it and they said, well, we’ll buy the other two blocks of land and I bought one. So that’s how we came here. Of course, I moved on in the bank and Mum and Dad have stayed here since then, so that ever since.”

At the time, Dick had sold in Mitcham and they decided to build at Junction Hill, and he’s stayed in the area ever since.

Dick said, “I used to odd job around the town. When I was with them, I was doing country houses. That kept me working. It was good money and I used to get them done quick and come home for three or four days and go and do another one.” The work was carpentry and building.

Dick and Pam bought a property in the Yea township in 1990, initially as a rental property. After two good sets of tenants, he unfortunately encountered a bad one. After extensive repairs and renovations, Dick and Pam decided to…