Pete Batterham was born 25th June 1949, grew up in Murrumbeena. He went to Hughesdale Primary School and then Murrumbeena High School. He married Sue in 1970. Their daughter Fiona lives at Rawson with a menagerie. Son David lives in Rowville. Pete and Sue have their granddaughter Hanna who is 3 every Wednesday.
Pete started work with the Taxation Office starting as a cashier and working his way up to supervisor. A Promotion to the Central Office of Labour and Employment came with evaluating office procedures and equipment including the first computers. This started in Melbourne and then transferred to Canberra. All moving was paid for and very generous home loans courtesy of the government.
A move to the Royal Australian Mint beckoned even after a slightly embarrassing interview. Pete was the Director of General Services. The most interesting department was numismatics which is coin collecting. He sold his car and rode the bike 12 km to and from work every day.
Pete then became a HR manager at SECV in the Latrobe Valley and moved to Traralgon. He was involved with the restructuring and privatisation of the SEC during the 1990’s. He negotiated employment agreements and dealt with the tough unions.
He oversaw more restructuring and took a package when he was 54 and retired.
Pete then wrote HR manuals for the not for profit sector. Pete also set up training for power engineering students on scholarships. Recently he worked with a NFP organisation for people with disabilities, which has now been merged with the NDIS.
In April 2013 he had a stroke while doing Rotary work and has made a good recovery. He lost 35kg in weight over 6 months. Following this they decided to move to Berwick to be near services and their son.
Pete joined Rotary in 1993 and has many positions including President. He hopes to continue this with Berwick.
Shuey gave the vote of thanks as he discovered they both knew the same people.
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