Jean Beamish: Budgeree community’s most reliable lady
For the past three decades, Jean Beamish has been as dependable as a rock, cooking at every community and footy club event in the Gippsland town of Budgeree.
EVERYONE in the Gippsland community of Budgeree can rely on two constants.
The first is the 109-year-old Budgeree Hall. Built in 1910, the former Mechanics Institute hall is the heart of the farming community, hosting everything from concerts to weddings.
The second is Jean Beamish.
Jean and her husband, John, moved to Budgeree more than 30 years ago. For the past three decades, she has been as dependable as a rock, cooking at every community and footy club event. More recently, she stepped into the role of Budgeree Hall committee president, and is determined the hall will be standing in another 100 years’ time.
“We always went up (to the hall) with our kids and supported everything,” Jean says. “Any time it needed cooking, I would do the cooking.”
Without the hall, she says Budgeree would be left with “a big hole, with everything missing”.
Budgeree Hall committee member Leanne Potter says Jean “completely immerses herself in every aspect of the community”.
The committee has recently refurbished the hall and is attracting weddings and musical events, including a Matthew Fagan concert scheduled for next month, to help boost the local economy, particularly after the closure of nearby Hazelwood Power Station.
“They brought in tradies, removed walls, and Jean was hands on in all regards,” Leanne says. “She has been here 30 years, grew up in the Strzelecki Ranges with no access to education, so everything she knows her father and mother taught her.”
Jean’s neighbour, Amanda Rhodes, leads the choir that performs in the hall and says Jean is the workhorse who brings everyone together.
“I feel safe knowing that she is there,” Amber says, recalling a time Jean came out in the middle of the night to help her with a ewe struggling during lambing.
“She is very aware of how important it is that these things (events) happen,” Amber says. “Someone has to do it. We need to keep them going because it is what brings us together.”
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Jean doesn’t think her contribution is anything out of the ordinary — 100 full bellies is just a day’s work done.
“When the footy club has something on, I stick to the scones and quiches. I grew up and cooked on a wood fire with my mum. My husband eats everything and anything, so he was a good one to learn on,” she says.
“I’m up there at the hall, involved in the events and it’s good fun. You need a committee to keep it going.”
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