In 2007, Graeme was one of the cohort that founded the Booktown Festival. For the next 15 years he continued to do all he could to ensure its continuing success. At the 2022 Festival, he was still out there, part of the crew erecting the marquees that filled his beloved Fraser St. This year, as the designated Festival Ambassador, he roamed the Festival precinct enquiring as to the welfare of all he encountered. He declared it the best Festival yet.
Graeme’s contributions to the Clunes community extend far beyond his pivotal role in establishing and developing the Booktown Festival. There’s probably not a community initiative over the past twenty years that Graeme did not play a significant part. But at the foundation of the spectacular results of his indefatigable efforts was the man himself: always good for a yarn, generous, curious, open-hearted, welcoming, stubborn, as gently demanding of others as he was of himself. The sort of person every community needs.
May those that love him know that those that benefited from his efforts will honour and respect his legacy and cherish their memories of his time with us.
