Karl’s community impact
• Karl Beattie at his Springfield home.
By Daisy Baker
May 06, 2020
Springfield's Karl Beattie spent most of his working life farming, growing potatoes, onions and fat lambs.
He was born into a farming family at Jetsonville, and together with his brother Peter they followed in their father’s footsteps.
Mr Beattie moved to Springfield when he married his wife Nola in 1961.
They still live in the same house some 59 years later, but the majority of the farm has now been sold off, leaving a more manageable 10 acres.
Together with Peter, Mr Beattie grew around 500 tonnes of both potatoes and onions each year.
He said harvesting in those days was a different game entirely.
“There was no harvesting like today. They were all manually picked up in bins and delivered to the factory. It was labour-heavy,” he recalled.
“When you were picking up you’d have probably half a dozen people helping you.”
Mr Beattie, like many other local farmers grew onions for the dehydration factory in Scottsdale.
During the 70s and 80s the factory stopped processing due to a change in imports, at which point the Beatties began growing for the local market exporting to Melbourne.
Mr Beattie said the market for fat lambs also went up and down.
“If you were getting $40 for a lamb you were going well in those days,” he chuckled.
Mr Beattie is perhaps best known throughout the region for his tireless work in community groups and his contribution to council which spanned several decades.
He first joined Scottsdale Council in 1980 and retired as a Dorset Councilor in 1999, during which time he served as the Warden (Mayor) from 1986 to 1990.
Over these years he saw Scottsdale and Ringarooma Councils amalgamate, and significant projects delivered throughout the region including the construction of the tennis courts and the sports stadium.
“We straightened up the roads quite well, improved reserves and assisted with a lot of things through the community,” Mr Beattie said.
“The tennis club with help of Council built the tennis courts. We had a strong competition here with around six or eight teams which was very competitive, but it faded over time. It’s coming back a bit now.”
While his three daughters were at school, Mr Beattie was an active member of the Parents and Friends Association and while he was on Council he also had a position on the school farm board.
“That was when the education department wanted to close the farm down,” he said.
“With the school we said we didn’t want it to be sold, so decided we would manage it. We ran the farm for a number of years so it stayed in district.
“We established the 40-acre plantation that they’ve still got and from the first harvest of that we built the tennis courts at the high school. That was probably during the 70s. They’re gone now.”
In his youth Mr Beattie was a member of Apex and in later life he joined the Scottsdale Rotary Club which he has been a member of for 40 years.
During this time he was contributed to many projects throughout the community, including planting Scottsdale’s rhododendron drive.
Mr Beattie is also a keen sportsman and clocked an impressive 200 games on the field when playing for Scottsdale Football Club.
“I started playing football in 1956 and played until I was 30,” he said.
“In those day only there were only 15 games in a season so if you had a couple of injuries, you didn’t get many games in a season.”
Mr Beattie played under coaches: Brian Donohue, Graham Gahan and Bob Wilson.
He won three premierships with the club and was named best and fairest three times while playing in the seniors.
The first of the premierships was in 1964, which was a day Mr Beattie will never forget.
“That day there was a huge crowd a York Park. It certainly was a good feeling to get a win,” he recalled.
“When we came home from Launceston, it was a stream of cars and we congregated where Rex Lethborg’s shop is and it was choc a block with people.”
Mr Beattie said in those days the NTFA was a very strong competition, with games played in the north and south.
“There used to be quite good crowds all the time. It was the strong community support and that was what got us through,” he said.
These days, Mr Beattie bides his time pottering in the garden, which he and Mrs Beattie have established in their 59 years living at their Springfield home.