WHEN you are looking for a man in the know the name Geoff Goodfellow quickly springs to mind.
Born and raised in the Southern Highlands 59-year-old Mr Goodfellow has a firm grasp of life and events in the shire.
And it is no surprise considering he has spent the past 40 years working at the centre point of the Highlands community at Wingecarribee Council.
It is a role he recently retired, with plans to now spread his wings and travel the world with his wife Barbara.
However, he will continue to share his local knowledge, witty anecdotes and maybe even a few tales from his travels in his weekly Southern Highland News column, Across the River with Geoff Goodfellow.
The column, introduced to the paper about 18 months, has attracted a huge and loyal following for Mr Goodfellow, who is a wealth of wisdom and fun.
These qualities also come to the fore almost from the minute you sit down for a chat with this easy-going character whose self-description is “I like the simple things in life - a stroll in the bush is good enough for me”.
“Sometimes I think people expect too much from life,” he said.
“Life is out there to be enjoyed and that is why I have retired at a relatively young age.
“We plan to travel while we are still fit.”
While Mr Goodfellow is certain to revel in his retirement adventures, it is clear this man takes on everything he does with an enthusiastic and energetic approach that endears him to many.
“I grew up on the family sheep grazing property out along the Wombeyan Caves Road in those wild hills past the Bullio tunnel,” he said.
“I attended Mittagong Public School and then went to boarding school at Hurlstone before returning home to work on the family farm.
“However, I soon discovered I was not compatible with merino wethers and serrated tussock so I moved into local government with Wingecarribee Council.
“My father encouraged me to go to council and I’ve been there ever since.”
Mr Goodfellow said he gained a greater understanding of the Southern Highlands and its many qualities through various positions at the council including “a couple of stints” as acting environment and planning director and acting director of operations.
He also spent time as council’s customer service manager before taking on his most recent role as media manager.
“I was a bit of buffer between council and the community,” he said.
“I found the greater bulk of people, both in the community and in council are good - there really are only a handful of problem people.
“I have certainly worked with some remarkable people over the years.
“I think the councillors and the mayors I have worked with have all fundamentally got the interest of the Highlands at heart.
“They all come in with different strengths and passions, but they have all clearly come into the job for the betterment of the community - I have never seen a chink in that especially as far as the mayors have been concerned.”
A keen sportsman who has represented the Highlands at cricket, hockey and volleyball - and was involved in the Mittagong Rugby League Club as well as playing basketball, tennis and golf - jokes that he developed his work ethic through sport.
“I was in the first few weeks of working at Council when I was picked in a hockey team to play against a touring West Australian team,” he said.
“I asked my boss how I could get the time off and he suggested I take a sickie, so I did.
“I made the mistake of scoring a goal for my team and so my picture was put in the newspaper which clearly showed I wasn’t sick.
“I developed a pretty strong work ethic after that and have only had about 12 sickies since.”
Mr Goodfellow has stepped away from Council with a sense of achievement and contentment.
“There have been a lot of challenges over the years and one of the biggest challenges that comes to mind was time spent converting technical speak into plain language so the general public could understand,” he said.
“I also spent time working on changes to the way the rating structure worked in local government - I spent about 18 months working in conjunction with the Local Government Department on rating reform and also created a working text on the administration of farmland rating.”
Mr Goodfellow said one of the best things he experienced in his work was the “change of philosophy” to look after the environment.
“There was a real turnaround in 2000 when Wingecarribee Council became one of the first to include an environment levy on rates,” he said.
“The levy has since provided funding for Council’s environment works program.
“Other councils have tried this but failed, but the local community jumped on board with the concept.”
Mr Goodfellow has now moved into retirement with the same enthusiasm he showed during his working career.
He was only a few days into retirement when he took off on a three-week trip to China and plans are underway for a Russian and Arctic Circle adventure later in the year, which will continue through the Baltic States of Poland and into Germany.
But while he looks to take part in several overseas trips he said he still considered the Southern Highlands a “great place to live and work and a fantastic place to raise kids”.
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