By Jeremy Cook
Beloved volunteer William “Bill” Humble spent 26 years as Stanthorpe’s town crier and an even longer time putting out bushfires.
This Australia Day, Mr Humble joined a long but revered list of Australians honoured for services to their community with his name included among the almost 1200 recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
He is one of two Stanthorpe residents named in the 2024 Australia Day King’s Honour list, joining environmental advocate Elizabeth Bourne.
Not one to brag about his achievements, Mr Humble said he was shocked to receive a letter from Canberra informing him of the honour.
“I sort of sat here and shivered I suppose,” he said.
“I thought, why me?”
Arriving from the UK in the 1960s, Mr Humble has occupied countless volunteer roles in community organisations within Stanthorpe.
Many might know him from the annual Carols by Candlelight where, cladded head to toe in red and white, he has acted as Santa Claus each December since the 1970s.
While others might recognise him as Stanthorpe’s former town crier, a role he occupied for a little more than a quarter of a century up until 2010.
Other roles have included chamber of commerce president, chief steward of the Annual Australian Small Wine Makers Show, honorary member of Stanthope and Granite Belt Rotary Clubs, and foundation member of the Sugarloaf Rural Fire Brigade among others.
Mr Humble was also awarded Stanthorpe Citizen of the Year by the Southern Downs Regional Council in 2012 as well as a QFES Medal for Diligent and Ethical Service in 2016.
When asked what draws him to his volunteer work, Mr Humble said it was a way of saying thank you.
“I think particularly for people that work hard all day, and then to volunteer is for relaxation,” he said.
“When I have my own business… when people are kind enough to use your service it’s lovely to put something back into the community as a way of saying thank you to the community for giving me a job in the first place.”
Having personally invested so much into his community over the years, Mr Humble had nothing but praise for Stanthorpe.
“It’s a vibrant, loving community,” he said.
“Everybody’s willing to help everybody else.”
Though no longer a volunteer for the rural fire brigade, citing his age as a contributing factor, he recalled just how much he missed donning the yellow uniform.
“Before the brigades were formed here back in the 60s, whenever there was a fire we used to meet at the O’Mara’s pub or in a convenient location with our utes and our shovels.
“I signed up to Sugarloaf in October 2002. I became an official firie then [and] I got a uniform. We never had the PPE back in the old days.
“The pleasure is helping people and feeling that comradery which money can’t buy.
“Working with your mate, shoulder to shoulder … it’s a wonderful feeling.”
