Paul Rowe had established himself as a solid player for North Melbourne in the then VFL competition, so his arrival at Girgarre Primary School was accompanied by a fair bit of chatter about his sporting career.
I met Paul in Year 3 of the Girgarre school, in about 1967, when I took an interest in creative writing.
In those days, I was a regular reader with a preference for science fiction and home-spun tales. My farming father, who left school at a young age, had the idea that reading was good for you. He encouraged me to take an interest in books, to the point where he would borrow books on my behalf from the mobile library if I didn’t bother to bring one home.
I started writing on scraps of paper I found at home, concocting fanciful stories that only a naive, socially isolated rural boy could invent.
Paul noticed my paucity of writing material and suggested I buy a book to record my stories. He gave me permission for a special excursion to the town’s general store (now only a distant memory for the village).
I can still remember marching into town, full of self-importance, to purchase the green-covered exercise book that would become my personal treasure.
Over the next year, Paul encouraged me to write as many stories as possible — reading them out to the class when I had finished.
Years later, I was reading a management book that outlined differing leadership styles, and there was the coach: cheering from the sidelines, exhorting to achieve the next level, urging to go harder.
Paul encouraged my aspirations, which eventually set me on a path to a full-time career in journalism. No, I haven’t written a best-seller, won a Walkley Award, or achieved national fame, but I have enjoyed a fulfilling working life, telling stories about the people of the Goulburn Valley.
I still have the book, Paul.
Paul Rowe
01/07/1941 - 11/12/2023
15°C