Members of the Gundaroo Bushfire Brigade and other volunteers paid tribute to their friend and colleague Peter Dyce at his funeral on 14 May. Photo: Gundaroo Gazette.
Peter Leslie Dyce, 83, wasn’t the sort of man who liked fuss or bother.
Patriarch of the Dyce family of Gundaroo, the father, grandfather, great grandfather, farmer and firefighter came from the old school, where you worked hard – be it for your family, your livelihood and your community.
So when around 400 people attended his funeral service at the Gundaroo cemetery on 14 May, he would have been a bit overwhelmed, according to his granddaughter Emma Woodland.
“He would have hated being the centre of attention,” Emma said, “but I’m sure he would have appreciated the way we sent him off.”
Rural Fire Service volunteers set out 200 chairs at the cemetery, but they were quickly filled and it became standing room only.
In between speeches from family and friends, some of Peter’s favourite music was played, ranging from Slim Dusty’s Leave Him in the Long Yard to John Lennon’s Imagine and Frank Sinatra’s My Way.
As a special tribute to the life-long sheep farmer, known to his family as Pop, a fleece from one of his sheep was placed on the casket.
“They were shearing on the farm in the week that he passed,” Emma said, “so instead of flowers, we put the fleece there. He would have liked that.”
Peter Dyce was named Yass Valley’s Citizen of the Year in the 2019 Australia Day honours. Photo: File.
Gundaroo was the fitting site for Peter Dyce’s farewell, a village he had spent most of his life living and working in. Many years ago, when the local school was threatened with closure because it didn’t have enough children enrolled, Peter set up a bus service to collect children from outlying farms so they could attend school and avert its closure. In the 1990s, when Matt Crowe’s Wine Bar went on the market, he joined a local syndicate to buy the iconic pub. As one of the speakers said at the service, he was part of “saving the local pub”.
In the eulogy delivered by four of his grandchildren, Emma, Kate, Matthew and Rebecca, Matthew paid special tribute to his grandfather’s farming skills – and a bet that they had going for most of their lives.
“Pop and I always fought about which breed of sheep we should run on the farm,” Matthew said. “He wanted more crossbreds and I wanted merinos, an argument that he was never going to let slide even up to his last days.
“What Pop didn’t know is that his crossbred wool was entered in the Sydney Royal Easter Show competition this year and we found out last week that he won first in his division.
“I am sure this is Pop letting me know for one last time that crossbreds really are better than merinos and honestly we wouldn’t expect Pop to have the final say any other way.”
Born in Canberra on 30 July 1942, Peter Dyce went to the Gundaroo school and on to Yass High. But after the death of his mother, he took a leave of absence from the school, planning to return – but he never did.
It was to be the start of his working life on the family sheep farm, Tillygrieg, on the Sutton Road just out of Gundaroo.
When he married Maureen in 1964, the couple moved into the old bakehouse on the main street of Gundaroo and had three children, Narelle (deceased), Lesley and Kim. In the early 70s, the family built a second house on Tillygreig and moved back there.
A fleece from one of Peter Dyce’s prize flock was placed on the coffin at the funeral. Photo: Gundaroo Gazette.
Tragedy struck in 1995 when Maureen died but Peter was to find love again the following year when he married Donnita and the couple had 27 years together.
Despite his passion for the land, it was his lifelong role as a rural bushfire fighter that he was best known.
After joining the Gundaroo Bushfire Brigade in 1958, he served as captain from 1972 to 1996 when he became Fire Control Officer of the Gunning Shire. In 2001, he became the Community Safety Officer for the Southern Tablelands Zone, a role he held until his retirement in 2016.
Those who knew him weren’t convinced that the concept of retirement would stick – and they were right. He rejoined the Gundaroo brigade later that year and found himself manning the hoses on the back of the truck again. For his efforts, he was named Gundaroo’s first life member in 2017. Two years later he was named the Yass Valley’s Australia Day Citizen of the Year for his services to the community.
Peter Dyce is survived by his two daughters, 10 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.
