AFTER a dedicated career in the timber industry, Glyn Patrick ‘Pat’ Lamb was posthumously named a ‘Timber Legend’ last Friday.
The presentation was made to Mr Lamb’s family at Mount Gambier’s Barn Palais during the Green Triangle Timber Industry Awards night.
The ‘Timber Legend’ award recognised the dedication of Mr Lamb to the industry with an emotional video presented to more than 450 attendees.
Speaking with The Border Watch, Mr Lamb’s son, Peter said while the video was playing the entire venue was silent and there was not a dry eye in the audience.
“When the video was shown, you could hear a pin drop,” Mr Lamb said.
“I had seen the video many times before Friday night but it still brought tears to my eyes and it was the first time my sisters had seen it and they also had tears in their eyes.”
Accepting the award with his family in honour of his father, Mr Lamb said it was a proud moment, stating it allowed himself and his two sisters a perfect send off for their father who died on February 6 this year at the age of 77 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
“We are extremely proud of what our father sacrificed in his life,” Mr Lamb said.
“He was a married young man with a young daughter and he realised working was what he had to do and he just went off and did it.
“When we found out he received the award, we were very proud because he retired in 1997 and a year later was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease so there was a lot of emotions involved in regards to that.”
Mr Lamb said for his father to be recognised within the industry and by his peers was an incredible moment.
“I still don’t think people fully understand exactly what our father did in regards to work because it is monumental,” he said.
“He had some amazing sayings, he stood by them and people knew they could turn to him when things were bad.
“All us children and our mother are ecstatic he has been recognised through the award and we are all so proud of him because he sacrificed everything to do what he needed to do.”
Mr Lamb said he was also impressed with the awards night, stating it was fantastic for the industry to celebrate its workers on all tiers.
“To bring the forestry industry together and celebrate the workers for their hard work and dedication is fantastic,” he said.
“It was held in recognition of what an amazing industry it is and to have an awards ceremony that recognises this hard work and dedication is fantastic.”
Pat ‘Rusty’ Lamb began his forestry career in 1962 at Penola Timbers (a subsidiary of the Kauri Timber Company) which was later taken over in 1963 by Softwood Holdings and Mr Lamb became involved in the day to day operations at the company’s Lakeside Mill.
His talents as a people’s person were soon identified and at the age of just 20 he became part of a three man management team at the Kalangadoo mill, before returning to Lakeside where he became mill manager and looked after both the Dartmoor and Mount Gambier mills.
By 1982 he had been appointed as Group Marketing and Production Manager and he was closely involved in the growth and planning of new mills and modernisation of existing mills throughout New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria.
In 1988 CSR Limited purchased Softwood Holdings and the following year Mr Lamb became Regional Manager for CSR Softwoods.
As Forest Resources Manager he was instrumental in the 1990s for establishing an industry of exporting wood chips out of Portland using the first thinnings from the forests which would otherwise go to waste.
His last position was as Area Manager for CSR Timber Products encompassing both the timber and particleboard operations – the largest such operation in the CSR Timber Products group.
He was an executive member for the Radiata Pine Association of Australia including being Chairman of its marketing sub-committee.
He was also a member of the South East Water Resources Board and a member of a task group for building the bridge at Nelson.
He also helped develop curriculum for Mount Gambier TAFE’s wood technology courses and for the CSIRO division of forest products while also facilitating the introduction of the CSR Timber Products University Certificate course.
A small grove of pines at the western entrance to Mount Gambier, near what is now Borg’s timber mill, was planted in 2004 in recognition of Mr Lamb’s outstanding contribution to the timber industry, indeed a ‘Timber Legend’.
