Moira Shire

Distinguished and Famous people from Moira Shire

🤝 Dianne Sampson

Dianne Sampson was named Moira’s Star Achiever of the Year in 2026 after sustained service in Tungamah. More than twenty-five years with the cemetery trust included helping bereaved families, coordinating administration and securing improvements to facilities. Her volunteering also extended to the hall committee, bowling club and football and netball club. These responsibilities combine care with the quieter work of documents, meetings and grant applications. The award recognises someone whose contribution is woven through several local institutions, helping make them function reliably for the people who need them.

🥤 George Albert Pethard and family

George Albert Pethard junior entered his father’s soft-drink business in 1898, during its Numurkah chapter. His father had established the factory after earlier commercial ventures elsewhere in Victoria, producing the Taraxale brand that preceded the later Tarax enterprise. The younger Pethard moved with the firm to Bendigo in 1909 and developed a much wider business and civic career. Numurkah therefore belongs to the formative family-business story, before national brand recognition. An everyday bottle of soft drink had roots in a country factory and a succession of practical commercial decisions.

📚 Sir Harold White

Sir Harold White was born at Numurkah in 1905 and attended the one-teacher school at Invergordon before winning a scholarship to Wesley College. A cadet cataloguing job began a long library career. He helped install books in Canberra’s provisional Parliament House and later led the development of the National Library of Australia, broadening its collections to include films, personal papers and oral history. The opening of its lakeside building in 1968 finally brought scattered collections together. Numurkah and Invergordon supply the birthplace and first school behind a librarian whose ambitions grew from handling individual books to building a national resource.