General News
25 January, 2026
Rupanyup stalwart honoured with OAM
Adrian Tyler is, in every sense, a man of action. Across more than five decades, he has devoted his life to the community. Fittingly, this Australia Day, his achievements were recognised with an Order of Australia Medal for service to the Rupanyup and Yarriambiack Shire communities.
As a lifelong volunteer, he currently serves as president of Rupanyup VFF Landcare, vice president of Rupanyup Progress Association, trustee of Woods Heritage and Farming Museum, and member of the Yarriambiack Tourism Advisory Committee.
The 71-year-old also held many executive committee roles, including serving as secretary for the Rupanyup Football Club, Lubeck Tennis Club, Methodist Tennis Club, Rupanyup Tennis Club, Rupanyup Fishing Club, and Dunmunkle Native Plant Group.
Although he retired in 2024 after more than five decades in the hardware and rural supplies industry, including 36 years at Tyler's Hardware and Rural Supplies, Adrian continues to work days exceeding 11 hours.
Despite spending long hours working on the Yarrilinks project, which has thousands of trees and plants at different stages of growth, he still found time to sit down and share his story.
“Landcare is probably my biggest passion at this point of my life,” he said.
“I've been planting trees for a long time now; my son's 44, and I was planting trees before he was born.
“I did 88 hours just last month.”
The Yarrilinks project was born from the 2011 floods.
Following a flood study, the CMA decided to fill two reservoirs; Adrian had the idea to leave a little space for a small swamp.
Following rounds of community consultations, he suggested a nature reserve.
“No one came up with any ideas, so I said, ‘I've always had a vision to make it into a little mini forest, a little reserve with a walking track through it,” he said.
“Now we've got red gums planted everywhere… It's like an absolute forest.
“The trees have done really well.”
Adrian estimates growing the trees from seed, weeding and watering the reserve takes at least 400 hours a year.
Raised in Rupanyup South on a 90-acre (36.4ha) farm, Adrian attended the local primary school before finishing his education at Stawell Technical School.
He praised his parents for laying the foundation for volunteering.
“Dad was secretary of the junior football club,” he said.
“Mum was a life member of the footy clubs too.
“Rupanyup South was a little primary school, and mum and dad were on the committees for all the years.”
He admits he didn’t really come into Rupayup until he was 18, when he started playing tennis with some mates.
“My boss that I worked for at the time was a really good tennis player,” Adrian recalled.
“He got me playing for the Methodist Tennis Club, and I copped secretary straight away at 19.”
When the Methodist and public tennis clubs merged to form the Rupanyup Tennis Club, the committee decided to build nine new courts next to the football ground.
The teenage Adrian was responsible for liaising with the construction companies.
“I didn't have a phone, so I had to get a pocket full of 10 cents and go down to the public phone and ring everyone,” he said.
Soon, he was given the role of secretary of the local football club, forcing him to move on from the tennis club’s executive.
He remained at the club until at 32 he could no longer lift his shoulder; however, not one to sit still. He took up competitive running.
“I trained and ran the Melbourne marathon… I ran it in two hours and 57 minutes, and then came back and had another crack at playing football, and tore my hamstring straight away.
“So I went down and joined the Stawell Amateur Athletic Club and ran down there for 20 years of competitive cross country.
“At 54, I came down a mountain in a race; I won the race, but the next day a vertebra drifted off in my back, and I couldn't compete competitively anymore.”
Not afraid to roll up his sleeves, Adrian organised the town’s Red Cross Blood Challenge team, donating blood himself 128 times.
He also championed the Rupanyup Men’s Shed, including its expanded shed and kitchen.
“When the idea was first floated, we had a look at all of the Men’s Sheds in the district,” he recalled.
“The one thing that came out of it was to make sure you build a shed big enough.”
The only issue was that the bigger shed was going to cost $120,000, and the budget was $60,000.
The ever resourceful Adrian went on a grant writing spree, finding the remaining $60,000.
As project manager, he juggled the construction of the shed with his business, and later oversaw the installation of a kitchen.
I think it's been really positive,” he said.
“We’ve got blokes in there every day. A lot of them just go up there and just have coffee. That’s the best thing.
“A lot of men are reaching retirement age, but they still want to do a project; I’m building a coffee table myself.
“There’s a bloke who’s in his 90s, he’s really good with metal, and he’s still building things.”
After countless hours of community work, Adrian still has the drive to jump out of bed each morning.
“I thought about that. I thought if somebody asked me ‘What gets you out of bed?’,” he said.
“I've got too many things to do. I’m 71 now, and I’m starting to wear out.
“I've got these weeds… I've been watering [trees] for the last week or two. I only get about 15 trees done every hour and a half. That gets me out of bed.
“I've got to get it done. If I don't get out, I'm not gonna do anything for the day.”
Never one to blow his own trumpet, Adrian feels more comfortable behind the camera.
He estimates he has at least 88,000 photographs from events in Rupanyup, including Australia Day, Anzac Day and local shows.
Understandably, he wasn't sure about standing in the spotlight to receive his OAM.
“It's great to be recognised, but I don't do anything for recognition,” he said.
“I don’t want to be a tall poppy.
“I just have a vision. I love growing trees, I love planting them. I love anything to do with them.”
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