Sheahan Basil Thomas
| Type of person | Individual |
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Basil Thomas Sheahan was born on 8th March 1934 at Birchip Hospital, Victoria, in the middle of a great heatwave. The family story is that when the temperature dropped to about a hundred, Basil caught pneumonia. He certainly coped well with hot weather and never complained about the heat.
His parents, Mart and Nellie Sheahan, lived on a farm at Narraport; not too far from where earlier Sheahans had first bought land in 1888. Those two brothers had also donated some of their land for the local football oval. Basil attended the one teacher Narraport State School #2414 from 1939, until his mother arranged for a school bus to drive students to Wycheproof Higher Elementary School. When Basil finished there, he boarded at St Patrick’s College, Ballarat. The family lived on a small farm and there were many poor years, so the expense must have been difficult, but all four of the family went to Ballarat to finish their schooling. Nellie had come from Ballarat.
While at St Pat’s, Basil learnt a lot, especially about playing cricket and football. After matriculation, he went to Melbourne University to study Agricultural Science. He worked on the harvest every year to pay his fees at Newman College and he and his brother Paul trapped or shot rabbits to raise money. The University fees were covered by a Department of Agriculture scholarship, although he was obliged to work for them for a number of years.
Study did not come easily to Basil, but he did complete his course. Along the way he had poliomyelitis from which he recovered well and a few football injuries which caused him to give up football….until the next season.
His first permanent appointment was at the Walpeup Research Station, where he fitted in well. His research involved setting up trials on farming properties, so there was lots of travel. Gradually, he moved towards extension, i.e. extending to farmers the knowledge the researchers have gained.
In 1959, Basil returned to Newman College to marry Pat O’Neill whom he had met at University.
1960 was a great year for Basil. His daughter Susie was born and he coached the local team to their first premiership for over thirty years; playing of course. Soon he was appointed assistant manager of the Research Station. He was active in the community too. At different times he taught swimming, was part of the Fire Brigade, played cricket and also tennis when they were short, and was MC at local balls.
But gradually he could see that his job was becoming more administration and moving too far away from farming and farmers.
In 1965, the family moved to Sunbury, where Basil could contribute to teaching boys about farming. The Salesians had been running a primary boarding school for boys from rural areas but were changing that to a secondary school. They needed teachers with University qualifications. They were also teaching practical agriculture. Basil fitted in well. He helped the boys set up demonstration trials. He even gave up football except for coaching a student team and playing in social games. That lasted for a whole year.
Basil did further studies at Melbourne University to gain his teaching qualification. Sunbury had a Conference of the St Vincent de Paul Society, so Basil again became an active member, as he had been at St Patrick’s. He became a Probation Officer and also helped the patients at the nearby mental Hospital. He even played tennis to prevent a parish club from closing.
But, by 1971, he realised that he was again moving too far from agriculture, being mostly involved with teaching physics, chemistry and maths to senior students. He applied for and gained a scholarship for postgraduate studies in Extension, back at Melbourne University.
Meanwhile, Roseworthy College had set up a fourth year course, but the lecturer in charge had died tragically during the year. They advertised for someone with a qualification in Extension, preferably with qualifications and experience in teaching. So in 1972, the Sheahan family moved to Roseworthy Campus. Soon after, some students called to welcome the family…and to tell Basil they were short of cricketers for that weekend.
A couple of months later they were short of a football coach. Then, in holiday time, they were short of a player. That was at Lyndoch. When Basil took the field as 19th man for the B grade, the boys had to write the team list for the A grade. They liked the way Basil played so listed him again as 19th man. That was the only time he played his last game twice in the same day.
Naturally Basil joined the CFS, though in later years he said he walked to the fire shed when the siren sounded. Others ran, so there were usually enough to take the truck out without him.
Basil was pleased to find the St Vincent de Paul Society in Gawler. Since he owned a ute, the local conference was pleased too. In 1973, Basil coached the A grade team to a premiership, the last one they won in the Gawler and District Football League. Over the years he continued to support the Club, holding every position from boundary umpire to timekeeper. In 2002 the club formed a guard of honour at his funeral.
Basil was a leader in his parish, at times being president of the Parish Council. When Gawler sponsored refugee families, Basil was very much part of the venture. He had always been hospitable; especially to the overseas students.
He was always conscientious in preparing his lectures. As the College introduced new courses and subjects, Basil seemed to widen his field, such as lecturing to both the Oenology and the Wine Marketing students on Wine and Society. In his own research, farmers were usually his focus. For example, in 1981, he published “Media Impact in Rural Areas, a study of farmers’ information sources” and in 1989 “The Future of Printed Media for Australian Farmers.” He developed a program of external studies for graduate students.
Basil was active both in the Staff Association and also as a Member of Council. He was an enthusiastic member of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science who named him as a Fellow in 1999.
By that time, Basil had retired. To mark his retirement he bought an extra paddock to do more farming.
He also played tennis for Roseworthy town and enjoyed coaching some junior teams. He grew trees for Trees for Life and did Bushcare too.
In 2001 Basil and Pat, who had always worked as a team, were jointly named Gawler Citizens of the Year.
When he died at age 68 in July 2002, St Peter and Paul’s Church in Gawler was too small for the crowd, as Basil had touched so many people during his life.
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