IT came as a “complete surprise” for Heathcote Junction resident John Hearsch who has received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division for service to the rail industry.
“They wrote to me and said I’ve been nominated and asked whether I’ll accept it which I have and then they wrote to me again with further details. It was actually pretty straight forward,” he said.
Mr Hearsch has spent over six decades in the industry, beginning his career with Victorian Railways, known today at V/Line.
He worked in many roles, culminating with the position of Chief General Manager Transport Operations.
For those who can remember, Mr Hearsch worked at Victorian Railways during the time the Labor Government gained power after 32 years of Liberal leadership of the state.
From 1983 to 1990, with Labor then in power, Mr Hearsch said it was one of the highlights of his career.
“I was in a position to have a significant involvement in managing the total change in the way the railway operated,” he said.
“It was a pretty big rationalisation as well. When I was first appointed the job [of Chief General Manager Transport Operations] there were about 25,000 employees and when I left in 1990, I think there was around 11,000.
“The list of changes that we made were just incredible. Looking back, it was a very challenging period and there was a huge amount of industrial disputation… and it was challenging, from a management point of view in bringing about changes, which we felt were long, long overdue.”
In 1990, Mr Hearsch was then offered the role in running Queensland Rail’s freight business, which he took having felt he “couldn’t do too much more in Victoria”.
“I accepted the job in Queensland and that was a revelation and was probably the best part of my rail career,” he said.
“I ran the freight business there for another eight years and in many ways, it was another repetition of what we did in Victoria, but at least it was a sort of friendly environment. There was none of the disputes that we had continually in Victoria, and it meant we were able to manage that change.
“Queensland had plenty of money, so were able to do lots of things and invest in some really big projects.”
Finishing with Queensland Rail in 1998, Mr Hearsch continued his work in the industry, acquiring the roles of Australian representative to the International Union of Railways in 1998, Member of the Forward Vision Rail Task Force for the Railway Technical Society of Australasia in 2002 and a Member of the Board of the CRC for Rail Innovation from 2000 to 2007.
Now, at the age of 82, Mr Hearsch still devotes as much of the time he can to the rail industry.
In 2013, he co-founded the Rail Futures Institute and has since held the position of president.
The Rail Futures Institute is a not-for-profit voluntary organisation focusing on the advocacy and research into Victoria’s rail industry.
“We believe there’s a big future for rail in this state and that there are a lot of things which should have happened or should be happening,” he said.
“We keep on advocating for those things, not only just pushing government, but it’s also a bit of an educating role because a lot of people don’t really understand rail. And in fact, we’ve widened our brief, and we cover all public transport, not just rail, but trams and buses as well.
“We keep ourselves busy, meeting with State Government, meeting with local government, meeting with all sorts of other interest groups.
A final reflection on his career saw Mr Hearsch proud of what he’s been able to achieve.
“It’s been a long innings and like all these things, not without lots of frustrations, but I’m content that I’ve contributed a fair bit over that period,” he said.
