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It’s no surprise to hear Raymond Russell has a small lawn at his home in Palmerston. When you’ve been an employee of ACT parks and gardens for 46 years and mowing grass around Canberra every working day for 20 years, you can be forgiven for wanting a rest when you get home. “It takes me 10 minutes to mow my lawn,” he said, with a chuckle. Queanbeyan-born Raymond joined the Yarralumla nursery in 1974 at the age of 17, straight out of Queanbeyan High. “I walked out of school and I went to my mum and said, ‘I’ve quit school’ and she said, ‘Oh, well, we’ll just have to find you a job’,” he said. “My mum knew a bloke who worked for the department and lived in Queanbeyan. I started an apprenticeship but never finished it because I got too involved with the ten-pin bowling.” Ten-pin bowling is another of his passions, with him representing the ACT and coaching juniors in the sport. He attended his first national ten pin bowling championships in 1974 and has only missed one since, when his son James, now 20, was born. But back to those early years. When Raymond first started in parks and gardens, he didn’t yet have his driver’s licence. “So I had to catch a bus from Queanbeyan to Kingston where they had these big trucks that went out to all the depots every day. So I had to catch the right truck to get to each of the depots. Bad luck if you got into the wrong truck and went to the wrong depot,” he laughed. “When I worked at Mawson depot, which is probably when I first started off, we used old, little sit-on mowers. They were so small that when I had to go down this hill, to stop it, I had to put my feet on the ground.” Raymond now mows the lawns around Civic, Campbell, Henry Rolland Park at West Basin and Dickson. This season has been one of the most memorable, with a lot of rain encouraging a lot of growth. “It’s been a lot harder to catch up with things. And they give us bigger areas with less people, so, like most jobs,” he said. The good-humoured Raymond has no plans yet to retire. “I’ll keep going as long as I can. While my body can still stand it,” he said. “I love the outdoors. A lot of people come up and talk to you and kids get fascinated by it, of course. The kids will stand and watch and look at the mower.” READ MORE: City Services has honoured Raymond by making a video as a tribute and planning to release it on social media on Friday. He’s enjoying the limelight. “I love it actually. I love the attention,” he said, with a laugh. Raymond and his wife Joanne also love to put on a huge Christmas display every year at their home, near the Palmerson shops. Another good reason for having more concrete than lawn. For faster access to the latest Canberra news, download The Canberra Times app for iOS and Android.
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It’s no surprise to hear Raymond Russell has a small lawn at his home in Palmerston.
When you’ve been an employee of ACT parks and gardens for 46 years and mowing grass around Canberra every working day for 20 years, you can be forgiven for wanting a rest when you get home.
“It takes me 10 minutes to mow my lawn,” he said, with a chuckle.
Queanbeyan-born Raymond joined the Yarralumla nursery in 1974 at the age of 17, straight out of Queanbeyan High.
“I walked out of school and I went to my mum and said, ‘I’ve quit school’ and she said, ‘Oh, well, we’ll just have to find you a job’,” he said.
“My mum knew a bloke who worked for the department and lived in Queanbeyan. I started an apprenticeship but never finished it because I got too involved with the ten-pin bowling.”
Ten-pin bowling is another of his passions, with him representing the ACT and coaching juniors in the sport. He attended his first national ten pin bowling championships in 1974 and has only missed one since, when his son James, now 20, was born.
Raymond Russell in the early years of his career. Picture: Supplied
But back to those early years. When Raymond first started in parks and gardens, he didn’t yet have his driver’s licence.
“So I had to catch a bus from Queanbeyan to Kingston where they had these big trucks that went out to all the depots every day. So I had to catch the right truck to get to each of the depots. Bad luck if you got into the wrong truck and went to the wrong depot,” he laughed.
“When I worked at Mawson depot, which is probably when I first started off, we used old, little sit-on mowers. They were so small that when I had to go down this hill, to stop it, I had to put my feet on the ground.”
Raymond now mows the lawns around Civic, Campbell, Henry Rolland Park at West Basin and Dickson. This season has been one of the most memorable, with a lot of rain encouraging a lot of growth.
“It’s been a lot harder to catch up with things. And they give us bigger areas with less people, so, like most jobs,” he said.
The good-humoured Raymond has no plans yet to retire.
“I’ll keep going as long as I can. While my body can still stand it,” he said.
“I love the outdoors. A lot of people come up and talk to you and kids get fascinated by it, of course. The kids will stand and watch and look at the mower.”
City Services has honoured Raymond by making a video as a tribute and planning to release it on social media on Friday. He’s enjoying the limelight.
“I love it actually. I love the attention,” he said, with a laugh.
Raymond and his wife Joanne also love to put on a huge Christmas display every year at their home, near the Palmerson shops.
Another good reason for having more concrete than lawn.
