A former police officer turned Mudgee businessman is back in town as a practising lawyer.
As a teenager Peter Orr was one of Mudgee's most talented back line rugby league players.
He attracted attention from the NRL and got a shot at the big time with the Illawarra Steelers (now St George Illawarra) and, much to his father Robert's delight, the South Sydney Rabbitohs before joining the NSW Police force.
Mr Orr began his police career in Sydney's notorious Kings Cross Police Station.
"On my first day on the job I was involved in an undercover drug operation," he said.
"We closed Sweethearts Café on the very first day, never to open again.
"Whenever I hear Jimmy Barnes sing the song of the same name I can't help but think of that day.
"We got quite a haul - I remember there was about $300,000 cash confiscated.
"I was issued with a gun but didn't have a holster as I was fresh from the Academy, so I had to put it in my pocket. That would be frowned on today."
After eight years in Kings Cross, Mr Orr became a police prosecutor, making the change because that work interested him.
"Your role as a prosecutor is to present all evidence before the court, whether it supports the police case or not," he said.
"If you have evidence that goes against the police case, you must present it.
"It is not a prosecutor's job to get a conviction at all costs - it is to ensure that justice is rightly carried."
Mr Orr said the most serious crimes he dealt with as a prosecutor were in the Children's Court where he handled anything from vehicle theft to robbery.
During the Sydney Olympics Mr Orr was seconded to Olympic Marine Security and was team leader of the special Jet Ski section, which also included Terri-Ann Quinn from Mudgee.
"I used to jet ski and water ski most of my life," he said.
"In this role we came across a scuba diver under a ship in the harbour that was hosting a World Trade leaders conference, only a couple of hours after the Navy had cleared the vessel.
"So we had to call in the Navy and water police who sent divers down but they couldn't find him."
Mr Orr said he had always wanted to come back to Mudgee one day as he sees it as the ideal town in which to raise a family.
"That is why after 15 years in the police force I decided to leave that behind me and return to Mudgee to go into small business with Dad," Mr Orr said.
"After two years I decided small business (Mudgee Carpet Court) was not for me and, as I have always had an interest in the legal profession decided to study to become a lawyer.
"I started out by correspondence and finished off full-time at the University of New England in Armidale.
"My family moved to Armidale with me for the last couple of years and were a great support."
Mr Orr said he enjoyed studying as a mature age student and the competition that inspired him to graduate with distinction as a Bachelor of Law in 2008, winning the LexisNexis prize for coming first in the subject “Civil Procedure and Evidence”.
He also holds a Bachelor of Arts/Policing from Charles Sturt University.
Now practising as a lawyer with Mudgee firm Hannaford Cox Connellan & McFarland, Mr Orr said working in a country practice, such as in Mudgee, provided a great deal of variety in his day-to-day work.
"I had an interest in law, the interest got stronger and when I found out that small business was not for me, that is what I decided to do," Mr Orr said.
"I was also influenced in taking this course after seeing so many of my peers as prosecutors make the same change."
At Hannaford Cox Connellan McFarland, Mr Orr practises in conveyancing, commercial and family law.
He is also a registered family mediator and he is often required to visit other towns in the Central West because of a shortage of people with these skills.
These days Mr Orr has retired from rugby league and has taken up seven-a-side soccer and said if the Mudgee Wolves establish an over-30 side he would been keen to play.
However, he was quite coy when asked about his days as an angler, during which reliable sources say he created unofficial world records at bogging vehicles (4WDs at that), getting in and out of remote fishing spots.
He is also said to hold the world record for the biggest fish that got away and the most fish that got away, and the most fishing trips for an angler who failed bring home a feed of fish for his family.
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