Hugh Bateman AM has been appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for his significant service to business through real estate, and to the community.
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It's hard to think of a person who loves the Mudgee region as much as Hugh, who never wavers in his commitment to making the Mid-Western Region a better place to live for its residents.
Speaking with the Mudgee Guardian ahead of his award announcement on January 26, Hugh said he has always been motivated to be help others.
"It's humbling. Different organisations I've been involved in - when I was on those committees I was always punching up Mudgee... they started calling me Mr Mudgee," he said.
Try and help others and make the community a better place to live.
- Hugh Bateman
"It's sort of stuck with me... Every time I get to a function where all these people congregate, they say 'oh, here comes Mr Mudgee'.
"It's the case, I guess, that I've been given that name because I've always been promoting the place."
Among Hugh's many achievements, he's probably most well known around town for his founding of Mudgee's long-standing business, The Property Shop, where he was licensee from 1973 to 2018 and has served as a consultant and mentor since.
But more broadly, his ongoing work with the McGrath Foundation has undoubtedly changed the lives of countless Australians for the better and went a long way to his AM appointment.
His motivation, he explained, comes simply from knowing people are happy.
"A fulfilled life doesn't necessarily point to the number of awards or wealth or followers on Facebook that someone's amassed, it is the smile on people's faces," Hugh said.
"I think so long as people have benefited from what I have put in place or enabled to occur. I think the bottom line is, if there was to be something said about me, it would be that 'there was a person that put back into the community'.
"And the reason why I say that is because we can't keep on taking things for granted. We can't keep on taking out of life and not putting back."
Hugh founded the Pink Up Your Town project in 2016 which has grown well beyond Mudgee into towns across Australia. In 2015 Hugh embarked on the Pink Tractor Trek, travelling 2900 kilometres around NSW raising money for breast cancer care.
He was President of Mudgee Polo Club from 2014 to 2016, he has worked extensively with the both the Mudgee Rugby League Club and Rugby Union Club.
Hugh served as Chairman of the Salvos Red Shield Appeal from 2009 to 2013 and at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance from 1981 to 1983; he was a Councillor at Mudgee Shire Council from 1977 to 1979; he was a Foundation Chairman at the Mudgee Business Enterprise Centre and a Chairman at Mudgee Business Association; a patron of the Mudgee Museum and has earned myriad of real estate and community awards, far too many to mention though they represent more than the sum of their parts.
"Right now, at this moment, I'm proud to be Australian. Proud to be born and raised in the regional New South Wales capital, Mudgee. And proud to have had it instilled in me, since I was a child, to never give up," Hugh said.
Toward the end of our conversation, Hugh offered a piece of advice.
"You don't have to do a multitude of things, just do one thing and try and continue with that aspect in life, try and help others and make the community a better place to live," he said.
"Work on that premise that I have, seeing the smiles on other people's faces. I see so many young people today. In many ways, they've got that philosophy that they go out of their way to help their friends.
"If they can maintain that during life, it's a great thing. It's a great thing."
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