Life Member of the Craigieburn Basketball club Rohan Milich spoke to Star Weekly about a life well lived in Melbourne’s north.
Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do?
I am the eldest of four siblings, born in Brunswick and growing up in Reservoir and Epping.
I attended Rosebank and Epping Primary schools, Epping High School, and Lalor technical College, my first job was a paper round in Epping delivering the Sun and Age in the morning and the Herald in the afternoon, before attaining an apprenticeship in vehicle building.
I had a brief stint working at the Tramways workshop in Preston before getting a job in the chemical industry with Nufarm staying there for nearly 30 years, the last 5 of those as a shift Supervisor.
I was an avid cricketer and golfer when in my teens and early twenties.
What’s your connection to Hume?
I first moved to Craigieburn 30 years ago purchasing my first home.
Golf was a passion at the time, but once children came along the priorities became different.
My two girls attended Craigieburn Primary School, with the youngest joining the local dance school, while the eldest became involved in Basketball, I took up the sport with some good friends but no longer play as age has caught up.
I got involved at a team Manager level, before joining the Craigieburn Basketball Committee, looking after uniforms, I was the VJBL Junior Delegate for many years, I like to help where possible still, doing BIG V score bench on weekends and looking after our senior Competition on a Tuesday and Wednesday night.
I am a life member of the club.
I still enjoy being involved in the Basketball community with Craigieburn, I also like to travel with my Wife, and we also get in some camping when time permits, visiting family and friends who live interstate when we can.
What do you like about where you live?
Craigieburn was only a small community when I moved here, and with not many options at the time for kids, Basketball and dancing became the leisure activities for us and the children.
I have made some wonderful friends within the club, and it has given us the opportunity to visit many towns here and interstate to watch my eldest daughter play in different tournaments, and the youngest to attend dance concerts.
It has been great to see so many young people within the club grow into young adults and come through the junior ranks and play senior basketball for the club.
What, if anything, would you change about where you live?
Craigieburn and now living in Mickleham have both grown over the time I have lived here, and we now have a diverse community from many countries more now than 30 years ago, we need to educate everyone to take pride in where we live and to keep the 3064 postcode clean, have council organise clean up days, as parts of our postcode are seriously untidy, with more parks, open spaces, walking tracks and activities for the younger generation.
Where is your favourite local place to spend time?
My wife and I like to visit local markets and we enjoy a weekly date night at many of the eateries around Craigieburn, we also like to catch up with friends at the sporting
club and other places of interest.
Tell us something people would be surprised to know about you?
As a youngster myself and my father won a handicap foursomes golf event at the Kilmore golf club, and a year later myself and a friend won the same event this time in the scratch section, with my name now etched on the honour board at the Kimore Golf Club.