By Casey Neill
Childhood mischief coupled with cowardice put Tom Hartley on a path to great success.
The 80-year-old Endeavour Hills resident received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List on Monday 12 June for service to youth through Scouts and to the community.
He was “absolutely thrilled” to receive the nod and pinpointed the moment that started it all.
Mr Hartley grew up in Leeds, England, and had a run-in with a vicar over some mischief-making.
The ultimatum – join the choir or the vicar would take him home to his mum.
“Being a coward, I joined the choir,” Mr Hartley said.
Through the singing group he met children that he’d seen tending a fire in a park.
They told him they were Scouts and he was welcome to join.
“I suppose it changed my life,” he said.
“I came across other people that cared, particularly my Scout master and he pushed me through to getting my Queen Scout, which opened up a new world for me.
“It taught me leadership and teamship, to be resilient, to care for other people and the will to succeed.
“I suppose Scouting taught me how to look after kids at first, and then look after and organise adults.
“That put me in good stead to run a business in the sense that you’ve got to do all the right things with volunteers or they can quickly leave you.
“If you can do it with volunteers, you can certainly do it with paid people.”
Mr Hartley’s been a Scouts Australia member since 1956, has served on national and state committees and received honours including Scouts Victoria Life Membership.
He started the 7th Doveton Scout group and helped to establish a Hallam group.
“Our two boys were both in Scouts, and we hope that our grandchildren will come through,” he said.
“I’m still involved in scouting.
“I’m vice president of Scouts Victoria.”
Mr Hartley arrived in Australia in 1956 as a third-year apprentice toolmaker.
He lived with his parents and two sisters in Holmesglen Hostel and then in a Housing Commission home in Doveton, and after marrying Margo lived in Springvale, Hallam and Endeavour Hills.
It was through the youth group at St James Anglican Church in Dandenong that he met Margo, who received an OAM in 2014.
“I felt a bit embarrassed when I got it before Tom,” she said.
“Tom has been involved in Scouts now for 60 years. It’s so lovely to see him recognised for all his work to the community, work, family and everything.”
They are still involved with the church and have shared a dedication to Scouts, Mercy Ships Australia, a children’s holiday program in Broome, and their Dandenong South business Hilton Manufacturing.
Hilton’s beginnings were in 1976 “in a little tin shed” after Mr Hartley was twice retrenched.
Margo said: “It was a great big family. It was never employees. We always took them as our family. That’s why that place has grown.”
Today it employs hundreds of people and is growing rapidly, and son Todd is at the helm.
The company earned an induction into the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame in 2008.
In 2014 Mr Hartley joined the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame Honour Roll, a nod reserved for individuals or organisations that have made an outstanding contribution to manufacturing excellence in Victoria.
Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce inducted Mr Hartley into its Hall of Fame in 2015.
“You get strength from people,” he said.
“God puts people in your path that mentor you and inspire you, support you.”
