January 14th 1929 to May 3^rd 2022

Tom was born in 1929, second son to Walter and Alice Banfield, grandson of Jabez Banfield.

The Banfield name is synonymous with Ararat, for it was the Banfield's that owned and ran the Ararat Advertiser for 105 years, between 1857 and 1962 (when the paper was sold to the Ballarat Courier).

When I (Aidan Banfield) was growing up in the 1970's and 1980's, I remember being told many stories by Tom (my dad) of the running of the Ararat Advertiser in the days that Toms father, Walter Banfield, lead the running of the Banfield Family 'Advertiser' Team.

There were two parts that I clearly remember: Tom talking about the equipment used to print the paper, particularly the Linotype Machine, that cast lines of lead type in a semi-automated process from molten lead held in the machine.

This was a huge step up in the efficiency from the letter press machines where the individual letters of type would be hand set, yet still way more labour intensive that the offset printing methods that would follow and worlds apart from the modern digital print world.

The other fascination to me of Tom's stories, was it seemed as though the whole extended family was involved in the running of the paper. Those not directly involved in the printing would be editing and proof-reading.

Copy could be walked up the lane way behind the Advertiser Office from one house to the next, as the various families of the Banfield's all lived on that one central block.

These stories were from the time Tom was a child and young adult.

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With Tom's older brother Jim heading off the University (a brilliant mind in the field of chemistry), it was up to Tom to take over the running of the family business and continue the Banfield's 100 year legacy of the Ararat Advertiser. To this end, as a young adult Tom was sent off to apprentice as a reporter.

It did not come easy or naturally to him and by the time he was 24, he decided to follow a path that he had become passionate about - Tom headed off to Adelaide to St. Michael's House Crafers, the Theological Collage of the Sacred Mission, to study for 5 years to become an Anglican Minister.

This decision did not go down well with Tom's parents at the time as it left the Banfield Family with no succession plan for the Ararat Advertiser and ultimately lead to the Advertiser being sold out of the family in 1962.

While Tom's calling and working life would be ministry as an Anglican Priest, he did keep an interest in printing. During the 1970's 1980's and 1990's Tom ran a small "weekend business" printing stationary, wedding invitations, news letters and some small books from his garage.

Mainly small run work and much of it originating out of Tom's contacts with the church community, in its early days it was called the Parish Printing Group and later became Redman Press as the nature of the work expanded to more commercial jobs and some time after Tom moved the tiny business to the family farm property at Pomonal in order to enjoy the outdoor environment and combine all the things he loved in life.

While a lot of the printing Tom did was done on an offset printing machine, small run jobs with only limited type (eg letter heads) were printed on a late 1800's Pearl Letter Press Printing machine.

This machine was truly old school, using lead type and powered by a foot treadle to imprint the pages.

As a child, I (Aidan Banfield) and my brother, Chad Banfield would earn pocket money from dad (Tom) by setting the individual lead type letters and then placing them in rows of type into a chase ready for printing.

We particularly liked getting the jobs of Wedding Stationary set in Palace Script as the slanted type being harder to set, commanded a few extra cents per letter set.

In the end, computers made it possible for people to print their own short run jobs at home, drying up the demand for the type of printing Tom did and bringing an end to Redman Press somewhere around the turn of the century (late 1990's to early 2000's).

While the Pearl Letterpress remains in working order and still within the Banfield family, one of its last runs was in 2013 when an overseas backpacker staying with us printed some letter heads to take back home with her.

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Tom had been regularly printing his own stationery up until this time. While printing and the church were a large parts of Tom's life, they were not the full story.

Tom loved nature, the native birds, native Australia plants and natural ecosystems. This would go hand in had his other great love of camping and adventure activities. A rock climber from the 1950's, as well as undertaking other adventures of sailing, kayaking and hiking.

This even extended to learning to mountaineer while living in England for 6 years, with Tom climbing the iconic Matterhorn in the 1960's before returning home to Australia to marry Aileen Campbell in 1968.

Tom and Aileen had met and spent time together before Tom had headed off to England, Tom being the parish priest in Rushworth and Murchison and Aileen the Primary School Teacher. Aileen was even able to continue the contact in England, taking up an exchange teaching position in England for part of the time Tom was there.

In 1969 Tom and Aileen's first son Aidan Banfield, was born, soon to be follow by second son Chad Banfield. While for many, marriage and children would herald the end of an outdoor adventuring way of life, this was not the case for Tom. By this time Tom was established in running Adventure Family camps through the Church. These summer camps continued for some 35 years and are fondly remembered by many who participated over the years.

Many of the children (now adults) who attended Tom's family adventure camps for multiple years have been inspired to a life of either adventure or love of nature or both.

This is particularly so for his sons. Chad taking up a career of flying sea planes and spending much of his working life outdoors. Chad now lives in Darwin with his wife Rose and daughters Emily and Jasmine.

Aidan moved to the family farm in 1990, where he continues to run Grampians Paradise (the camping ground which Tom established on the Banfield family farm) with his wife Vanessa and sons Douglas and Henry.

While Tom had retired from his work as an Anglican Minister in 1989, it was not until 2013 that he retired for a second time, this time at age 84 from running front of house for Grampians Paradise Camping and Caravan Parkland. In retirement Tom kept a keen interest in the outdoors and nature.

As his mobility decreased, he would spend less time out at the farm and camping ground and more time in Ararat. Often walking to Lake Alexandra and the Ararat Botanical Gardens where he would photograph the many native birds.

Eventually even this came to an end, with Tom spending his time at home within sight of the Ararat Advertiser building, on land that has been in the Banfield family for well over 100 years.

Toms last great adventure was that of walking the journey to the end of his life. Something that he had the great privilege of undertaking at home. He died May 3rd 2022, aged 93, with Aileen and Aidan by his side as his last breaths faded away, bringing a close to an era, for he was the last of the living Banfield's to have worked in the Ararat Advertiser back in the days when it was still the Banfield family paper business.

Goodbye Tom,

Aidan Banfield

Tom's family welcome the community to gather at the following times to celebrate his life.

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