Pete Johnston Fund

Pete was from Crocodile Dundee country, hence attended boarding school from age 5. It was a fabulous upbringing, breeding resilience, curiosity and wonderment. His parents were business people.

Pete joined the Royal Australian Navy as a Junior Recruit at 16 years old. It necessitated a seven-day train trip to HMAS Leeuwin in WA, with the thought of becoming an officer in the RAN, however after a visit from the SAS, he decided war was for him.

Pete had two combat tours to Vietnam. Upon returning, he took advantage of a Government education program to attend RMIT to study Audio Visual Engineering. It was leading edge at the time, and quite a shock from Vietnam to RMIT within a few months of returning. It was the Age of Aquarius.

He settled in Geelong 40 odd years ago, and loves the place.

Both his maternal and paternal family members were community minded, and military service had a strong community bearing on him. Defence is big on community service. Pete is active in the veteran community and Lions.

Gail Rogers, in her time at Volunteering Geelong, mentioned the Geelong Community Foundation to Pete, resulting in him joining with a Named Fund.