Our People
26 March, 2026
As I remember - Keith Little
By Nicole Potter IF a life could be measured by the places it has travelled and the people it has touched, Keith Little’s story would stretch across continents. Born in Ararat and raised in a flat above a shop in the town’s main street, Keith went on to carve out a life defined by curiosity, adventure and a remarkable openness to people and opportunity. So full is Keith Little’s life that it would take a lengthy novel to capture all the travel, work, learning and friendships he has gathered along the way.
Sitting with me in Ararat, Keith recalls his decades of travel and work with a bright memory and an easy laugh.
Keith has always been someone who embraced opportunities as they appeared.
As a young man he attended Ararat College at a time when scholarships were being offered to encourage students to train as teachers. Without hesitation, he accepted the opportunity and headed to Melbourne University to begin his first chapter of adult life.
Keith remembers fellow Ararat student Valda Spalding also receiving the same offer.
During university holidays, Keith and a friend found work with the Forestry Commission as fire spotters.
His next role with the commission would ignite a lifelong passion for the environment.
The job involved living in what Keith describes as “a broken-down old house” deep in the Tasmanian forest while carrying out density surveys to assess timber resources.
Even now, he vividly remembers swimming each evening after work in the freezing, pristine water and keeping an eye out for tiger snakes during the day.
The Tasmanian wilderness also brought about one of the many turning points in Keith’s life. Surrounded by such remarkable natural beauty, he found himself reflecting deeply about the path ahead. “It was a place that allowed for deep contemplation.”
It was there, in that remote forest setting, that Keith wrote his resignation from the Department of Education.
When he returned to Melbourne University, the resignation was accepted — reluctantly — by a Miss Hoy. Keith had decided that travel would be his way of life.
And for many years, it truly was.
Travel became a constant companion, along with an extraordinarily varied working life across Australia and around the world.
Over the decades, Keith has worked in a remarkable range of places and professions: as a sign painter’s assistant, a policy and technical writer for General Motors Holden in Melbourne, a diamond-rig driller’s offsider, and a labourer in the shipyards of Whyalla and the mines of Broken Hill.
His career also took him further afield, working as a transport officer in Alice Springs, a steel bender in New Zealand, a worker in a pulp and paper mill in Canada, and a passport officer at Australia House in London.
Later roles included TAFE instructor, volunteer in Tonga, project officer in Botswana and, eventually, a position with Volunteers Abroad in Melbourne.
That role became his final place of employment before retiring in 1995 — with what he fondly recalls as a “terrific send-off”.
Keith’s first overseas adventure had originally been planned for Canada. However, when his visa was finally approved in October 1956, he realised he would be arriving at the very start of a Canadian winter — something he was less than enthusiastic about. Instead, he boarded a ship for New Zealand’s North Island.
Anyone who has met Keith understands how easily he strikes up a conversation and forms genuine connections with people. That openness led to many of his adventures.
While hitchhiking in New Zealand, he met a group of carpenters heading to a geothermal construction project.
When Keith admitted he didn’t have any trade qualifications, they simply told him, “Just say you’re a steel bender.” So he did.
Keith still laughs as he recalls “a little bloke called Mitch” who patiently showed him the ropes, along with some good-natured teasing to test his sense of humour.
After five months, Keith boarded another ship. It stopped in Fiji where he met up with his partner at the time, Lisa, before continuing on to Vancouver — a journey of about ten days.
“Plenty of time to get to know people,” he said.
It was on the ship where he met a Canadian local whose sister helped him find work at Ocean Falls, a remote settlement about 300 miles up the west coast of British Columbia where a pulp and paper mill operated.
When Keith describes Ocean Falls — a deep valley surrounded by towering snow-capped mountains — his eyes still light up as he momentarily disappears into the memory.
After his time at the mill, he took another job as a cook and deckhand aboard a Forestry Service launch boat, transporting forestry staff along the dramatic coastal fjords.
Lisa later joined him, and together they embarked on an extensive bus tour across the United States.
Another chance connection helped along the way. Earlier Keith had met a New Zealand journalist living in Montreal who had casually said, “If you’re ever in the area, give me a call.”
So he did.
She and her husband welcomed Keith and Lisa warmly, hosting them in Montreal and even taking them to see a performance of Russian dancing.
The couple later sailed across the Atlantic to England, where they went their separate ways for a time. Keith spent the next two years working in London at Australia House issuing passports.
Even the journey home to Australia proved an adventure.
Reunited with Lisa and travelling with friends, the Conways, they boarded a ship that took them from England through the Mediterranean and on toward Jakarta. Passing through the Gulf brought one particularly frightening time, when heavy seas caused the enormous vessel to tilt dramatically.
For a brief moment, Keith was convinced the ship might not stay upright.
Eventually, teaching called him back.
Keith completed his Bachelor degree followed by a Diploma of Education and returned to the classroom. After teaching in Melbourne — where he earned the respect of a particularly challenging Year 9 class — he accepted a position in Papua New Guinea.
He first taught at a girls’ boarding school in Milne Bay before being appointed headmaster of Busu High School in Lae.
By this time Keith had met Daphne, and the couple married in Ararat before living briefly in South Yarra while he began those early teaching roles. Daphne joined him in New Guinea soon after he settled there.
Keith speaks with honesty about that period of his life. He poured enormous energy into his work, and after twelve years the marriage came to an end.
After six years overseas, Keith returned to Australia — though the adventures were far from finished. Work and travel took him to places such as Bundaberg and Alice Springs, and later back overseas to Botswana and parts of Europe.
He travelled on the original Ghan to Alice Springs, hitchhiked from Cairns to Ararat — a journey that took ten days — and once circled Australia in a combi van with his mate John Crowley.
Retirement eventually brought Keith back to Ararat, but slowing down was never really his style. He has continued to dedicate his time to projects that support both people and the environment, including many years of tireless involvement with Landcare, where he holds life membership.
While his contributions to the Ararat community are many, it is perhaps Keith’s warmth, curiosity and openness that people remember most. Anyone who has met him — even briefly — tends to leave the conversation feeling they have gained something from it.
Throughout his travels he has stayed connected with friends from all walks of life.
His philosophy is simple.
“If people are blue, black or brindle, don’t have biases,” he says. “Attempt to be courteous and friendly — that gets you a long way.”
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