Brian John Bateman – An Enthusiastic Foundation Donor
Brian was born on 1st December 1945 at Boort, he was the first of two children of Fred and Lorna Bateman.
Fred was stationed in Darwin at the time but the family eventually moved to Benalla Migrant Camp where Fred was then stationed. Brian attended the school camp where he learnt various languages from the migrant kids. The family subsequently moved to West Heidelberg.
Brian attended Rosanna High School up to year 11 and then he matriculated from University High. He loved sport growing up playing tennis,basketball and football. Tennis was his favourite – he was always on the court and worked as a tennis coach as a young adult.
Brian started a commerce course at the University of Melbourne, but his life changed when he met his subsequent wife, Janice Williams. They married after several years of dating and enjoyed 56 years of marriage together. They had 3 beautiful children – Matthew, Anthony and Angela, and nine grandchildren followed.
Brian was hard working all his life. He worked casually at the Sidchrome factory where his mother worked, he did trye fitting and casual bar work, he was a tennis coach and worked as a sales rep for Dunlop Sporting Goods. He then found his niche working in the frozen seafood industry for Brown & Dureau, Craig Mostyn, Victorian Seafood Industry Council and then Safcol, which eventually offered him a job in Los Angeles. It was a wonderful experience for the whole family. Brian was importing Lobster Tails and other seafood products from Australia. During the 3years there they travelled throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. They also went to numerous Seafood industry conventions where Brian would always win the tennis tournament played as part of the convention!
They returned to Melbourne in 1987, and Brian started his own business in Nunawading which he called Trend Seafoods. He established an office and cold storage facility in Abbotsford.
He worked hard and the business grew. He had many overseas trips to Thailand to Kingfisher Holdings and the business thrived; it is now run by his son Matt.
Eventually Brian and Janice bought a holiday house at Safety Beach and Brian “sort of retired”. Golf became a passion, and he played for many years – first at Kew Golf Club, where he managed to hit a hole in one in November 2000, and subsequently at Rosebud Country Club. He also continued his passion for tennis – he was a 50-year member at Kooyong and donated generously to the Kooyong Foundation, (which supports talented young tennis and squash players),and hosted a courtside box at the Kooyong Classic for many years.
His other passion was the Melbourne Football Club which he followed all his life. He was fortunate to be at the 'G in 1964 to see a Demons flag but had to settle for watching the 2021 flag on TV.
Brian was also proud of his Boort roots and visited there throughout his life. He was particularly fond of his grandmother Haley who taught him to play cards. He loved going back to Boort to watch the footy team, catch up with family and for dinners at the pub.
Brian was diagnosed with lung cancer in December 2023 and after extensive treatment (chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiology), hospital stays, medication and side effects – his journey ended in palliative care at St John of God on the 12th of August 2024 where he passed away peacefully.
The Kooyong Foundation has lost a great supporter.
