So the 87-year-old decided to do something about it and now he has been honoured with a King’s Service Medal for services to the community.
The retired farmer said much of the volunteer work he did in the community over the past 67 years was purely to make Owaka and his life there more sociable and entertaining.
"Back in the early days of Owaka, there was bugger all there — very little."
He was a member of the Owaka Young Farmers’ Club, and it was there that he was shoulder-tapped in 1958 and asked to be on a committee to help establish an Owaka Memorial Community Centre.
He was appointed to the management committee in 1968, shortly before the hall opened, and twice served as its chairman over a period of 25 years.
He has also been a stalwart of the Owaka and South Otago Pony Clubs since the 1960s and has been an Owaka Lions Club member since 1973.
As convener of the Lions club, he was involved in many local events and fundraising projects, including a fundraiser for a new X-ray machine and other equipment at the Catlins Medical Centre.
He was made a life member of the Owaka Lions Club in 2008.
In 2002, he became the Catlins Historical Society steering committee chairman, tasked with organising the build of a new museum in Owaka.
As head of local fundraising, he raised $110,000 for the award-winning museum, which opened in 2007.
He has been a weekend volunteer at the museum and had served on the grounds and maintenance subcommittee since 2007.
Mr Burgess won a Trustpower Individual Civic Award in 2014, for his services to the community, and received honorary life membership of the Catlins Historical Society in 2021.
"The museum was what really started it off and in the last 20 years Owaka has really gone ahead," he said.
"They’ve got a shop or two opened up and it looks a lot better.
"It’s more of a destination now rather than a place that you just pass through."
He felt "very honoured" to receive the KSM.
John Randall Burgess
Mosgiel/Owaka
KSM
Community
