It was a stroke of luck that started Barrack Point's Harry Gooden on his way to the Order of Australia Medal he is receiving as part of this year's Australia Day Honours.
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The 83-year-old is being recognised for his services to the road transport industry, as well as his extensive volunteer work.
Originally from Victoria, Mr Gooden spent numerous years as either the head or member of the executive committee of a number of the state's top transport bodies.
Before retiring in 2001, Mr Gooden spent time as the president of the Victorian Road Transport Association, chairman of the Victorian Waste Management Association and secretary of the Australian Road Transport Suppliers Association.
Mr Gooden was also a VicRoads board member, a councillor on the Road Transport Forum and a committee member on the Australian Road Transport Industry Organisation.
"I started out as police officer, I did that for seven years and then I spent a bit of time as dairy farmer," he said.
"Then a family in Victoria, the Hilberts, bought out the first front-loading garbage truck, myself and another bloke applied to run it and we did that for a while. The other bloke left and I was on my own for a while and it just went from there."
Mr Gooden spent a good portion of his career transforming waste collection in Victoria.
"The Victorian Road Transport Association represented all of the waste collecting services.
"When I started everything was pretty basic, it was all collected and thrown together in one big tip and covered up.
"It was a difficult process, one of the real challenging things was dealing with the unions. In those days there were three people working on each truck, but as the technology got better it didn't need to be three any more.
After retiring Mr Gooden moved to Barrack Heights, where he has continued to work to improve road conditions.
"Road safety is something that's important and it's something that affects everybody and I've enjoyed trying to make being on the road safer.
"I've been on the Illawarra Road Safety Group since about 2000 and that's been great, we've done hundreds of log book runs to help young people and we've done a lot work to help elderlypeople as well," he said.
"I've been involved in Rotary Youth Drive Awareness program for a few years as well and we've sent more than 1500 young people off to speak to police and learn about how to be safer on the roads."
Mr Gooden has also had roles in organisations such as the PCYC and Port Kembla Coastwatch and believes volunteering is something everybody should consider.
"I'd urge anybody to volunteer, there's a lot of organisations out there and they're all doing great things but they need help.
"I had an active career and when I retired I didn't want to just stop, and volunteering has been great in that respect.
"You get to keep busy and help those who need it and you meet some great people."
