Maxwell (Max) Gary Baker was born in Melbourne on May 4, 1960, the second child of Maxwell John and Christeena Amelia Baker (nee Gulliver).
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He was a younger brother to Gail, and later had two more siblings, Russel and Jane. His parents lived in Glenroy. His father worked at Johnson and Rielly’s timber yard in Keilor as a sawyer and saw doctor, and his mother was a home-maker.
Max had a happy childhood playing with his siblings and cousins who all lived nearby. His favourite toy was a little red trike. Maybe that was the start of his future love of motorbikes.
He started school at Westbreen State School at 4½. When he was 7, the family shifted to 10ha at Bullengarook, near Gisborne, and he transferred to Bullengarook State School.
He loved building cubby houses and billy carts, and they soon had poultry, cows and calves, goats and horses. Max had his own pony and was a member of Bullengarook Pony Club.
He also joined Gisborne Scouts. Many weekends were spent attending agricultural shows, helping his mum showing her dairy goats.
Max later attended Bacchus Marsh High School.
At age 14 they shifted to Neerim onto a dairy farm. Max transferred to Neerim South High School. He hated school and said the day he left school just before his 15th birthday was one of the best days of his life.
He started his working life on a dairy farm in Warragul, travelling to work by bus each day.
In 1976 the family shifted again to a bigger dairy farm at Mathers Rd, Waaia, and that’s where Max spent most of the rest of his life.
He started work as a relief milker, did hay carting, farm work, drove trucks and picked tobacco. He started his own hay carting business (small squares) and in the off-season did fencing.
In 1978, he joined Nathalia Young Farmers Club, and his life changed.
Young Farmers took up most of the next seven years. He had so much fun, made many lifelong friends and gained a lot of confidence. He had a term as president. He went on motorbike trips with mates from Young Farmers in 1983, 1984 and 1985 to Perth, Cairns and Darwin and had an incredible time.
In 1985, Max married Belinda Bloodworth who he had met through Young Farmers, and they shifted to Cobram to work on a dairy farm.
In February 1986, he was hit by a car while riding a motorbike home from the dairy. He was severely injured, the most serious injury resulting in a below-knee amputation of his right leg.
He recovered amazingly well and returned to work in eight weeks. They shifted to a dairy sharefarming job at Waaia, and then ran a piggery just near the Nathalia abattoirs for a couple of years.
In 1990, Max bought the family dairy farm from his parents and began building up the herd. He introduced the Brown Swiss breed and continued dairying until the end of 2018, when he transitioned into beef.
Max Baker with his dog Laddy about 15 years ago.
In 1996, after 11 years of marriage, a surprise package arrived — a new son, Michael.
Max was a proud and loving dad to Michael, and always maintained a very strong bond with him. Max always loved children, but unfortunately they lost two infants born with medical problems over the next few years.
Max was a member of Nathalia Lions Club, and served two terms as president. He was so dedicated he went to meetings by boat in the 1993 floods. He helped organise many motor bike poker runs and Roarer’s rallies for Lions.
He was also a proud life member of the Barmah Forest Cattlemen’s Association and enjoyed the Barmah Musters. He had his own mustering team called Max’s Mongrels, and had agisted up to 50 head of cattle in the forest.
Max Baker about six years ago.
Photo by
Julie Mercer
Max loved riding motorbikes. He eagerly looked forward to the annual Koetong Run between Christmas and New Year. He’d been on it 35 times with the same group of good mates, and was often the life of the party.
Max and Belinda’s marriage ended around 2007.
A new lady eventually came into his life. Max married Suzanne Beames in 2014 and he gained a step family including daughters Tara and Megan, whom he came to love. The girls gave him four grandchildren to love as well.
Max and Suzanne travelled and enjoyed life, until health issues and COVID-19 got in the way.
Max Baker in Barmah Forest in 1999.
Photo by
staff photographer
Max’s health problems began about three years ago, when he was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. He endured major surgery and many treatments, always confident of a cure.
He was the most optimistic person — he still had a lot of life to live and a family who loved him. But cancer claimed him in the end.
He died in Nathalia Hospital on September 9, 2023, aged 63.
Max’s funeral at the Nathalia Community Centre on September 18 was attended by 500 people, and he was escorted to the Nathalia Cemetery by a large cavalcade of motorbikes ridden by his friends from the Koetong Run.
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