Home from the Hill - Rod Drew

17 October 2020

Our movement has lost a giant with the passing overnight of Rod Drew after a characteristically brave battle with cancer.

Having grown up at Howlong, on the Murray River, Rod was a lifelong hunter and he joined the board of Victorian Field & Game (as it was then) in 1990.

In 1997, in the wake of the Port Arthur Massacre and the Howard Government’s sweeping changes to firearm laws, Rod became that organisations first full time Chief Executive Officer. Rod has remained at the vanguard of hunting and shooting politics in Australia ever since.

Rod stayed with Field & Game (as it had become) until 2015 when he took the helm of the fledgling Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia.

Back in 2016 Rod spoke of his motivations.

“I’d seen the loss of duck hunting in NSW and the loss of duck hunting in WA and saw what pressure it was under in other states. I realised that shooting organisations had to get more professional and get away from the club mentality which works at local level but not at a strategic political level. It was gun politics and hunting politics…but also eating meat politics versus vegetarianism, access to public land and the ability to conserve our wetlands”.

Rod was a conservative (although he did join a union once, Actors Equity so that he could work as an extra on the movie ‘The Man from Snowy River’) who built strong alliances across the political spectrum courtesy of his firm, consistent, transparent and respectful approach to advocacy.

Over a quarter of a century, Rod earned a position as a trusted voice with political leaders and decision makers across the nation. No small feat considering that he was advocating for some of the most controversial and unpopular causes in modern society.

ADA had the pleasure of working closely with Rod over a long period of time and this author in particular will forever be indebted for his advice and guidance. 

Rod also served as a board member of the Game Council New South Wales, Victoria’s Game Management Authority and on the federal Firearm Industry Reference Group and Victoria’s Firearm Consultative Committee.

If you hunt or shoot in Australia, you owe a debt of gratitude to Rod Drew.

The Board and Members of the Australian Deer Association express our heartfelt condolences to Rod’s family and to his many friends.

Under the wide and starry sky,

Dig the grave and let me lie.

Glad did I live and gladly die,

And I lay me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:

Here he lies where he longed to be;

Home is the sailor, home from the sea,

And the hunter home from the hill.

Robert Louis Stevenson