It’s roundup time for the metal herd

By Paul Dunlop
IF shopping trolleys were sheep, Kevin Lia would be their shepherd.
The Pakenham retiree spends his days tracking down lost and abandoned trolleys, rescuing them from the unlikeliest locations.
“They end up all over the place,” Mr Lia said.
“I never cease to be amazed. I’ve pulled them out of creeks, out of trees and off the golf course. One lady had a dozen of them in her backyard.
“Some people must think they are entitled to take a trolley home every time they shop.”
Mr Lia is paid by Safeway to bring trolleys back to the supermarket, a job that has him trawling the myriad of streets from Army Road in the east to the Toomuc Creek in the west.
Using a rideon mower converted especially for the task and with trusty dog Kieghrey by his side, Mr Lia can often be seen bringing the metal herds back ‘home’.
He has a willing helper in Kelvin Rees, another Pakenham resident with a yen to be of service in the community.
The loss of an arm in a car accident almost 20 years ago never stopped Mr Rees from doing many voluntary good deeds around town. Between them, the pair is responsible for keeping many public assets neat and tidy, often without official recognition.
A former farmer at Nar Nar Goon, Mr Lia said when he retired and moved to Pakenham with wife Phyllis a few years ago, he immediately looked for a way to be of use.
“The doctor told me I had to do something, I can’t sit at home and do nothing. I saw the trolleys here, there and everywhere and so it began.”
Mr Lia and Mr Rees recently spent several hours fishing out trolleys that had sat rusting away in the Toomuc creek for months.
Over two afternoons, the pair pulled 30 trolleys out from the bush around the creek.
“Some days you’ll go out and you won’t get any, the next day you can be overrun. It’s unbelievable,” Mr Lia said.
“Often the kids will have jumped on them and broken the wheels off. They’re pretty expensive, too.”
Mr Rees said he had learnt to adapt to the loss of his arm and became lefthanded after years of relying on his right.
“It’s better to do something than nothing,” he said of his voluntary work.
“It’s amazing how much rubbish you find around the place.”
Mr Lia, who turns 76 in April, said the biggest buzz he got from his trolley collecting was the recognition from people in the street, particularly children.
“That’s the part I love about it, the kids,” he said. “The kids all wave to me and I wave back.”
Aware that authorities including Cardinia Shire Council were looking at ways to stop trolleys being left all over town, Mr Lia said initiatives such as coinoperated trolleys would certainly make his life easier, but was reluctant to call for change.
“I’m happy doing something that needs to be done. In a way, I hope they don’t get coinoperated trolleys. I’d have to find something else to do.”