MURRAY VALLEY 2024 AWARDS NIGHT

This year, the evening was hosted on February 8 and guests travelled far and wide to enjoy a famously good event. During the evening, the Peter Purvis and Nicholas Welch Memorial trophies are handed out to the largest sambar and fallow shot during the preceding year.

The Peter Purvis Memorial Award was first awarded in 1993, following his death from cancer in 1991 at 31. Despite passing at such a tender age, Peter left an incredible legacy within the Australian Deer Association (ADA), particularly for recreational hound hunters. In 1987, whiet serving as the Victorian State Secretary, a ban was enacted on hunting wild deer with hounds. Peter, knowing this was unjust and based on misinformation, set about a significant body of advocacy work to have this ban revoked.

In a major advocacy win for the ADA, the ban was lifted 12 months later, and hunting sambar with scent-trailing hounds was now recognised as a legitimate means of hunting sambar deer in Victoria.

Peter and his wife Wilma moved to Wangaratta in 1990 due to Peter’s work. At the time, there was no ADA branch in the area, so Peter set about forming the Murray Valley branch, which held its first meeting on December 4, 1990. Peter was elected the branch President during the first meeting, and Mike Harrison (a life member) was the guest speaker.

Peter’s legacy lives on today, stronger than ever.

Congratulations to Alex Broadhurst on winning the 2024 Peter Purvis Memorial Trophy. Perhaps fittingly, Alex harvested his stag over the hounds.

The Nicholas Welch Memorial Trophy was also awarded on the night. This trophy is in honour of the late former member Nicholas Welch, who sadly passed away in a hunting accident in July 2010. Nick had an incredible passion for wild deer and hunting, and his enthusiasm was infectious to all those who met him.

Congratulations to Jared Matthews, this year’s Nicholas Welch Memorial Trophy winner.