Melbourne cricket ground, 1977 Centenary test, Queen Elizabeth touring the Melbourne Cricket Ground: Back then, the MCC was male membership only, no ladies allowed in the long room but the MCC made an exception for her majesty.

As the queen entered the long room, the all-male crowd went quiet except for one lone voice who commented ‘who let the bird in?’.

That voice belonged to Clive Davenport.

Even when Clive was trying to keep his voice down, he was loud. His family down at Mt Waverley firmly believed that if any sheep were nearby whenever Clive called them from Hay, his voice would blow the wool clean off them.

Every Christmas, Clive and his booming voice would trek down the highway to Mt Waverley, occasionally with an entire sheep in an esky for his sister-in-law to cook, much to her bemusement.

Presents for his nephews and nieces were always thoughtfully chosen from one of Hay’s few stores, and he would join the young ones in backyard cricket and golf putting, patiently encouraging and coaching them.

Clive Davenport, the beloved Hay icon with the booming voice, died on September 19 aged 89.

He was one of Hay’s true gentlemen.

Clive Geoffrey Davenport was born on August 16, 1935 in Glen Iris to Gordon and Minnie Margaret. His arrival was very excitedly welcomed by his older brother, Roger and a tight bond of brotherly love and respect was instantly formed.

Clive’s cousins, the Halligans and the Piggotts lived nearby and Clive’s early life was an idyllic mix of family and friends, backyard cricket and football and long summers spent with his cousin Max Chalmers at their property, ‘Devon’ near Deniliquin.

These early years helped to set up Clive’s deep and abiding love for the country lifestyle and for sport, particularly cricket.

Though born, raised and educated in Melbourne, Clive became a man of the land and spent his working life as a stock and station agent where he earnt the respect and loyalty of his clients, buyers and his peers. He arrived in Hay in 1958 to join the team at the former Australia Mercantile Land and Finance Company (later to become Dalgety Ltd) as an accountant.

After a stint working at other branches between 1960 and 1972, Clive returned to Hay as manager. He did everything; from forecasts and financial statements with clients, to drafting their sheep.

Clive always enjoyed working with sheep and always had an interest in all stock in general. He worked through both wet times, and extreme dry seasons.

Clive was drawn to anyone and anything related to sheep and wool.

He was an ambassador of Hay Sheep Show Committee, a regular face at local sheep sales long after he retired and a committed and enthusiastic ‘meet and greet’ volunteer at Shear Outback since it opened on Australia Day 2002. Clive was happiest being surrounded by sheep in the yards on the Hay Plains, but not as happy as he was on the cricket pitch, with his dearest friend, Trish or later in life – at his beloved Shear Outback.

Clive’s love for cricket is legendary.

The Clive Davenport Award is a coveted trophy for Hay Cricket Club Person of the Year and will remain a strong memorial to a man who gave so much to the game that he loved.

He loved cricket as a player, umpire, spectator and mentor to many younger players and for this Clive was fittingly awarded a Distinguished Service Award in 2004 by Cricket NSW and the NSW Country Cricket Association. His most fond memory was of the early 1970s Hay team, which owned and hosted the ‘Holy Grail of Riverina Cricket’; the O’Farrell Cup.

Clive was also president of the Cricket Association for some time.

He has enjoyed, before and after retirement in 1992, travelling the world to follow cricket.

Over the years Clive watched Australia play test matches in England, West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, India and New Zealand.

Clive never married, although he came close a couple of times, particularly with Trish Lewis from South Africa who shared his love and knowledge of cricket.

Although the planets never quite aligned for Clive and Trish to find a place they could be together, they shared almost 30 years of deep abiding love, friendship and respect, remaining in touch with each other until the end. One of Clive’s regrets was that he never married and did not have children.

But he remained a constant and positive presence in the lives of his family members who gathered in Hay last Monday to farewell Clive from the Uniting Church.

They were deeply touched and very appreciative that the team at Shear Outback had lowered the flag to half-mast after Clive’s passing. Clive would have loved that.