But he does acknowledge there are probably few nonagenarians that have their private pilot’s licence and still fly, let alone own two planes.
Mr Burnside, who turned 90 yesterday, was a prominent figure in governance for decades, particularly in agribusiness — most notably as a director of PPCS (now Silver Fern Farms) for 35 years, including 18 as chairman — and the health sector, along with various other organisations.
At his Mosgiel home this week and still as sharp as the proverbial tack, he was busy working on the constitution for the Otago Aero Club, a type of document he was extremely familiar with.
It was 1960 when Mr Burnside first got his pilot’s licence and it could be a useful asset on his Hillend farm in South Otago.
If they ran out of water, then taking to the sky was an easy way to locate any offending troughs.
It was also handy to detect cast sheep, particularly if there was a suitable area to land nearby, and he was able to get the animal upright and then continue on his way.
But with 2500 flying hours under his belt, he admitted he now enjoyed mowing the lawn around the hangar at the nearby Taieri Aerodrome, on a ride-on mower, as much as going flying these days.
He has a 1975 Piper Arrow and a 1938 Piper Cub.
While a little deafness was a “bit of a nuisance”, he attributed that to the many hours he spent driving a tractor on the farm — which is now leased to a young couple — without earmuffs.
He had left South Otago High School after his father had a serious accident to return home to work on the farm.
The only boy — he had four sisters — he was quite happy to be a farmer.
Strong community service was a family trait. He joined the Hillend Young Farmers Club when he was 14, riding his bicycle to meetings, and he set up a YFC club at South Otago High School while a pupil there and was involved with running a big field day at the school.
Four members of the family all served on the organisation’s national executive at various times; his father was a delegate from Federated Farmers and two of his sisters represented the Country Girls’ Club, while he was elected national president in 1964.
That involvement with YFC stood him in good stead for his future governance career, particularly around the way meetings were conducted.
Back then, clubs would be judged on their skills with meeting procedures, minutes, accounts and general running of clubs and it was highly competitive.
Training as a cook during his stint of Compulsory Military Training — which included running a kitchen and cooking for about 220 young men — also taught him the discipline of being organised and forward planning; that discipline was to prove valuable in all aspects of his life.
In 2006, Mr Burnside was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Directors and he endeavoured to still encourage those he believed had potential in governance.
One of those was Rob Hewett, the retiring co-chairman of Silver Fern Farms who now has a host of other agribusiness and business governance roles.
It was Mr Burnside who phoned him in November, 2007 and encouraged him to stand for the Silver Fern Farms board, telling Mr Hewett he did not know when opportunity would knock again.
Mr Burnside was always a fan of having younger people coming through the ranks to take over, saying younger people had ideas.
“If you’ve got sisters as powerful as my sisters were, you certainly didn’t get away with your own ideas all the time,” he quipped.
While he has a host of accolades to his name, Mr Burnside said he often thought the recognition that would be nice would be being remembered as “a good cockie”.
In 1971, he was awarded a Nuffield Scholarship which provided six months of study in the UK, and he was made a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow — he remains involved in Rotary.
There was the Robbie Burnside Block, which was the main sheep and beef farm at Telford, which he helped establish as a farming training institute, the Robbie Burnside Meeting Room at Clutha Health First where he was a foundation director, and the Robbie Burnside Cup, presented each year to a person who has made a valuable and significant contribution to the rural community.
The Robbie Burnside Governance Scholarship, supported by Silver Fern Farms Co-operative, provides an opportunity for shareholders to gain knowledge, skills and experience to contribute as governors of co-operative agribusinesses.
Mr Burnside did not miss those heady days of his own governance career.
“What you find is if you look through your contact list, a lot don’t answer the phone any more.”
