I'm talking of course about the bloke with that 'Bowylie' property out near Gundaroo. You know, that guy who sold his electronics business to Woolworths for $20 million and is now doing everything he can to turn consumers onto Australian-owned produce through his "all profits to charity" Aussie-grown food company.

Yes, as many of you may know, Dick Smith is a Yass Valley resident, having bought his 3000 acre Gundaroo property back in 1994. Raised on the north shore of Sydney, it is somewhat surprising that he found such a passion for regional NSW but, as Richard Harold Smith explains, it is just something that always appealed to him.

"Since I was five, back in 1949, I've been travelling down to Canberra to see family and I loved the area around there," he told the Tribune.

"I used to have a lot of commitments in Canberra, being the chairman of both the National Centenary of Federation Council and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority Board, so I wanted a place nearby but out of the city centre."

Because of his property, which boasts 2000 sheep and 250 Angus steers, Smith has spent a fair bit of time in Yass over the years, and has even opened the Yass Show, but he doesn't make the trip down here as much as he'd like anymore.

"Living in Terrey Hills in Sydney, I can only really get down there about eight times a year, but I keep track of the place through my property manager Ben Haseler."

The Tribune would have loved to have spent hours listening to Dick Smith, the adventurer, talk about his third attempt at reaching the North Pole by chopper or how he and wife Pip broke down in Mongolia during a bitter snowstorm during their 15-country four-wheel drive escapade, but we tracked him down not to talk about the adventurer but instead Dick Smith, the philanthropist.

"No, I don't want to talk about that," Smith replied, when asked about the $1 million he donated to the Australian Lions Foundation recently.

"What I will say is that anyone well off has an obligation to give back.

"Anyone wealthy should be known as a philanthropist, and I don't mean big noting about donations or anything like that, I mean being known to give back."

Mr Smith did emphasise the importance of rural areas receiving support through charity work and he expects much of his latest donation to help regional Australia.

"Back when I was a boy, all my relatives in the country were wealthy and the city family was poor, and now it has reversed. We should see it change back as we start to run out of resources and produce with our expanding population," he said.

"A farmer knows and I'm a believer that climate change is happening and there are major food shortages. We need to stabilise the population and live in harmony with nature.

"In the mean time, we need to support rural areas, and the Lions have influence all over Australia."

Bowning & District Lions Club spokeswoman Narelle Field-Wilson said it was no surprise that Mr Smith gave to the charity.

"Yeah it really does great work, I mean if you just look at our Bowning branch, we only have about 30 members but everyone bands together to make a difference," she said.

"We've raised $7500 for BlazeAid and $1800 for the Rae Burgess Centre and that is just a small group running barbeques and raffles.

"It's amazing to think that Dick Smith is donating $1 million to the cause it could do so much good, especially out here in rural areas."

What is next for Dick Smith?

"I have been trying for a while now to get Rupert Murdoch to start up the first billion dollar charity foundation and, as yet, he hasn't come to the party. Which, for someone who is worth $9.1 billion, is not a stretch. He has a duty to give."

With Mr Murdoch also being a Yass ‘neighbour’, perhaps the Tribune – and its readers - can encourage him to join Dick’s foundation.