Cr Roger Aitken was born in Hopetoun, Victoria and went to Primary School in Brim and Tarranyurk, and High School in Dimboola and Rainbow. He then went onto Longerenong College to do a farm apprenticeship course over four years. In the fourth year, he spent one year in America at Rolling Hills Ranch, so a boy from the Mallee travelled to the snowy foothills and Alps of the Rocky Mountains. In 1983, a man nuclear missile silo hit within about 3 miles of the house that he was living in. This was a big change and culture shock to experience during this time. On his way home, he went on a bit of a whirlwind tour to Canada, Mexico and spent time in Japan and China. He thought going to America was a culture shock, but this was certainly not the case back in 1983.
Arriving back in Tarranyurk following his travels, Cr Aitken settled into farming with his parents on their property located along the Wimmera River and near Lake Hindmarsh. Growing up, the Big Desert was his backyard. He played football in his teens and played golf and tennis in his early 20s. He also volunteered for Young Farmers, Church Youth Club, Jeparit Clay Target Club and the Wimmera River Environmental Committee.
He joined the Army Reserves in Horsham, Victoria with the Royal Australian Corp of Transport. He also joined the Australian Defence Force (ADF) where he's still serving today as a Defence Force Contractor in training command and has done several tours with them. The last one, during Covid, was with Maritime Border Command (MBC) working out of Darwin, his focus being on logistics and training protecting our sovereign borders.
He's been a member of many different clubs and non-profit organisations over the years such as the Rainbow Rises Event Association Secretary, Rainbow District Landcare Vice President, Friends of Lake Hindmarsh President, Rainbow Timber and Water DECKER Committee of Management, Rainbow Town Committee, Pigick CFA, Royal Flying Doctors Service (RFDS), The Find A Way Foundation, Sporting shooters Association Australia (SSAA) and RSL. At times he was very busy, however he's always enjoyed giving back to the community.
Cr Aitken is currently back in Rainbow working as a handyman for the local community and doing welfare checks.
In recent years, he's tried to advocate for different people around the area to become Councillors, but to no avail. So, as he kept asking the questions everyone would say ‘why don’t you do it, you're on everything anyway’, so he nominated himself as a Councillor for the 2024 Elections. He's been elected by his community and will do his absolute best to advocate for the community, be a voice and advocate the community’s needs to the Hindmarsh Shire Council.