National honours for Yass residents

By Katharyn Brine | January 26, 2016 at 7:45 am 1 Comment

AUSTRALIA DAY: Two Yass residents have been honoured in today’s national Australia Day honours.

Retired matron and former councillor Judith Williams has received a Medal of the Order of Australia General Division (OAM) for service to local government and to the community of Yass.

Brian O’Connor has been named a Member (AM) in the general division of the Order of Australia for significant service to the petroleum transport industry through emergency response safety training, and to the community of Yass.

Mr O’Connor co-founded the Canberra and Region Oil Industry Emergency Response Group (CROIEG) and is a former councillor.

Scoop spoke with both of them last night.

Judith Williams, OAM

“I’m really still actually amazed that I should be considered as a worthy recipient of such an award,” Mrs Williams said.

She attributes her strong sense of community involvement to her parents.

“Both parents were very kind, generous people. We came from a very ordinary, working class background and I guess it is part of our Irish Catholic background.”

She moved to Yass with her young family 47 years ago on August 5, 1968.

“There’s still probably a generation that doesn’t realise I haven’t always been here. The children all think I’ve been here forever.

“I came here as a young woman. I came came from Tumut although I was born at Gunning at the beginning of the last war.

Her drive to contribute to community

“The second World War, I think, did do a lot to impress upon me the need to be able to help one another, because… I think there was this banding together of people.

“After the war, life was not easy, it was difficult. People didn’t have accommodation, they didn’t have jobs, a lot of them. They had no financial resources and I can still remember rationing. So people’s lives were difficult, although we didn’t think times were tough at the time because that was just how life was, and everybody we knew were in the same boat.

“There was a great joy amongst the people and we all helped one another, and I think that was how it all started.

“To be able to help someone is a great joy, it really is. And to see that in some small way you can make their life a bit better, than I think that’s the reward.

“To be able to advocate for people who can’t advocate for themselves. You have the opportunity and often the privilege of being able to do that.”

Her background is in nursing, having trained at Royal Prince Alfred in Sydney. She went on to become Matron in Tumut.

New beginnings

What started as a five-week stint relieving annual leave at Yass District Hospital, evolved into six years serving as the sole midwifery practitioner at night and a progression to Matron in 1975.

Mrs Williams continued as the newly-named Director of Nursing until her appointment as Health Service Manager in 1995.

She retired from that position in 2002.

“Yass has always been a great place to live. I’ve always said this town has a tremendous community spirit, always has.

“In the years I’ve been working with community groups and individuals, there’s always been this great ambition to strive and achieve things for the betterment of others.”

Her contribution

Mrs Williams has been contributing to the Yass Valley community landscape through a myriad of ways besides nursing, including as Yass Valley Council Deputy Mayor (2004-2012), Yass Shire Council Deputy Mayor (2002-2003 and 1995-1998), Deputy Shire President (1994-1995) and Councillor (1991-2012).

She has served on numerous council committees and held various Community Representative roles throughout her time in Yass,  including her work with Anglicare’s Rae Burgess Centre, as a member of the Old School Grounds and Library Committee, a volunteer with Yass St Vincent de Paul, and Patron of the Yass Amateur Swim Club.

Her work to improve options for the elderly living in this district can be seen with the introduction of aged care facilities.

“There was a group of us, although I guess there aren’t many of us left now… that got together to build the nursing home… It was more or less the formation of the Council for the Care of the Ageing and our project was to build a nursing home in Yass; that would’ve been in the 1980s.

“The reason I was involved was because I was at the hospital and we had patients, who really for all intents and purposes, should have been nursing home patients. But because there were no nursing homes, we cared for our older folk at hospital. And we appreciated the fact that it was not an ideal life for people to spend their remaining years within an acute hospital.”

On the push for council mergers

As a former councillor, she is pleased Yass Valley has maintained its independence as a stand alone council and resisted pressure by the NSW Government to merge many regional councils.

“I’ve never been in favour [of merging]. Yass has a really brilliant future. The whole district, and I have always been of the mind that bigger isn’t always best.

“Staying as a stand alone council, we have closer contact with out communities and local government is the arm of government closest to the people.

“Because of your proximity to your community and access that the community has to you, you should within limits… be able to respond in a timely and appropriate manner to your people.

“I’ve always felt that whilst we can sustain services and prepare for the future and make a sustainable and worthwhile community space for people, we should remain as a stand alone council.”

Quiet celebration

Mrs Williams has kept the news of her award close to her chest but is looking forward to quietly breaking the news to her sons tomorrow with a limited amount of fuss.

Robert who works in medical imaging at Canberra Hospital and John, who is pro vice chancellor professor at Adelaide University, are two of her proudest achievements.

“I’ve got two sons who grew up to be good, kind men.

“One of the reasons I accepted this award is so that they could be proud of their mother.”

She will be attending today’s Yass Australia Day ceremony as a “cheer squad” for a group of people she is excited to see rewarded for their community involvement.

“This district has a tremendous future due in part to our proximity to Canberra – because we have the opportunity of all that the city has to offer but also a marvellous ability to still remain a rural / country community.

“The lifestyle here is something to be envied.

“This is my home, this is my community and I am proud of it. Even with its little flaws, it is a marvellous place to be, a great place to raise children, a great place for community and great place to grow old in.”

See Mr O”Connor’s story here. Read about the Yass citizenship awardees here.