Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 14 August at Sussex Heights Primary School I had the great pleasure of recognising outstanding contributions made by volunteers in my electorate of Chisholm at the ninth annual Caroline Chisholm Awards. I incepted the Caroline Chisholm awards following the International Year of the Volunteer. Year in, year out we have been conducting this wonderful ceremony, and each year I think we will not have anyone left to recognise. But again this year I was astounded by the quality and number of nominations that were received. Local residents are invited to nominate those who either live or perform voluntary work within the electorate of Chisholm.

Chisholm is named after one of Australia’s great volunteers, Caroline Chisholm, for her unending work with newly arrived migrants back in the 19th century. I hope we continue to name seats after great Australians and not just politicians because I would really hate to see the name Chisholm disappear off the map altogether. The nominations are assessed by a selection panel so that they are not politically tainted and I would like to thank Norm Gibbs, Joy Bangeri and Keryer Keller for their support in running the selection panel and going through all the nominations. Again this year we had many nominations and we recognised 70 in the end. It is a fantastic opportunity to recognise those people who do so much for our community.

I would like to recognise two groups that were outstanding this year: first, the Wesley conversation group of Prue Field, Elaine Grant, Ruth Dickie, Stan Hubbard, Anita Nickoloff, Lina Agius, Gwen Holdsworth and Norm Hammon. The group was put together many years ago at the Wesley Church and has been teaching conversational English to the many migrants within the area for at least 10 years. Many of the people who were recognised on the day have been volunteering with the group for that entire time. They assist the newly arrived migrants with the tricky process of learning English, not just in a written sense but also in a conversational sense. This group started with a handful of people and today we have over 50 students who attend each week and the volunteers give their time. They are from the Whitehorse end of the electorate.

From the other end of my electorate, in Monash, I recognised Beverley Delaney, who has been volunteering for 30 years in and around the Monash community. Beverley’s volunteering work is immense and includes significant contributions to the Waverley Historical Society and the High Street Road Uniting Church. The Waverley Historical Society would not function without Beverley and I had the pleasure of attending their 40th anniversary just the other day. She is the events coordinator and photographer and she has been responsible for a large and fantastic array of displays throughout the community recognising the history of the area. She put up a display at the Mount Waverley Branch Library and the Monash Federation Centre.

Beverley, like many of the people we recognised on the day, epitomises the true noble values of volunteering and what the Caroline Chisholm awards are all about, recognising people in our community who give their time not to be recognised or thanked. At every award ceremony I ask people why they do it and they do it because of what it gives back to them. I would like to thank them on behalf of our community. (Time expired)