Moira Franklin OAM in 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours list
Moira Franklin is ever ready to roll up her sleeves for all manner of things - from church to the RSL, Scouts and vintage cars and many things in-between. Why there’s no stopping the power of a doer:
Coffs Harbour
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A friend of Moira Franklin always greets her with the words “hello, hidden treasure” - and it’s true, though the pillar of the community of Gleniffer near Bellingen is so much more.
The retired primary school teacher has been named a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list and in an unaffected country way is “feeling somewhat overwhelmed”.
Ms Franklin has won the gong for services to the community of Gleniffer, where she’s lived with husband Kevin since they moved there 47 years back.
Hand-in-hand with that timeline has been her service to the community church, where she is the organist.
“We still hold services, once a month,” she said.
The quaint church and the town hall in which she is also involved as a volunteer are stoic survivors of a once thriving commercial village.
“There used to be a butcher, a blacksmith and garage,” she said, as husband Kevin chirped from the background: “a wheelwright too”.
Ms Franklin was named on the nation’s Hidden Treasures Roll in 2019, an honour fondly reminded to her by a fellow member of the Coffs Harbour Vintage and Veteran Car Club, where she serves as secretary.
“My husband has two military vehicles which he has restored,” she explains of the link, and of the friend with the cheeky ‘hidden treasure’ greeting.
While her church work has been a staple, Ms Franklin has put in the hard unglamorous yards at so many pursuits.
She has served as a volunteer for the Bellinger River RSL Sub-Branch, and the local Landcare and riding groups.
Ms Franklin also twinkles the ivories for the Bellingen Masonic Village and maintains involvement with the North East NSW Hunting Club.
“I used to shoot but these days I’m just the secretary to help the club keep going,” she said.
Ms Franklin has also been a breastfeeding counsellor and heavily involved in the Scouts movement.
“We were a team (with husband Kevin) in the Scouting organisation and took young people away on many exciting adventures, even to New Zealand,” she said.
“When you are doing things for the community you don’t think of awards, and I’m just one of many in the community who volunteers.
“You get so much out of it and you make many friends.”
A champion when the need is greatest
Vicki Anne Simpson has been named as a winner of the Public Service Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Ms Simpson has been feted for outstanding public service to the Mid North Coast Local Health District, particularly during the Covid pandemic.
Ms Simpson is currently serving as the director of Nursing, Midwifery and Service Reform, and as the Health Service Functional area co-ordinator for the Mid North Coast Local Health District.
The honour citation notes her professionalism, resilience and leadership as being influential in the health district’s response to catastrophic bushfires, a once in a generation flood and the pandemic over the past three years.
Ms Simpson also spearheaded the mass vaccination program for the district, resulting in more than 95 per cent of the eligible local population reaching double vaccination status.