Kerrie Gray from Alstonville and Colin McLaurin Cameron from Goonellabah awarded Medal of the Order of Australia
Fires, floods and radio: A Goonellabah broadcaster and an Alstonville Red Cross volunteer have been awarded OAMs for their service to the community. These are their stories.
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A pair of local legends have been recognised for a life of service to their community and to their respective industries. These are their stories.
KERRIE GRAY
Alstonville’s Kerrie Gray has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the community
From fires and floods to tornado‘s – Ms Gray has volunteered for Alstonville Red Cross for 40 years and seen it all.
Ms Gray has been working as a volunteer non-stop to support survivors in flood-affected areas of Lismore and surrounding communities since the February-March 2022 floods.
She said there was “such a need” in the community for volunteers after the disasters ravaged the Northern Rivers that she could not stop.
“Ask anyone who‘s a volunteer in any of the organisations around. There’s so much need,” she said.
Ms Gray moved to the Northern Rivers about 25 years ago and has been involved in volunteering in the wake of floods, fires and even a tornado.
She said she was aged “73 and still going strong. Too busy to get old or sick”
Spurred on by the needs of the vulnerable, Ms Gray said: “It‘s very difficult to say no. You just keep going.”
“You get back from helping others more than you actually put in,” she said.
“When you can make someone smile or make someone‘s life a little easier. Connect them to the right person to help them through a difficult situation.”
Ms Gray has crossed the border many times over the years to help out flooded communities in Queensland – no natural disaster is too extreme.
“I‘m not the fittest looking person around but there’s some things I can do and you’ve just got to find the niche that suits you,” she said.
Ms Gray said she was honoured to receive an OAM, but conflicted about whether to accept it.
“I’m conscious that for my indigenous friends, (Australia Day) is not a good day. So I‘m a bit torn,” she said.
However, Ms Gray considered her mentors and fellow volunteers over the decades and ultimately decided to accept the award on their behalf.
“I‘m accepting it on their behalf … they have given me the opportunity to do the work I do and to get the award,” she said.
“I haven‘t got it on my own. I’ve got it through my mentors, my friends, my family, my colleagues, and the staff.
“Everybody that‘s worked with me over those years, has helped and given me the knowledge and the skills to do what I do.
“I love what I do, I love the people we work with. I get a lot out of what we do.
“There’s no ‘I’ in team.”
COLIN MCLAURIN CAMERON
Colin McLaurin Cameron has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to broadcast media and to the community
The radio legend is a “person who thinks outside the circle or square”.
He was not just an innovator while working in the broadcasting industry, he was a first adopter and took risk nobody else would.
Mr Cameron now lives at Goonellabah after a 58 year career of “providing outstanding entertainment and community service programs” all over Australia.
The 83-year-old said he “wanted to make a difference” throughout his career.
“And sometimes, being different can make all the difference,” Mr Cameron said.
He said it was an honour to be recognised with an OAM for his work in radio.
“I was speechless. It was an awesome, humbling feeling,” Mr Cameron said.
“What a climax for a career filled with passion for radio.
“It was really great entertaining the community. It was my life.”
Mr Cameron joined 2DU Dubbo as a night announcer in 1954 at age 18.
It was the first regional radio station to do a graveyard shift in the 50s – 12am to 6am.
In 1960, Mr Cameron joined 4LG Longreach in rural Queensland, becoming Australia’s youngest radio manager at age 23. He then went on to be radio manager of 3UL Warragul in Victoria.
The highlight of his career was when he was able to buy two radio stations in 1977: 3SH Swan Hill and 3CV Bendigo.
Mr Cameron was an innovator and first adopter of automation in Australian radio stations.
“I had some people from a couple of Melbourne stations come up to Bendigo where I had 3CV to see how things were operating,” he said.
“And I opened the door and went into the studio and there was nobody there. They couldn’t believe it.
“They’d been listening all the way up from Melbourne to Bendigo and were totally amazed at the way the automation was programming the station – keeping the station on air.
Colin retired from radio in 2011, on his 75th birthday.
“It was time for someone else to come in and enjoy the camaraderie and radio industry,” he said.
It followed eight years rebuilding WA’s oldest indigenous station, Waringarri Radio 6WR.
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