Armidale’s Judith Magnus Grieve has been honoured with an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the 2012 Queen’s Birthday awards. It is not the first time Mrs Grieve’s community service has been formally recognised. In 2010, she was awarded Armidale Dumaresq Council’s Joint Senior Citizen of the Year and Dumaresq Shire named her Citizen of the Year, in 1990. Yet, the OAM is an honour that still has her stunned. “I cannot really believe it,’ she said.
“Long-term, as it sinks in, it will mean a great deal to me.”
Community service is in Mrs Grieve’s genes.
“My father was awarded an OBE in the 1960s and my mother was awarded on OAM in 1992. I was very proud of my parents and I know they would feel the same way for me. I never dreamt that I would be doing anything in my life that warranted me receiving such an award,” she said.
Mrs Grieve has been President of the Armidale and District Historical Society since 2005; Treasurer from 1998-2004 and a Member of its Editorial Committee, since 1999. She is also a member of Armidale’s Family History Group.
Civic service has made Mrs Grieve a familiar face in Armidale Dumaresq Council’s administration building. She has been on Council’s Australia Day Committee since 2000, its Tourist Advisory Committee; and most recently, the Sesquicentenary Commemoration Committee.
Mrs Grieve is Secretary and Member of the Dangarsleigh Local Area Group, also serving that district as a speaker for the ANZAC Day Service at the Dangarsleigh War Memorial, since 2005.
A Foundation Member of District 24 of Zonta International several years ago, Mrs Greive has demonstrated that she is an easy going, sociable, community-minded character who is always prepared to roll up her sleaves to pitch in and make a difference.
“You do things in life that you enjoy and that you want to do. I’ve enjoyed being a part of a team and unearthing stories of historical importance. You can achieve things without being highly trained and make a lasting, positive impact on the place where you enjoy living.
“I researched the soldiers listed on the Dangarsleigh Memorial because, when I asked who they were, nobody knew. I knew my great-uncle was on that memorial but little was known of the rest. So I spent many years researching the lives of those soldiers from the district, so that their stories will live on and they will be remembered as more than names on a monument.
“I have also recorded the 584 men and women who served their country in the military from the Armidale Teachers’ College. They are now on an honour board upstairs in the Old Teachers’ College building. I feel that I have achieved something lasting.”
As a Foundation Member of the Friends of the Old Teachers’ College Armidale Inc (and Secretary), Mrs Grieve was part of a small team which accomplished a great deal, in keeping an Armidale landmark alive. “The Old Teachers’ College was to be mothballed at one time because it no longer had a function as a College of Advanced Education. Our group worked very hard to keep it operating. It is now a busy, vibrant place of culture and is home to a number of organisations. Friends of the Old Teachers’ College is proud to have a memorabilia room, so the tangible history of the college has a presence in the building.”
Story: Gary Fry
