When Maleny volunteer Norma McLeod saw an email from the Official Secretary to the Governor General in her inbox she thought she was the victim of a practical joke.

“I thought someone was having a go at me,” Norma said. But it wasn’t a hoax. It was an email informing Norma she was being recognised in the Australia Day 2021 Honours list for her contribution to the Maleny community.

Norma was one of only five Sunshine Coast recipients of an Order of Australia Medal (OAM). The medal is acknowledgement of her work for Centre for Retirement Living (Blue Care), Maleny Show Society, Maleny Garden Club, Maleny Floral Art Group and the Maleny Soldiers Memorial Hospital, to name a few.

Norma, who turns 85 on February 11, said receiving an award was the last thing she expected.

“You don’t do all this work for the rewards,” she said. “It’s just for the enjoyment of the work — the camaraderie and the people. I like volunteering. I like the people I volunteer with. It’s very interesting and it’s very rewarding.”

Norma said a chance meeting with a well known “Maleny Matriarch” when she was new to town was the catalyst for the quarter century of service.

“Peg Burnett got me started,” she said. “We were on a bus trip with the Garden Club 25 years ago and coming back up the Range. I’d been chatting with Peg and eventually she jokingly said: ‘You can stay here in Maleny, and I don’t say that to everyone I meet’.” Norma later realised it was a worthy endorsement from a lady who was at the time the “unofficial mayor of Maleny”.

“Later (husband) Keith and I saw Peg in town and she said ‘You’re coming to the Show Ball tonight!’. 

“And that was the start of it all.”

Norma was heavily involved in arranging Maleny Soldiers Memorial Hospital’s Walk of Remembrance, was treasurer of Erowal Auxiliary, has raised money through morning teas and bush dances for Parkinsons support and decorated the main stage at the Maleny Show for 11 years with assistance from Keith and Marie Hegerty.

Currently she’s working through old Maleny Show schedules in order to highlight the achievements of legends behind the annual event. Norma will officially receive her OAM from Queensland Governor Paul de Jersey later this year at Government house.