A sense of something bigger – Queen’s Birthday honours

THINK back to the heady days of the early 1990s. What were you doing then?

Hadden’s Bill McArthur was serving on the old Grenville Shire council when municipal amalgamation was announced. Grenville was going to become part of the newly formed Golden Plains.

For over 20 years after that Mr McArthur would go on to become a strong advocate not just for Haddon, or the north of the Shire but for regional Victoria as a whole.

Yet helping create a sense of purpose for Golden Plains is his proudest achievement.

“One of the main achievements I see after amalgamation was that Golden Plains was one of the leaders in community development,” he said.

“Because of the new entity the community felt disenfranchised and didn’t have an identity. That community development program was extremely important. It was a role model for the rest of the state. It helped the community connect with their new shire and gave them a voice.”

Mr McArthur has given significant time to local government and Golden Plains and for that he’s been recognised with a Medal of the Order of Australia in this year’s Queen’s Birthday honour list.

He was mayor of the Shire in 2004 and 2005, president of the Municipal Association Victoria, worked with VicRoads on the blackspot program as well as time with Haddon’s CFA, rec centre management and primary school council.

All that has given Mr McArthur a sense of something bigger.

“You have to be conscious of the issues right across the board,” he said.

“The single issue, local focused person doesn’t achieve. It takes a long time to achieve goals, particularly around development of infrastructure and services. Unless you can work collaboratively with the others you don’t get anywhere.”

On his Medal of the Order of Australia, Mr McArthur said working for the community was always his motivation.

“It feels a bit incredible,” he said. “After serving the community for 20 odd years is not something that you expect or look for, but it’s certainly been an honour and a privilege to look after the community for so long and to see to their needs.”