Why Ellen’s service to our community should matter.

By Ross B. Taylor AM 

In 2013, I was so honoured to receive the appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia for services to our community and Indonesia-Australia relations.

Two years later I was at King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women in Perth to visit our daughter Lisa and our first granddaughter, Ember Katherine.

KEMH is a wonderful older maternity hospital with incredibly dedicated staff and doctors. The hospital cafe is, so I learned, operated to raise research money for babies and mums who have been disadvantaged or facing major challenges in their life.

As I waited for Lisa’s coffee I couldn’t help notice the lady behind the counter. Her name was Ellen and her badge also stated, ‘Volunteer’.

So I asked her about the shop and what she does:

“Oh, I just work here five days a week as a volunteer trying to help the shop and all the mums in need”, she said.

“So how long have you been doing that?” I asked.

“About ten years now, love,” she replied with a smile, “But some of the ladies out the back making sandwiches and cakes have been here for 15 years. We love doing this.”

As I looked at this lady in her sixties, I reflected upon my own ‘AM’ awarded to me. It was a high point of my life, and such an incredible honour to join with so many truly distinguished Australians.

But then I couldn’t stop looking at Ellen, as she went about her duties serving yet another customer buying a sandwich or coffee - probably for a loved one upstairs with a baby.

“But who recognises Ellen?” I asked myself.

The truth is that ‘recognition’ would not have even entered the mind of this lovely lady and her other friends in this little coffee shop. And most people don’t even know about her contribution to making our nation a better place.

For me, I have a profile. Ellen and her friends don't seek or have such a profile; they are the hidden gems in our society who ask for nothing, and usually receive nothing. It really doesn’t matter to them.

As I walked towards the ward that was home to my daughter and granddaughter, I couldn’t help but reflect on how important it is to acknowledge all the ‘Ellen’s’ who are found in every suburb, in every state in Australia. The real unsung heroes.

The awards bestowed upon those who have made a truly significant personal contribution to Australia without financial reward, sometimes seem diminished when I see so many awards bestowed upon numerous politicians, public servants or even CEO’s who have done nothing more than do their jobs for which they were handsomely paid over many years.

If our government really wants to make our national awards really reflective of our our true Australian spirit, perhaps an essential criterion should be extensive service to the charitable and not-for-profit sector of our community – or an outstanding act of self-sacrifice that helps others - where these services really do make a difference to our nation, or region, and its people.

People like Ellen would probably be embarrassed to receive an Australia Day Award, but that should not be a reason to forget her, and the thousands of ordinary Australians who, every year provide an enormous contribution, without financial reward, to touch the lives of our fellow citizens and make Australia the wonderful country that it is.

Ross Taylor.

January 2019.

(Ross is the honorary President of the Indonesia Institute and Patron and former hon president of the Cancer Wellness Centre in WA)