Our OAM heroes
BETWEEN them, Noosa's three new Order of Australia Medal recipients have saved life and limb, fiercely protected the environment and helped those in need to receive sustenance.
Examine the lengthy records of Queen's Birthday Honours awardees Eleanor Nimmo, of Noosa Heads, Eumundi's Des Ritchie and the late Gloria Bruzzone, and you will find they consistently filled the needs of their community.
All three have been all-round contributors to the well-being and harmony of the organisations they helped to steer and inspirations for those they served alongside.
Mrs Nimmo was awarded her OAM for "service to the community through a range of charitable and service organisations" in Gympie and more recently throughout Noosa.
She has been a tireless volunteer for Meals on Wheels and a stalwart of Probus, local bridge clubs and still gives her time freely on Thursday as a Noosa Hospital volunteer.
The OAM for anti-nuclear campaigner Mr Ritchie, for many years the face of the Sunshine Coast Environment Council (SCEC), was for service to the performing arts, conservation and the environment in Queensland.
And Ms Bruzzone, who moved to Noosa from South Australia and became an emergency service lynchpin, richly earned her OAM for always being on call in times of emergency and distress. Her passing from illness late last year was deeply felt by her many colleagues and friends in Coast Guard Noosa, the SES, Red Cross, Noosa Hospital volunteers, as well as local lifesaving and Masters swimmers.
Mrs Nimmo, who moved to Noosa in 2001 after 50 years in Gympie, said she felt deeply honoured to receive the award.
"I first became involved in charitable groups through my husband David and it went from there," Mrs Nimmo said.
He joined public service organisations like Apex and Lions and Mrs Nimmo became part of the wives' auxiliaries. She volunteered her time at the local pony club and helped raise funds for cerebral palsy through her involvement with the Miss Australia Quest committee in the 1960s.
Mrs Nimmo was a foundation member of Gympie Meals on Wheels back in the early 1970s,
was a friend of the Gympie Library who would pick up books for the house-bound and, after relocating to Noosa, helped out with the Noosa LongWeekend.
"I'm still at the (Noosa) hospital on Thursdays from 10.30pm to 4.30pm or thereabouts, doing clerical work and lots of pushing of wheelchairs," she said.
Mr Ritchie, who lives at Eumundi, said he was pleasantly surprised by his OAM.
He had been sailing around in his yacht when he stopped in at Mooloolaba in 1979.
"I had a look around, liked what I saw and I've been here ever since," he said.
That proved a valuable gain for the Queensland Folk Federation and Coast conservation.
After campaigning locally to make the South Pacific a nuclear-free zone, Mr Ritchie said he was introduced to some SCEC members.
"They seemed to be talking a hell of a lot of sense to me," said the former wildflower festival stalwart and 1997 Coast Conservationist of the Year.
There is hardly a field of conservation that he has not tackled or supported, and he believes the Coast is richer beyond all measures for retaining its biodiversity, which should never be taken for granted.
The folk federation leader said he recently helped plant 100,000 trees at the Woodford Folk Festival site and believes that is where our future survival lies.
Mrs Bruzzone - was as at home on the deck of a rescue vessel as she was in orange overalls helping tarp homes after savage storms and the former journo handled the PR machine as well as any emergency equipment.
