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“THE people who are passionate about Eaglehawk wear their heart on their sleeves,” Aylene Kirkwood said.
She wasn’t describing herself, but she could well have been.
It’s for service to the community of Eaglehawk that the stalwart has been named an Order of Australia Medal recipient in the Queen’s Birthday 2017 Honours List.
The 73-year-old is a founding member of the Eaglehawk Heritage Society, a member of the Eaglehawk Mechanics Institute management committee and a part of the Eaglehawk Dahlia and Arts Festival.
She helps plan the Canterbury Carols and the City of Greater Bendigo’s Summer in the Parks program, and loves volunteering with St Vincent de Paul and St Liborius’ Primary School.
“I don’t really know how I come to do any of these things,” Mrs Kirkwood said.
“You become a volunteer because you love your community and you love what you’re doing.
“Anything that happens in Eaglehawk I try to be on the forefront [of] to make sure that whatever’s in Eaglehawk stays in Eaglehawk – I’m pretty passionate about that.”
She considers some some of the greatest honours she’s had bestowed on her being named Eaglehawk’s Citizen of the Year in 2009, and winning the inaugural empowering Eaglehawk sports and arts award in 2013.
“Its the greater part of Bendigo,” Mrs Kirkwood said of the borough.
“Everybody’s always there for someone else, but you never live in each other’s pocket.”
The community’s historical value is part of its appeal for Mrs Kirkwood.
“There would be people who have lived in Eaglehawk all their life that have never been in this courthouse, never been inside the council chambers of the town hall, never been inside the Australian Manchester Unity Hall, and it is the most magnificent building inside,” she said.
“That concerns me, that you can live in a place all your life and not know the history.”
She was written several publications about the history of Eaglehawk, and is actively involved in helping people research the history of their families and historical artefacts.
“We started the heritage society I think back in 1994 when amalgamation was happening,” Mrs Kirkwood said.
“We never wanted to lose our identity, to be, I suppose, gobbled up in just the greater part of Bendigo. We wanted to keep our own little identity out here.
“It’s just trying to preserve the things that should stay and belong in Eaglehawk.”
Without a place to preserve history and artifacts, Mrs Kirkwood said they could easily be lost.
“Once that little piece of history goes, you never replace it”.