FOR the past 25 years, Eaglehawk’s Susan McQueen has helped countless veterans and their families overcome the challenges they have faced after serving Australia.
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Her service to these men and women has been given recognition this Australia Day, with Mrs McQueen being awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
“I was gobsmacked, I was just blown away, I really was, because I know a lot of people with an OAM and for me to be put into their category is such an honour; I couldn’t believe it,” Mrs McQueen said.
“I was just shocked, but I’m very proud of it and I’m really proud of our team at the (Central Victorian Veterans’ Support) Centre, and the Vietnam veterans who have assisted me in being able to get this award, because if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be able to do what I do.”
Mrs McQueen first became involved in supporting the veteran community when helping her sister-in-law and her children following the death of her brother, a veteran of the Vietnam War, in 1991.
She became an area representative of the Vietnam Veterans’ Counselling Service and began volunteering with the Central Victorian Veterans’ Support Centre when it opened in 1997.
She later took on the role of centre administrator and continues in that position to this day, overseeing a team of 30 volunteers who support at least 100 people at any given time.
They help veterans access their entitlements and any other care or support they might need.
But her work with veterans does not stop there – she is assistant secretary and membership officer for the Victorian branch of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia, is a member of the organisation’s Bendigo sub-branch, and is welfare officer in the Maryborough RSL Sub-branch.
Mrs McQueen said it was a 24-hour, seven days a week job, but her concern for the well-being of other people continued to drive her.
Even her own battle with breast cancer five years ago failed to stop her.
“Veterans are very special people who require specialised care, and I have the ability to give that specialised care,” she said.
As well as her band of volunteers – “everything I do is a team effort” – and the veteran community, Mrs McQueen also credits her family in helping her achieve what she has, in particular her grandchildren who “keep (her) sane” and her children who support her work.
She is also supported by husband Lindsay, himself a Vietnam veteran who works alongside her.
The OAM is not the first time Mrs McQueen’s contribution has been noted: in 2007, she was one of three people to receive the RSL ANZAC of the Year Award.
Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
