Maree Burden was named the Cockatoo Citizen of the Year.
By Tania Martin
MAREE Burden could never be mistaken for anything other than a true blue Aussie.
It’s this spirit that has won her an Australia Day honour.
The lively 41-year-old Cockatoo woman was named the town’s Citizen of the Year at the annual awards breakfast yesterday (Monday).
More than 100 people gathered at Treloar Reserve for a good old fashion breakfast of sausages, eggs, bacon and pancakes, which was followed by the presentation of awards.
Ms Burden was both shocked and ecstatic to be recognised for her hard work.
“It’s an absolute honour and I am touched that people think so highly of me,” she said.
“For me it’s as big as getting an Oscar or Golden Globe award…it’s one of my proudest moments.”
Ms Burden said Australia Day is one of her favourite times of the year.
“I am so proud of who I am and where I live…I just love living in Australia and would never want to live anywhere else,” she said.
Ms Burden moved to Cockatoo when she was just 19 years and soon fell in love with the small town atmosphere.
She has since raised four children while working tirelessly in her community to help make Cockatoo all it could be.
Ms Burden has been on a number of committees in the town including local clubs, kinder, schools and sporting organisations.
But it was her dedication and vision to have a bank in Cockatoo that was her crowning achievement.
Ms Burden said her parents were also her inspiration.
“They are always giving to the community and showed me the way,” she said.
In 2001, Ms Burden started a campaign to bring a community bank to the town.
She said numerous local groups were sending the town broke with one raffle or fund raiser after another.
“We needed a community bank to help us raise the extra cash for all the groups,” Ms Burden said. Ms Burden even dreamt about opening the bank.
“It was meant to be,” she said.
Ms Burden said Cockatoo was the first town in the Bendigo Bank history to have the feasibility study hand delivered to everyone in the district.
More than 42 volunteers took up the challenge to deliver the study to residents.
Ms Burden said she wouldn’t have been able to push so hard for the bank without the help of numerous locals including Rob Priest.
The Gembrook-Cockatoo branch of the Bendigo Bank was opened in 2005.
But that wasn’t the end of the road for Ms Burden who moved onto her next project.
