Merrilyn Young's commitment to her community acknowledged with OAM

For more than 30 years, the Deloraine resident has been involved in a number of committees. 

On Monday, her commitment to her community was recognised by the Commonwealth during the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

“I think I was about 15 when me and my sister would go with mum and help with the [Deloraine] show society’s luncheons. That’s probably where it all started,” Ms Young said. 

She has also been involved in the Deloraine Football Club for more than 30 years. 

“I had a girl friend who was going in a Queen’s Quest competition. She asked me if I’d go along and I ended up on the committee and I still am,” she said. 

Ms Young has since been awarded life membership of both organisations. She was an auditor for the local uniting church, the probius and the Red Cross. 

She helped organise the Tas Regional Games in 1992 and 1993. She is a Living Legend of the Northern Tasmania Football Association, the secretary of the Deloraine Community Car Committee, and a Rotary member. 

In 2003 she received an award for 3000 hours of service to the Meander Valley Council and in 2015 was awarded the Exceptional Service.    

She is also a breast cancer survivor. 

Getting the award nomination was quite a shock for Ms Young, but she was “extremely honoured”. 

“The letter came in the mail and I saw this crown thing on it, and at the time I was organising my great aunt’s 100th birthday, so I didn’t really look at it and just thought it must be another card for Aunty Vera,” she said.

“I got to work and thought, ‘oh I better open this’ and was like ‘oh my god it’s for me’.”

Since the nomination, she has been sworn to secrecy, with only about four other people knowing about the award. 

“I rang mum and said ‘do you know anything about this’ and she said ‘well it’s two years since you had breast cancer’ and uring that time I did some fundraisers for Jane McGrath and the Holman Clinic,” she said.

“A lady from Chudleigh came and listened to me speak one day and it was after that she went home and rang mum and said ‘I’m going to put something together about Merrilyn’.

“That was about two years ago. I accepted the nomination and didn’t hear anything until about a week ago.”

While she said the nomination was a shock for someone aged just 56, she was thankful for what everyone does for her. 

“It all turned around when I got breast cancer. I had to rely on all those people to help me,” she said. 

Ms Young plans to celebrate her award with an afternoon of wine and nibbles at her house on Monday, an event she had to plan in secret. 

“I love these committees, and I love this town.”