Mary Knowles, the new mayor for the Northern Midlands Council, was elected last month in a result she would not have even considered only months ago, but is keen to get on with the “excellent” work of her predecessor David Downie.

“When he chose not to stand then I thought, ‘well I would like to give this a good shot; I’ve done nine years [on council], I am quite confident, I love the communities and I’d just like to see the progress that we’ve made over these last four years really continue’,” Mrs Knowles said.

The Gipps Creek resident holds a significant list of achievements and community work during her time serving on council – and outside of it.

In 2010, Mrs Knowles was inducted into the Tasmanian Honour Roll for Women. In 2017, she was recognised with a Medal of the Order as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her service to the Northern Midlands community and local government.

For over 20 years Mrs Knowles has also worked with kindergarten children as a teacher’s assistant at Avoca Primary School, a role she will now reluctantly have to give up come year’s end.

Doing so however will allow the new mayor to focus her attentions wholly on the task at hand: helping the Northern Midlands thrive.

In mind are big picture projects – like events to mark 150 years of trains in the state – she hopes will deliver people into the region from Launceston and Hobart, through centres like Campbell Town that have benefited from central revitalisation works and Perth that are set to.

Work on a new multipurpose function centre at Campbell Town will be yet another step forward, she said. As would the further expansion of business and facilities in the TRANSlink precinct.

“We have really good staff, really really good staff that work well towards these projects,” she said.

“I feel very fortunate – and I’ve got a good group of councillors.”

As a local government area that is already broad in both size and nature – in part due to previous mergers – Mrs Knowles doesn’t see amalgamations as in issue either.

“That’s actually why the local district committees were set up for the towns, so that then they didn’t lose what they thought was their say in what happened. It has to be collaborative, it’ll only work that way,” she said. 

“So I’m feeling quite confident that I can do a good job and lead us into the future in a strong financial environment.

“I think Northern Midlands can only thrive.”

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