ROSIE Nater is the toast of Moyston this week, receiving one of the nation’s highest achievement awards.
January 26th is a special day for Ms Nater.
Not only is it her birthday, but also the day where she was announced as a recipient of an Order of Australia Award by Governor General, His Excellency the Honourable David Hurley.
Rosemary Nater OAM is one of 1040 people recognised for outstanding service as part of the annual Australia Day Awards.
Her award was presented for service to “Landcare management and the community of Moyston”.
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She told the Ararat Advocate this week, when the notification arrived, she thought it was a joke.
“I didn’t know anyone was going to nominate me until I got an email. I actually thought it was spam at first, it was an unbelievable shock,” she said.
“I don’t think I’m really worthy of getting an award, it’s more a recognition of our very strong community. Without community help, you can’t do anything.”
Along with her tireless work with Moyston Landcare, including 12 years as secretary, Ms Nater is also a key member of the Moyston Progress Association and Moyston Sheep Dog Trial Club.
She said Landcare has been a valuable way of protecting the local environment.
“I’ve been a member right from the very start, the group started in 89 and it was mostly farmers then and they were worried by salinity and I was just a young farmer and joined with my partner.”
“Landcare is incredibly important but you often don’t see the things they do. It’s a lot of hard work behind the scene and projects, applying for funding, tackling invasive weeds.”
“We do a project every year with the primary school kids which is a really important part of Landcare,” she said.
Ms Nater has been involved with the successful Moyston Sheep Dog Trials since a young age.
“We’re in our 94th year this year and I haven’t been there for 94 years, but probably because my father used to work dogs as well, from a young age I’ve always helped in the yards and I graduated to being in charge of the kitchen,” she said.
“I quite like cooking but I like the dogs better so we came to an arrangement where I do the food for the first two days and the night and organise the food for the Saturday but someone else would be in charge of the kitchen so I can be in the yards on the Saturday and be there for the finals,” she said.
“I organise all the volunteers for the yards, the kitchen and the food. I’m an organised person, I have lists, but I’m more of a behind the scenes person than being up front making the speech.”
Ms Nater was born and bred in Moyston, and clearly loves and values her community.
“We’ve got a fantastic community, the vision is making a strong community even stronger and that’s what Moyston really is. If you’ve grown up here, you want to see your community do well and the challenge now is to engage with a lot of the new people who’ve moved in here over the past few years,” she said.
Moyston resident Max McLean, who himself received an OAM in 2018, said Ms Nater was one of a kind.
“She’s been a big part of the Moyston Sheep Dog Club trials and she’s also been a big part of Landcare in Moyston and currently she’s the Secretary of the Progress Association.”
“There are a lot of people in Moyston like Rosie who are on more than one committee and they really are the backbone of our community.”
“We’re on a couple of committees together and we work well together,” Mr McLean said.