Walkerville farmer and community leader Joan Liley has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the King's Birthday Honours List, recognised for a lifetime of service to conservation, water management, aged care and community life across South Gippsland.
Born and raised on the Prom Coast, Joan has spent decades transforming her deep love of the land into practical action through farming, teaching, board leadership and grassroots community involvement.
Speaking to the Sentinel-Times, Joan said she wants the award to mean more than personal recognition. "I'm enormously proud and humbled to receive the award, but more than that, I hope it serves to inspire other women who would like to take that next step to have a go."
Joan said her path into governance and leadership had begun when she was encouraged to apply for a board position on Southern Rural Water by South Gippsland Water's inaugural chairman, Llew Vale. "I hesitate to say I was the right person, in the right place, at the right time, but it was a time when they were looking for country women, tertiary qualified with a farming background who understood country communities well."
That encouragement has since become something she actively pays forward. "I'm still on a number of selection boards, so I still get that opportunity, wise woman work, I like to call it, when you're of an age where you can hope to pass something on."
Joan says that women don't need to get their boots dirty to contribute to agriculture. "Women should be recognised far more than they are for their input into farming business strategies. I rarely get out and do anything physical, but I have a major input in the business decisions. And many women work solely in a voluntary capacity in the community, doing amazing things."
She and her husband Rob are active members of the Fish Creek Landcare Group, and Joan is involved with Farmers for Climate Action and Prom Area Climate Action, as well as participating in a Victorian Government carbon sequestration initiative.
Her board and governance roles across the region have been extensive, spanning water management, catchment management, aged care, ports and environmental policy. Highlights include chairing South Gippsland Water from 2011 to 2015, serving as a director of the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority, chairing the Gippsland Integrated Water Management Forum, and serving on the board of Prom Country Aged Care for a decade.
The Prom Coast News is delighted to congratulate Joan on a richly deserved honour.
