Maria Cameron OAM
Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (09:43): Port Fairy’s Maria Cameron has at last been recognised for her service to veterans and to the community. The Order of Australia Medal has been rightly awarded to Maria for her strong sense of empathy and unrelenting passion to fight for those who are in need and without a voice. Her work ranges from identifying and protecting lost World War I Aussie diggers lying in foreign fields to marking the graves of paupers in her local cemetery. One of her many great accomplishments was her successful challenge to change French president Emmanuel Macron’s plans to build wind turbines on land near Bullecourt, France, over the remains of thousands of Aussie diggers. Under intense media pressure President Macron capitulated and scrapped the wind farm plans, allowing the dignity and memory of Australian soldiers to live on. The Port Fairy researcher has successfully taken on many multinational companies and red tape bound bureaucracies. Refusing to accept payment for her work, Maria says that the gratitude of family members and those she researched was reward enough. Maria, thank you for all your efforts to preserve Australian history and restore the dignity of our Aussie diggers. Congratulations – you are certainly most deserving of this prestigious award.