Anna Creighton is one of the latest Cobram residents to receive the esteemed Order of Australia Medal.
Photo by
Owen Sinclair
Anna Creighton OAM felt many things when she opened her letter from the Office of the Governor General earlier this month.
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Needless to say, she wasn’t expecting to find her name on the list of Australians receiving an Order of Australia Medal this year.
“I was quite overwhelmed. I thought, ‘Gosh, with the little bit that I’ve done?’” Anna, who turned 97 in February, told The Courier.
The keys to over 60 years’ service to the community of Cobram are simple, according to Anna.
“If I was asked to join anything, I did. Everything I went into I really enjoyed doing. If the need was there, and I could fill it, well, that was it,” the nonagenarian said.
From serving on the board of the Country Women’s Association of Victoria — Cobram branch, to helping to found the Cobram Red Cross Op Shop, there’s not much Anna hasn’t found time to do.
“I feel that what I did was just the natural thing to do: to help where you could. That’s the long and the short of it,” Anna said.
Some of her proudest moments have come during her involvement with the Cobram Uniting Church Ladies’ Guild, of which she has served as president and treasurer, and where she recently helped raise funds for the Rural Flying Doctor Service (Victoria).
Anna also served, for about 60 years, as treasurer of the Cobram Red Cross Society.
Anna Creighton (back, second from left) with her fellow members of the Cobram Uniting Church Ladies’ Guild: Liz Palazzi, Dot Carter, Heather Hosie, vice president Rosemary Collie, president Margaret Watson and RFDS volunteer liaison officer Shirley Coonerty.
Photo by
Owen Sinclair
As of late, life has come full circle for the twice great-great-grandmother and life member of the Cobram Agricultural Society for her involvement in the Art and Craft Pavilion.
Four times a week, Anna receives support from the same Meals on Wheels that she helped set up back in 1965.
“I’m just so grateful that people are still doing it,” said Anna, who grew up in a home opposite what is now the Cobram Secondary College, back when the surrounding land held little more than orchards.
Now, houses have filled the landscape that once surrounded her childhood home. But that hasn’t tarnished her love of her town.
“I’m very thankful for the life I’ve had,” Anna said.
“My friends and my family have just been so good to me.”
She attributes much of her vitality to her faith, which, she says, she hasn’t lost for a moment.
For as long as she can remember, she’s looked up to people such as her late mother, whose kindness and compassion she strives to embody today.
Now, Anna enjoys keeping her mind sharp and body fit by spending her time solving crosswords, gardening and volunteering with the Ladies’ Guild at events.
“I’m very thankful that I’m as well as I am at this stage of my life,” she said.
What’s the secret to a long, healthy life?
“I’m not one to worry,” said Anna.
“If I can’t fix it, it can’t be done. So I get it out of my mind and leave it.”
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