'Grateful to contribute': honour for humble local hero

Recognised as a local hero in the King's Birthday honours, Rhonda Parker admits she isn't quite sure what all the fuss is about. The 69-year-old, who followed her heart from Sydney to a small West Australian country town, has been honoured for four decades of service working with community groups in her adopted hometown. "I'm totally humbled by it and almost embarrassed," she told AAP. "I'm just like everybody else - I'm an ordinary person doing, you know, ordinary things." Ms Parker moved to rural Boyup Brook, about 250km south of Perth, in 1981 after marrying her husband Neville. "My parents thought I'd gone mad and wondered if I was going to get bored but right from when I hit the ground and became a farmer's wife, I was involved," she said. "I just wanted to be part of what was happening." A keen member of the Country Women's Association, Ms Parker has served as president of the Boyup Brook Parents and Citizens' Association and a steward and judge of multiple agricultural shows. The mother of four has also been heavily involved in the Country Music Club of Boyup Brook, the Country Music Festival and Awards and the Boyup Brook Melody Makers. "As rural people, most of what we get done is by volunteers, fundraising, putting our heads down and saying 'right, we're going to do this'," she said. Ms Parker has also served as the town's Telecentre Management Committee chairperson, a Boyup Brook Co-operative board member and a volunteer ambulance driver. A Boyup Brook Choir member, Ms Parker has also been active in the Rylington Park Ladies Day charity event, a South West Districts Ladies Golf Association board member and the president of the local golf club. She had also been a committee member at the local bowling Club, vice-captain of the tennis club and president of the town's junior hockey association. "I've been so grateful to be able to contribute to this town," she said. "I wouldn't change any of the last 43 years, it's been absolutely fantastic."