Councillor Stevenson OAM

Tribute to the battlers' friend

Orange Mayor John Davis and his mayoral predecessors John Miller and Dick Niven have paid tribute to Cr Margaret Stevenson (OAM and JP) as the "battlers' friend".

Cr Stevenson died on Monday 11 December 2006.

Cr Stevenson was elected to Orange City Council on September 18, 1971.

She was one of the first women, along with Leonie Healy, elected to council in Orange.

Cr Stevenson was on Council for eight terms serving for 35 years.

She was Orange City Council's longest serving councillor.

A Council investigation in 2005 found she was the longest serving councillor in local government history in Australia.

Mayor John Davis (2002-current) expressed sadness at the death of a "great representative" of the Orange community.
"Just last Thursday she attended a Council meeting and was at her feisty best. On Monday, the day she died she was in touch with Council staff checking details on a number of issues. And knowing Margaret I'm sure she was taking calls at home from residents seeking her support on issues that affected them. She will be greatly missed. Council staff have told me that when Margaret filled out documents she would often write 'irrelevant' in the section that asked her age. She was spot on. She was as effective a councillor this year as she was in 1971," Cr Davis.

Former Mayor Cr John Miller (2002-2004) was "shocked and saddened" by her death. "Cr Stevenson was a perfect example of what a councillor should be. She put great value in listening to ratepayers. She was the battlers' friend but there was more to it than that - she acted on the interests of ratepayers," Cr Miller said.

Former mayor, Cr Dick Niven (1981-1983 and 1996-2002) said one of Cr Stevenson's great strengths was advocacy.
"It was potholing, if I can call it that. If a resident raised an issue with Margaret she would bring it to Council and very often she would argue in support of that issue - little things like potholes in the street. It was grassroots but she was also involved in a lot of things outside Council including the establishment of a new base hospital, raising money for Heartfund and more recently the push for radiotherapy services in Orange," he said. Cr Niven said it was very likely Cr Stevenson would have continued on Council past the next election in 2008.

Cr Stevenson's Council career snapshot:

Elected September 18, 1971 - together with Leonie Healy were the first women to be elected to Orange City Council

Deputy Mayor September 1984 to September 1985

Awarded Order of Australia Medal in 1991

August 2005 honoured as Australia's longest serving councillor

Was a committed fundraiser for the Red Shield Appeal, Heartfund raising money for a catheter lab and the Fairy Sparkle Garden

Polled in the top two or three positions at each Council election