MARGARET McArthur of Mt Eliza has spent more than six decades quietly shaping the Mornington Peninsula with volunteer work through schools, sports clubs, welfare organisations, and community groups.
On Australia Day, her years of dedication were formally recognised when she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for “service to the community of Mornington Peninsula.”
McArthur’s journey of service began shortly after moving to Mornington in 1960.
“That was supposed to be temporary, but we liked it so much we didn’t ever move,” she said.
Trained as a teacher, she had to resign once she became pregnant. At the time, teaching while pregnant was not permitted, and with no part-time opportunities available, she turned her focus to volunteering and ultimately a life devoted to making the peninsula a better place for all.
“I then got so involved with volunteering; I didn’t have time to go back to teaching. Fortunately, my husband was able to keep me. I was a kept woman, I suppose,” she said good-humouredly.
McArthur’s contributions to the peninsula are extensive. She was a founding member of the Mornington Community Information and Support Centre in 1983 and is still serving to this day on the committee of management.
She became a life member of the centre in 2018 and intended to keep volunteering “until they kick me out when I’m no longer useful”.
Her dedication extends across schools, sporting clubs, and cultural organisations. At Mornington Primary School, Margaret served as Mothers Club president and helped raise funds for a new tuck shop and library.
She also served as president and volunteer at the Mornington Netball Club, guided puppies for the Guide Dogs program, volunteered at the Mornington Art Show, and contributed to numerous choirs and mothers’ clubs across the peninsula,
Reflecting on the decades of service, McArthur said, “They say ask a busy person if you want work done… and really, I thought it was my duty to. And I found it enjoyable and rewarding as well”.
Among her highlights, she cited her work with sports facilities.
“We agitated very strongly to have central netball courts in Mornington so that people could come to us instead of us having to travel everywhere else. So that happened and that’s been very successful.”
Receiving the OAM has been an honourable and humbling experience, she said, adding, “It was lovely to be recognised”.
And the mother of four children and ten grandchildren is showing no signs of slowing down.
In addition to her involvement with the Mornington Community Information and Support Centre, she has volunteered for the past ten years in research aimed at understanding the aging brain, helping scientists seek solutions for Alzheimer’s and other conditions.
First published in the January 2026
