General News
20 October, 2022
Community remembers Dianne Mullins
Maryborough is mourning the loss of a true champion of the community — Dianne Mullins — who spent a life time giving back to her town, credited with saving local lives through the equipment she secured for paramedics and creating positive change...
Maryborough is mourning the loss of a true champion of the community — Dianne Mullins — who spent a life time giving back to her town, credited with saving local lives through the equipment she secured for paramedics and creating positive change for the region.
Dianne, who was a joint Central Goldfields Shire Citizen of the Year in 2018, sadly died on September 10 at 71 after she was diagnosed with cancer earlier in the year.
Born on April 9, 1951, Dianne was a true local, attending the Maryborough state school 404, then the local high school before heading to the then-Ballarat Teachers’ College.
She soon returned home to teach at school 2828, then 404 for over 30 years and eventually at the Maryborough Education Centre when the schools merged.
Dianne met husband Dan at a church ball in 1976, and married soon after in 1979, welcoming son James in 1980.
Throughout her life she had a passion for playing sport, taking up hockey, badminton, netball and tennis, although Dan said her early life was all about her students.
“She dedicated her early life to her students. From 1972 to 2010, she saved the student’s school photos every year — I’ve been putting them together and I’m only missing four years,” he said.
“She would be at school by 7.30 am every morning and not home until 5.30 pm — it was not a 9-3.30 job for her. After she got home she’d work all night on the next day’s lesson plan. At 10 pm she’d say ‘I need something to eat’ and I’d have to go down to Woolies and get her some lollies.”
Outside of school, Dianne dedicated herself to boosting the Central Goldfields Shire community.
In her long list of achievements, Dianne was named joint Central Goldfields Shire Citizen of the Year in 2018 alongside Dan.
The couple’s involvement with nearly all aspects of the community is too long to list, although some included volunteering their time for the Maryborough Ambulance Auxiliary, Maryborough
Fire Brigade, the Red Cross, school council, Guides, Timor West Landcare Group, Maryborough Anglican Church, the Maryborough and District Garden Club.
Dan described how if one joined a cause, the other quickly followed.
“We were always together. If she was in something, I’d join too and vice versa. She believed in a cause,” he said.
“She was so community minded. If she had a mission she was moving straight ahead at running speed. She wasn’t afraid to talk to anybody to get things done and she believed if you’re going to do something, you do it properly. She was also a great believer that if the community needed something, you raise money and buy it.”
Dianne was most wellknown in recent years for her involvement with the ambulance auxiliary. Joining around 12 years ago after encouragement from her father Alexander — a former councillor for the Shire of Bet Bet — Dianne soon became president.
Since then she helped raised thousands of dollars to secure life saving medical equipment for paramedics, and organised the auxiliary’s 100th anniversary in 2018.
One of Dianne’s most ambitious projects came about when she spearheaded the Maryborough Aeromedical Transfer Station (MATS) project — an indoor space for paramedics to wait and work on patients before an air ambulance arrives.
Dianne rallied the community to raise $120,000 to construct the station at the Maryborough Aerodrome. After five years in the works, the station is now expected to be completed before the end of the year.
Ambulance Victoria Maryborough team manager Mark Passalick described the lasting legacy Dianne has left on the team and the town.
“Although she was a volunteer with the auxiliary, she was very much part of the paramedic team. We had something very special with Dianne,” he said.
“She was the envy of every ambulance branch. She was relentless and fearless in achieving things, she could pull everyone together.
“The equipment we got through her fundraising and efforts was unreal. To get something like the MATS done was phenomenal. She’s left a real legacy there.
“She was also a great friend to the paramedics. If we had a big job, she’d come into the station and leave flowers and a card on the table saying ‘hope you’re all feeling well’.
“It’s a huge loss to both us and the community. We needed a champion to back and fund our causes to make health outcomes in Maryborough better.”
Ambulance Victoria CEO professor Tony Walker recognised the years of work Dianne dedicated to the local branch.
“Di Mullins was a stalwart of the Maryborough community and, together with her husband Danny, worked tirelessly to support our local paramedics,” he said.
“Her memory lives on in the patients whose lives she has helped save through her work over the past decade and in the hearts of all of us at Ambulance Victoria who knew and loved her. She is deeply missed.”
Dianne’s legacy will live on through her outstanding work done for the community.
“She’s had an amazing life — we’ve had an amazing life together,” Dan said.
“Everything she’d done, she’s done to the best of her ability and beyond that. She just wasn’t here long enough. I’ll miss her terribly.”
