General News
3 January, 2025
Rhonda made chieftain
When Rhonda Watkins was asked to be chieftain in October at first she didn’t think she could do it — but then she thought of the volunteers.
“The gathering would not happen unless we had those volunteers. They’re the people that make this happen,” she said.
Ms Watkins decided she was going to be there for the volunteers and speak about them as often as she could.
“We have some wonderful senior life members who have volunteered out here for probably thirty years of their life and they’re now getting to the stage where they have to pass the banner on to some younger ones because they can’t do it,” she said.
Although being chieftain is the “most wonderful, magical experience” to Ms Watkins she always would bring the attention back to the volunteers. After all her own “absolute love” of volunteering for the Highland Society (which began around 2009) was why she found herself as chieftain this year.
It’s also the reason this was the first time she had seen the Central Goldfields Street Parade since moving to Maryborough with her huband in 2006.
“Because we do volunteering we have to be down here at eight in the morning so we don’t see anything that goes on up the street and we don’t see anything much that goes on out here because we all have our special jobs we have to do,” she said.
Gesturing to the stands and the oval Ms Watkins described the “beehive” of activity on New Year’s Eve to prepare for the event. While others were out getting New Year’s refreshments the volunteers “scrubbed every seat up in the grand stand”.
According to Ms Watkins, it’s that effort which makes the day.
“[The public] have been coming for years, twenty or thirty years, they don’t want to sit on a seat that’s covered in bird faeces and all the other rubbish. So we sweep and we scrub every seat,” she said.
The fruition of all these efforts is a successful day, one the whole community and people all around can enjoy.
“The success of this day is what we prepare for and what we work for. I think the crowd today speaks volumes.”