By Michael Doran
For service to the community of the Yarra Ranges is what is says on the commendation for the award of the Medal of the Order of Australia to Gruyere’s Pat Bigham, and the words do indeed match the person.
Born in Footscray, Pat spent her teenage years in Mt Evelyn, attending Lilydale High before “going nursing“ at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital.
Pat met her late husband, Don, at school and when married they settled in Gruyere where Don’s family had set up a chicken farming business in the 1940s.
“I’m not really a local because they say to be one you have to have seen it snow in Gruyere, which it did back in the 50s. My girls, Andrea and Kerri went to Gruyere Primary School at the bottom of our road.”
Her first community involvement was at the school and in 1968 she joined the Gruyere Hall and Grounds Management Committee, staying on it for the next 40 years.
“I married into the CFA because Don’s dad was the Captain and you either joined them or you stayed at home on your own,” she said. “I joined in 1979 and was on the firetruck with and the radio person at the fires. It was definitely a boys club back then but I never had any hassles, it’s only been good stories for me.”
Although she is a Life Member of the CFA, was a firefighter for 37 years, is the District Coordinator with the Critical Incident Stress Team and an active Communications Officer she says “I haven’t done any more or less than anyone else in the CFA.”
In 2017 Pat was added to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women, primarily for her role in the CFA ‘Peer Support Program’, developed after the Ash Wednesday Fires. She sits comfortably among some notable Victorians, including current governor, Linda Dessau.
Legacy is another cause close to her heart and she got involved because Kerri is a Legatee, one of the group dedicated to helping war widows.
“What I do for Legacy is just helping them out, nothing spectacular so I was surprised that they nominated me,” she said. “Its very special and I am very honoured but it’s the war widows and the legatees who really should be getting a medal.
“I wouldn’t swap my life with anybody and I wouldn’t change a day of it. It’s never been work for me, it’s been fun so I can’t understand the fuss. I have got so much more back from helping people than I have ever given out. To help people is an honour and a privilege, it’s not work.”
