By Callum Ludwig
The Millgrove Resident’s Action Group (MRAG) were busy bolstering their local community in 2023 and their work has not gone unrecognised.
MRAG have been named Yarra Ranges Council’s Community Group of the Year at the Community Awards on Friday 26 January.
MRAG President Maureen Halit said they are very honoured to receive the award.
“We’ve got a fantastic working group, we are a really unique bunch of people; hard-working, fun-loving and we just love it all, which is a big asset, as it makes all the jobs so much easier,” she said.
“The three-day muster was a pretty amazing experience, it was hard yakka but very rewarding, we really finished on a high with that and it’s just a shame we didn’t have even more people.”
MRAG has served and advocated for the Millgrove township now for almost 20 years, and in the last year successfully held a Millgrove Muster to tidy up the River Road Walking Trail which they continue to manage alongside the Dee Road Walking Trail.
MRAG member Betty Dallariva said the group can all rely on each other as well.
“Never in my mind had I ever thought of being part of a community group, but once I started it felt like I had a duty towards it,” she said.
“They are a special, really good bunch and I value their friendship as well because just working together we get together, we play cards sometimes and have dinner at each other’s places.”
Community resilience has also been a key MRAG focus, developing a Community Resilience plan alongside their clean-up efforts as well as helping organise an Open Day at Wesburn/Millgrove CFA.
MRAG member Phil Pomoroff said MRAG has always been about building connectivity in the community and getting people engaged.
“The community Open Day was a big success, we had quite a large number of people coming to it and it was an opportunity to provide that education on fire awareness with the CFA and our resilience program,” he said.
MRAG’s efforts didn’t stop there as the group established a new Avenue of Honour and garden to recognise those who lost their lives in the First World War and continues to maintain the Memorial Reserve gardens.
MRAG saw their lobbying for a new pedestrian bridge come to fruition, with the new flood-proof bridge now built and open to the community.
MRAG also hosted Clean Up Australia Day events, lobbied on behalf of local businesses during the Warburton Highway closure and organised monthly meetings, markets, trivia events.
