In the Australia Day Honours List, Lorraine Mairinger was awarded an OAM for service to the Kangaroo Valley community through a range of organisations, including:
- Kangaroo Valley Lions Club, Lions Clubs Australia
- Kangaroo Valley Agricultural and Horticultural Show Society
- Kangaroo Valley Brigade, New South Wales Rural Fire Service
- Osborne Park Management Committee
- Kangaroo Valley ANZAC Day Committee.
- Kangaroo Valley Medical Centre Management Committee
- Budgong Bushfire Recovery Project
- Kangaroo Valley Pony Club.
In his President’s Report to the 31 January meeting of the Kangaroo Valley Community Consultative Body, Hugh Sinclair said the following:
“I must take time out from CCB business to offer the CCB’s heartfelt happiness to hear that Lorraine Mairinger has been awarded an Order of Australia Medal. As Chairman, I can do this, but I know that I have the backing of my Committee in doing so. 2024 marks my 30th year of living in Kangaroo Valley, and for most of that I have known Lorraine. We first met when I was the cricket representative on the Osborne Park Management Committee, back in the mid 90s. With her very sadly late husband Franz, Lorraine, and other members of the Lions, enabled the Ambulance and Medical Centre to be built. This has been no small benefit to this community, as we quite possibly would not have a paramedic presence in the Valley had this initiative not been shown. As a result, not only do we have an ambulance presence, but the vision of the building (many thanks to David Cox) has allowed us to finally afford a GP! That is no small thing.
But that’s not what has brought this honour to Lorraine. She puts in. Always has, always will.
Once upon a time I had a friend who taught me to ride horses. I can still do that. She would ride her horse to be taught by Lorraine’s father-in-law, the exceptionally talented dressage instructor, Franz Mairinger. No wonder about her very long involvement with the Pony Club in Kangaroo Valley.
The A&H would still exist without her, as would the Osborne Park Management Committee (her continued presence being an understanding of a job that needs to be fulfilled), but they would be poorer without her, possibly, rudderless.
In recent years, she has lost her beloved husband Franz, and has taken on unforeseen family challenges. Lorraine continues to put in to this community despite the pressures of her day-to-day life. She continues with the Lions as President and continues to make that organisation relevant.
I am reminded, by the bestowing of Honours to someone I respect, by the utterly comical attempt by a relatively recent Prime Minister to restore titles to those he thought worthy. Sir Prince Phillip. La de da.
Honours are a contentious concept, especially when they are designed to elevate someone – generally unknown to most – above others. However, when the recipient of that honour is part of the community, and I mean PART of the community, it makes the Honour system valuable.
That Lorraine has been awarded this Honour elevates us all, as she has done, through her many years of service to this community. But she’s not all sweetness and light. Poke her, and she’ll bite. You’ll come off second best, but you’ll be happy with that. Congratulations Lorraine!”
