General News
17 June, 2021
Racing stalwart Elizabeth Clarke earns national honour
TERANG’S Elizabeth Clarke has been named a Member of the Order (AM) this week as part of the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
TERANG’S Elizabeth Clarke has been named a Member of the Order (AM) this week as part of the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Mrs Clarke was recognised for her significant service to harness racing in Victoria and to the community.
She said to be recognised for her work was “simply amazing”.
“I’ve never entertained the idea, so whoever the nominator was has shown a generosity of spirit beyond comprehension,” she said.
“It’s unbelievably humbling.”
Mrs Clarke’s involvement in racing stemmed from humble beginnings after taking shorthand for the steward’s report at the Terang Harness Club.
Through the decades of service since, she has held positions including director and deputy chair of Harness Racing Victoria and was a member of the Harness Racing Victoria Integrity Council, Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board and the Racing Appeals Tribunal.
She has also served as the director for Victorian Harness Racing Club and the Terang Harness Racing Club, and was vice president of the Harness Racing Country Clubs Association.
Mrs Clarke was reluctant to speak on her accolades and awards. She said she was always involved with others in a collective team effort, and those beside her were just as deserving of the recognition.
“In an ideal world you would be able to say everyone receives this award because I have worked with absolutely brilliant people,”she said.
“We wouldn’t have our communities without the hard working, dedicated people who have come in generations before us.
“We wouldn’t have our football clubs, hospitals, our racing clubs; we wouldn’t have anything.
“This award is for everybody because in our community you work as a team.”
Ms Clarke’s service to the community has extended far beyond the race track with significant contributions to education, health and the Terang community.
She currently serves as deputy chair of the Terang and Mortlake Health Service, as well as a member of the Physical and Human Resources Planning Committee, Audit and Risk Committee and Clinical Governance and Quality Committee.
She has been a board member of TMHS since 2015, a member of Mount View Nursing Home Aged Care since 2012 and was a volunteer for Meals on Wheels from the early 70s to the late 90s.
Wanting to take an active role in her children’s education, Mrs Clarke also served as a board member and chairperson for Mercy Regional College board for more than a decade and was a board member of Terang College for seven years, St Thomas’ Primary School for 14 years and Terang Kindergarten Committee for eight years.
“I always put up my hand to take on roles, which I thoroughly enjoyed,” she said.
Her children in turn paid back the support.
Mrs Clarke said her four children Brendan, Damien, Matthew and Maria, along with husband Bruce, had worked as a team to ensure she could fulfil her commitments while the family also managed a dairy farm for the last 50 years.
“My family has been so supportive,” she said.
“Family is extremely important to me. They are my primary focus.
“I want them, just like our community, to embrace this (Member of the Order) and feel this is theirs too.
“They have helped me along the way, and have done all the things they could to help me as they grew up during my commitments.”
Mrs Clarke said the opportunity to be so closely involved with members of the community was a highlight she would treasure closer than any individual award.
“There are so many people in our community who I have been involved with over the years that are just salt of the earth, generous, good people,” she said.
“You meet so many extraordinarily interesting and creative people, and make wonderful friendships along the way.
“There have been very memorable times, but the work was all about anything new that happened in the community which gave people a positive feeling about growth or harmony. That’s what would resonate with me.
“I can only say I have had a wonderful life, worked with wonderful people and I am just a very small cog in this very big wheel ofgood people.”
