Ruth Sandow has been honoured with a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division for service to the community through a range of roles. The award was announced by the Governor-General on Friday as part of the Australia Day Honours List.
Speaking to the Barrier Truth, Mrs Sandow was humble in her response to receiving the OAM, saying “it’s an award that brings a lot of pride, but also a lot of humility because to earn such an award, there really has to be a lot of other people in the game with you.
“It’s all the elements put together and all those people who really helped contribute to this award. I’m very grateful to everyone who’s been a part of that journey. It is an honour, a privilege, and I don’t take it lightly at all. It’s a significant moment in my life.”
Living on a station 200km from Broken Hill, Mrs Sandow’s work has involved many roles, mostly within the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) South East Division, and in Milparinka.
Mrs Sandow has been a Board Member and a Committee Member with the RFDS South East Division since 2010 where she served as its President from 2017-2020 and Vice-President from 2014-2017 and 2020-2021.
Mrs Sandow was also a Former Member of the Regional Advisory Board and Medical Advisory Board with the RFDS South East Division, and on a national scale, has been an RFDS Trustee with Friends of the UK Trust since 2017 and was a Federation Board Member from 2017-2020.
A Founding Member of the Milparinka Heritage and Tourism Association in the late 1990s, Mrs Sandow acts as its current Chair and was an Instigator for the Sturt’s Steps Project. She was also a Founding Member of the Milparinka Courthouse Committee in the mid-1980s.
“Everything I’ve been involved in has its challenges and certainly the RFDS is a very complex organisation that has required a lot of consideration and challenges for all the board members, including myself. I don’t take the role lightly at all,” she says.
“With Milparinka, we started up there 40 years ago. It’s been an ongoing challenge over those years with a bit of government money from time to time to get us started. The last four years or so with the Sturt’s Steps Project has really enabled us to pull up from what would have been the ruin of a town. If we hadn’t started 40 years ago, effectively, there would be virtually nothing left of Milparinka.
“Now, we’ve got a vital museum complex, a terrific caravan park, and all that goes with it. We have a team of dedicated volunteers who come annually to help run the show and volunteer their time, some coming back four and five years in a row and it’s just a remarkable contribution to a community that really isn’t theirs, but that they have adopted.
“I’m grateful to all those people who have contributed to that and everybody who’s supported me, encouraged me, given me licence to think outside the box sometimes, look around corners and see what’s possible. All those people are in some way responsible for this award.
“I certainly want to thank my husband and my family. Particularly for all their ongoing support over the years. Without their help, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what we have achieved up there, so certainly they are top of the list. And then everyone else who’s in some way supported the endeavours.
“We just encourage more people to visit because it’s a remarkable part of the country. It’s not very far from Broken Hill and we’ve got so much to offer once people head up the Silver City Highway!”
