Shipshape: Henry Hudson at Queenscliffe Maritime Museum.
MICHELLE HERBISON
HENRY Hudson enjoys keeping busy and involving himself in Queenscliff’s community – and this year it’s thanking him.
The maritime heritage enthusiast has received an Australia Day award for services to museums, heritage preservation and the community.
“It’s rather a surprise and a humbling thought,” Dr Hudson said.
Queenscliffe Maritime Museum partly owes its existence to Dr Hudson, who helped found it in the 1980s.
“Probably the main reason why we established the museum was because the Queenscliff lifeboat had been taken out of service and it was a pity to just see it in the harbour deteriorating,” he remembered.
These days Dr Hudson divides his time between his role as chairman of Maritime Museum of Victoria board, Rotary club activities and teaching U3A classes.
“I think one of the most important things is to keep your brain active and keep busy.”
Wallington’s Susan Marriott also received an Australia Day award for her international Landcare work.
Mrs Marriott set up a Secretariat of International Landcare, bringing to the world Australia’s bottom-up approach to environmental issues.
“It kind of happened by accident,” she remembered.
“It all started with the idea that if you get people excited by actually showing them something they might do something similar.”
Mrs Marriott has travelled to South Africa, Sri Lanka and many other countries to encourage communities to network and share knowledge about how to care for their environments.
