Faye Burton, Kerang VIC
Olympic qualified shooter, bowls champion, first female Lions Club president and clothing factory owner.
But what Kerang site co-ordinator Faye Burton is most proud of is her lifesaving community work.
“If I can save one life it’s been worth it,” she says.
“When you see the amount of people who call in and say: `Gee, we really needed to stop’ – it's really good.
I remember a couple from Germany who called in.
They had just arrived in Australia and were going on a little bit of a tour around but they didn't realise there was so much distance between towns when you get into the country.
They were saying there’s nothing like Driver Reviver over in Germany.”
Faye, 80 in October [2023], joined the Lions Club of Kerang in 1999 and became its first female president.
As site manager of one of Victoria’s original Driver Reviver sites for the past 20 years, she says “I just organise everybody else”.
The reality is, she is a linchpin who organises the rosters and sends reminders to the volunteer team.
“When we take the caravan down, one of the guys loads the caravan up with all of the biscuits, tea and coffee and sugar.
I keep an eye on stock so we don't run out of anything and get the milk from the local supermarket to set it up.”
A qualified tailoress who operated her own clothing factory, Faye was taught to shoot by her late husband Ken and the couple spent their 1986 honeymoon at a clay target shooting competition in Alice Springs.
In 1990, Faye was the first woman to qualify for the open Australian team and the first to receive the highest shooting grade.
She won a bronze medal at the 1991 Oceanic Games in South Australia, qualifying her for the Atlanta Olympics, although Ken died shortly before the games and she didn't attend.
For many years, Faye held the record for the longest break by a woman – 245 broken targets without missing.
She has also been Kerang Golf Bowls Club champion four times and was a baton carrier for the Melbourne and Gold Coast Commonwealth Games baton relays.
On long weekends and major school holidays, the Atkinson Park site is operated by 10 Lions Club volunteers who work from 10am to 6pm, followed by Victoria State Emergency Services volunteers who operate the site until about midnight.