I came to the Pekina district at the beginning of 1971 when I married Rob and we still live in the same house 50 years later. My earliest association with the Pekina community was through sport, firstly watching Rob play cricket for the Pekina Cricket club then playing tennis for Pekina from 1974/75 season through to 1986/87 season missing one season when my youngest child was born. The club was very successful during those years and had some wonderful players. Otherwise all my other community pursuits have been centred around Orroroo.I first joined the Orroroo Council in May 1995 when we still had wards and I represented the Black Rock ward. Those first two years were taken up very much with amalgamation talks as the state Government at the time thought there were too many councils in SA. The amalgamation between Orroroo and Carrieton was agreed to in March 1997 ant the Orroroo Carrieton Council had its first meeting in May that year. I have been an area councillor ever since. I was elected Deputy Chairman in 2000, then Chairman in 2003 and served in that capacity till 2010 and again from 2014 until now. The name chairman was changed to mayor nearly two years ago. Although I serve as an area councilor, that is I represent the entire council area equally, I’ve always considered the area south of the township of Orroroo for particular attention as since 1997 I’ve been the only person on Council who lives there. Without doubt, the most important project over my time on Council has been the sealing of the Orroroo Laura road, our section being known as Price Maurice Road, and to a lesser extent the road from Pekina to Booleroo Centre. This finally meant there was connection via bitumen between Orroroo and the rest of the southern Flinders region, not to mention a decent road between Orroroo and Pekina. It was cause for great celebration when the bitumen finally made the Pekina township. Many of the older residents thought they would never see it.Of late, through the Drought Community’s funding, Pekina has received some beautification, a couple of “welcome” walls, upgrade of its Recreation hub and some development towards an RV park. Ongoing is Coucils support for a mobile phone tower in the area which will be an enormous boost for the district if it can be achieved. Personally, I have been heavily involved in the running of our family farm and have appreciated the wonderful neighbours we have here who call Pekina home. I enjoy being associated with the “Pekina Pearls” and the chance to get together while supporting local businesses. Whilst so many of these small villages like Pekina have faded away over the years, Pekina still keeps its identity through its community, its tennis and cricket clubs and its local “pub”.
