Gwen Chisholm with her late husband Brian Chisholm OAM at the Berrigan Sportsground they both committed so much to.
An Order of Australia Medal was not what Gwendoline Chisholm had on her mind when she first started her journey in service of the Berrigan community.
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She was only a young girl when her father Jim Clements was a player for Berrigan and her mother, Esme Clements, brought her along to help with the morning teas.
It was an introduction that lead to a life’s work committed to the community of Berrigan through sports and social clubs ... particularly the Berrigan Saints.
It resulted in Gwen being recognised by the Saints as club person of the year in 2017 no less, two decades after her induction as a life member in 1993.
She was only the second woman in the club’s history to be awarded life membership at the time.
The wider footballing community in 2018 recognised Gwen again when the AFL awarded her a Volunteer Recognition Award, recognising her efforts and achievements.
She shared that AFL honour with her late husband Brian Chisholm OAM, who was a legendary Berrigan Saints player and also played for South Melbourne in the VFL.
The couple’s children Wayne and Nicole were involved with the football netball club as players themselves for some time.
Inevitably, this lead to Gwen taking on a variety of roles over the years.
She said it simply “became a way of life“
Gwen Chisholm OAM receives her life membership to the Berrigan Football Netball Club in 1993.
With her association with the club spanning more than 50 years, she was able to achieve so much.
Her list of achievements include being the former president of the Saints’ ladies auxiliary, and the life membership after becoming a club member in 1964.
But there was so much more Gwen did that was never officially recorded.
She was always more than happy to help, the proof being in that she would be working in and around the Berrigan sporting club all year round.
Gwen would go from football in the winter to cricket in the summer, dedicating herself and her time to the respective sporting clubs of Berrigan.
She was the catering coordinator for the Berrigan Cricket Club, where she was also made a life member thanks to her numerous contributions.
Happily, the honour came in the very same year she was made life member of the football netball club.
An almighty feat of double life membership with the cricket and football netball club would make anyone pleased with their own efforts, although Gwen was not in it for the plaudits or awards.
Gwen Chisholm during her crowning as Belle of the Belles for the Murray Valley Football League in 1961.
Maintaining that one of the most important factors for her was to give back to her community, at the time she told the local press “my belief is, and always has been, to participate, not specifically to win or lose.”
Gwen’s grandson Dylan Forge said he has fond memories of his family’s connections with Berrigan’s two sporting clubs, instilled in them by his grandparents.
More specifically he remembers Gwen telling him “I’m just part of the furniture, just part of the football club” and Brian telling him it was “her full time job”.
Dylan said Gwen took particular pride in her presentation and her food, and she would work in the canteen all day after preparing for days in advance.
And he says his grandmother was “loved by all”.
While Gwen was just one person in a team of volunteers driving the football and cricket clubs, she’s known as one of those people who truly make a club.
Whether it be providing players in the form of her son and daughter, putting her hand up for duties that she was not rostered for or the many roads and kilometres travelled to simply help, Gwen has been a cornerstone of both local clubs.
Dylan says she has made such an impact, he still hears from time to time that they “still do it the Gwenny way”.
Gwen received her OAM one year after her late husband Brian received his in the 2023 King’s Birthday Honours.
His OAM also recognised his life memberships of the Berrigan football and cricket clubs, as well as his 21 year playing career with the Berrigan Saints.
Brian served on several boards and committees including the Murray League football board and tribunal and the Berrigan Sportsground Management Committee, where he was groundsman for 42 years.
He was also a former member of the Berrigan Show Committee and the Berrigan Golf Club.
In 2018, Mr Chisholm was awarded the Australian Football League Volunteers Recognition award and in 1999 he was awarded the Australian Sports Medal.
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