Order of Australia for Primrose
From the Monash Journal
Primrose Werkmeister of Wheelers Hill helped found Voluntary Outreach Club, which raises about $17,000 annually to support 70 needy households in Sri Lanka. Today, she is recognised with a Medal in the General Division of the Order of Australia.
She became involved with the club after a 1982 holiday in Sri Lanka, where there is no pension or safety net for the poor. The memory of a family living behind a bakery, using newspapers as a floor has remained with her.
She said the charity's provision of food and income continued to be vital. Ms Werkmeister has headed the club's 19-member committee for a lot of its life - as president for three years, and vice-president (and often acting president) for 13 years.
"I've been determined to keep our good work going and not to let [the VOC] fold up," she says. "I feel very fulfilled and very happy putting in hard work and doing something good to help people."She has also been a board member and President of the Australia Ceylon Fellowship Association for 28 years.
