It would not be an exaggeration to say that Shirley Penny has married half of Mildura. The former Mayor of Mildura City is well-known in Sunraysia. It is likely you have either heard about her role in beautifying Mildura or she has officiated your own wedding. Here Sionnie Kelly chats to Shirley about her time as a councillor and Mayor, and her career as a celebrant. Picture: Ben Gross
Mildura’s Shirley Penny has always been passionate about the city she grew-up in.
“It’s not a town it’s a city, I get really mad when people say ‘this town’,” she says.
As a councillor, and later Mayor, Shirley played a key role in shaping Mildura – especially its gardens.
Immaculately presented, Mildura’s gardens were once a sight to behold and the town was known as the Garden City of the North.
“That was my best job, parks and gardens” Shirley says.
Shirley was persuaded to run for a spot on the Mildura City Council by Kathleen Richardson who was the city’s first female councillor.
“She said to me, ‘Shirley will you please run for Council? You’ve got to get in there and straighten them up’,” she recalls.
Shirley agreed and put her application in.
Not long after she gained a spot on council.
She served from 1982-1994, and served as Mayor from August 1991 to August 1992.
“My days in council I enjoyed,” she says.
“I loved it right from the start because I knew everyone. I really did know everybody and I loved them because I got on well with them.”
And that is part of the reason she stayed with council for 13 and half years.
“I did it for the love, for the love of the city,” she says.
Her portfolios included parks and gardens, and senior citizens.
Both things she was passionate about and committed a great deal of her time to.
It was not unusual to see her out inspecting garden beds or asking the parks and gardens team for a helping hand.
“I loved those outside workers, they were so wonderful to me,” she says.
“There were about 13 garden beds from Fifteenth Street right up to the city and they were a blaze of colour and whenever we had visitors come into the district, or a special weekend or a day, the place was beautiful.”
Shirley worked with local garden clubs who were just as passionate about maintaining the city’s gardens.
“They never charged us a thing, they just did it for love,” she says.
During this time, Mildura was spectacular and truly lived up to its name as the Garden City of the North.
And all that work paid off, especially when Mildura received a special royal visit from Princess Diana and Prince Charles in 1985.
“She was beautiful,” Shirley says of Princess Diana.
“She was that lovely that I drove over to Renmark when she was over there too.”
While Shirley was busy on council her husband, Bert, was running a successful building business – with her help and support of course.
The pair was a team in the truest sense and Shirley said she owed a lot to her four children and Bert who supported her during her time as a councillor and later as Mayor.
“My husband when I was Mayor was the most beautiful person,” she says.
Bert took pride in his wife’s prominent position and made sure the Mayor’s car was washed every weekend.
But Shirley was not just known for her role as Mayor or councillor.
She is also an Order of Australia Medal recipient and was the first female marriage celebrant in Sunraysia, which is how she encountered even more beautiful people.
Shirley spent a lot of time in her car, zipping between Victoria, New South Wales and even South Australia to perform weddings, births and deaths.
It is likely you know someone who had Shirley as their celebrant as she worked in this profession for 38 years and only retired two years ago.
“I had a lot of fun with that it was just beautiful, the people were lovely,” she says.
“It sort of filled my life up, I had plenty to live for – tons of things.”
Balancing all of her commitments might seem like a lot but as Shirley pointed out she was very good at multitasking.
Her time at Mildura City came to an end when the idea of amalgamating Mildura City, Mildura Shire and Walpeup Shire was put on the table. Despite leaving public life she remains a strong advocate for helping and involving others, especially seniors.
These days you can often find her at the Mildura Senior Citizens Club on a Wednesday for lunch club.
“With the elderly there are so many lonely people out there and I would like to encourage them to come out,” she says.
“You can have the biggest house in Mildura and still be lonely.”
Getting out and about is not difficult, as Shirley points out that there are services that can get you to different senior citizen activities.
Community has played a big role in Shirley’s life and she has loved every second of it because it has quite simply being fun. Some parting advice from Shirley: “You don’t have wait on council to do things.”
When people band together to support their community they can accomplish many wonderful things.
