By Tyler Wright
Long-time president of the Save the Dandenongs League (STDL), Betty Marsden OAM, has stepped down from the role after more than three decades.
Ms Marsden, 92, announced at the committee’s AGM on Sunday 30 July she would be taking on a less strenuous position after 37 years in the top spot.
Ms Marsden moved to Kallista with her husband and their young family in 1971, before eventually joining STDL and becoming part of the committee in 1977.
“I’ve been living here for 50 years, roughly… my husband is not with us anymore, he owned a block of land that he’d bought up here, and my family were rather fond of the Dandenongs, so we used to come up here a bit,” Ms Marsden said.
“I had the connection with the Dandenongs at least from when I was a teenager.
“In those early days, it was really very much forest, and some clearings, but it was fairly unspoiled.”
Ms Marsden sat as a councillor of the Shire of Sherbrooke for seven years and had a stint as shire president; during that time playing a role in the council’s decision to purchase the 75-hectare Birdsland Reserve in Belgrave South in 1981.
Birdsland was opened to the public in 1984 as a community bushland reserve.
“I used to go there with a boy fishing…when he took me down there and I saw how wonderful it was, I said ‘oh, this area needs to be protected,’” Mr Marsden said.
“It unfortunately was a big area and had been in the ownership of one family.
“We got to work to try and have it declared as a special place…we were successful.”
Ms Marsden’s advocacy for preserving the environment in the Dandenongs made her an ideal candidate for STDL president; a role to which she was elected in 1986 and has remained in ever since bar one year.
In 2011, Ms Marsden received an OAM for service to conservation and the environment, and to the community of the region, as well as a Yarra Ranges Mayor’s Lifetime Achievement Award in the same year.
Ms Marsden said the STDL has managed to preserve Grants Picnic Ground at the Sherbrooke Forest in Kallista alongside advocacy of other interested people and groups.
“We’ve managed to keep the places in fairly good shape, trying to keep them for posterity so they won’t get overrun by suburbia.
“To have that lovely forest not far from Melbourne is really quite an achievement.”
She said there are both advantages and disadvantages to the area being so close to Melbourne.
“The advantage is that people haven’t got very far to come if they want to see the forest, and perhaps a lyrebird if they’re lucky.
“But it’s also a bit of a disadvantage; it’s a bit too handy, and it can get overrun with people at times.”
Former Yarra Ranges councillor Louis Delacretaz was elected as incoming president at the recent meeting.
“I’m pretty good for my age, but still, it’s a bit much to keep on doing that,” Ms Marsden said.
“I’ve known [Mr Delacretaz] for a very long time. I met him when he first came up here to live…he stood for council when I retired from council. He’s very dedicated in his interest of the area, so we’re very fortunate to have him.”
Ms Marsden said there are “always” development plans STDL can either intervene in and comment on – including the transformation of Sherbrooke’s iconic Burnham Beeches site.
“It changed hands and people are going to start to do things now, so we’ve been consulted about what their plans are and they haven’t altogether made up their mind about all of it.
“We’ve got an ongoing role of our members knowing the area well and knowing things that need to be protected.”
Ms Marsden is set to turn 93 on Wednesday 23 August after celebrating her 90th birthday in 2020.
“I’ll have a small lunch on the day, but I think we’re going to have a bigger lunch on the Sunday and go to one of the local restaurants…we’ll have a bit of a celebration,” she said.
“I know quite a lot of people, and there’s people that are will be interested in coming…it’s nice, i’m grateful.”
The Save the Dandenongs League was formed in 1950 under the leadership of a Professor of Botany at Melbourne University, John Turner, and retired kindergarten teacher May Moon.
May Moon served as secretary for 27 years, until retiring shortly before her death in 1977.
