HUMBLE Tea Gardens resident Peter McKay had “not one clue” he had been put up for consideration to receive a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) until a letter arrived in the mail some weeks ago.
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Mr McKay was included in this year’s Queen’s Birthday honours list, receiving an OAM for his services to the community, especially in aged care.
“It was a complete shock,” Mr McKay said.
He was quick to congratulate Hawks Nest husband and wife OAM recipients Ted and Mavis Mowbray.
Mr McKay’s service has spanned more than 50 years, starting in the 1960s at Winston Hills, near Sydney, where he visited the sick and elderly. He was the accountant for the Winston Hills’ parish for 18 years, from 1970, and was on the committee for 30 years.
Between 1976 and 1980 Mr McKay was the accountant for the Lewisham and Parramatta Westmead Hospitals.
He became director of administrative services at Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, now the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, in 1980.
After seven years, he took the role of commissioning officer, then general manager at Fairfield Hospital.
Between 1987 and 1998 Mr McKay moved between roles at the Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital.
Shortly after retiring to Tea Gardens with his wife, Helen, who died in 2008, Mr McKay became treasurer of the Myall Coast Catholic Parish, a role he recently gave up after holding it since 1999.
Mr McKay has been a board member, treasurer and chairman of the Myall Lodge, now Peter Sinclair Gardens.
