By CASEY NEILL
COUNCILLOR Roz Blades didn’t get off to a great start in the new City of Greater Dandenong headquarters.
“I got in the goods lift,” she said.
“I was going up and down all over the place.”
But the comical error did lighten the mood of what was an emotional experience for Cr Blades.
She was elected to the former City of Springvale’s Central Ward in 1987.
“Losing Springvale was something very special to me, and now we’ve moved from the building (on Springvale Road) as well,” she said.
“I was very nostalgic. I was a bit teary even.
“That’s where I started, that’s where my council history was.”
Interest in a planning issue drew Cr Blades to her first council meeting.
“And I thought ‘I can make a contribution here’,” she said.
She was first elected in 1987, lost her seat in 1990, won it back in 1991 and was City of Springvale mayor in 1992.
One of her strongest memories from her days with Springvale was of an Australian flag peeling from the council chamber wall during a citizenship ceremony – dangerously close to then-Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s head.
“It came down completely, but it was as he was leaving the stage,” she said.
“Can you imagine the horror of having the PM in your town hall doing a citizenship with the mayor, and the Australian flag falls on him? I was so mortified.”
The State Government amalgamated Victoria’s councils in 1994.
“But no one knew who they were going to be amalgamated with and we didn’t know what our name was going to be,” Cr Blades said.
“When I first heard we were going to be the City of Greater Dandenong, my heart dropped.
“I just felt like a brick had gone. I felt a great sense of loss. And I was quite down in the dumps.”
But the name grew on her, and she decided to run in the first councillor elections for the new municipality in 1997.
“I just became immersed in community issues,” she said.
“I wanted for people to have what I want for my family. It’s all about the people and the services.
“Whatever the name of the council, that doesn’t change.”
Change is nothing new for Cr Blades. She and husband Terry packed up their lives in England 40 years ago and moved to Australia as 10 Pound Poms.
They soon bought a home in Noble Park, which has since been located in Springvale council’s Central Ward and Greater Dandenong’s Noble Park Ward, Keysborough Ward and Paperbark Ward.
“I’ve lived in three different state seats and three different federal seats and I’m in the same house,” she said.
“So go figure that one!”
With the next council elections still two and a half years away, Cr Blades isn’t sure if she’ll put her hand up again. But regardless, she’ll continue to serve her community.
“I think it’s in my blood,” she said.
“I just love this community. I like the people, I like all the voluntary work, I love the multiculturalism.
“I just think it’s a brilliant place, I just love it to pieces.”
