Service to the community is what Blackall's Reverend Beth O'Neill has today received an Order of Australia Medal for and that's just what she was doing this morning when Australia Day celebrations were in full swing.
Rather than sharing the excitement of her honour with her local community, Rev O'Neill was doing what she often does on a Sunday morning, conducting a church service in the neighbouring town of Tambo.
It's a service she's been performing for many years, becoming an ordained deacon in 1991 and the honorary priest-in-charge of the Anglican parish of Barcoo, part of the Rockhampton diocese, since 1993.
Rev O'Neill first came to the Blackall district 54 years ago as a governess for the Adams family at Darracourt, and said thanks to some strong friendships, the area became home.
She was adamant that her award shouldn't be regarded as an individual honour, saying nobody could do anything on their own.
"It shows the importance of working together for the betterment of the community," she said.
Rev O'Neill has always taken an active role in her community, testified by the two Blackall Australia Day Citizen of the Year awards she has received, in 1996 and 2003.
They came during Rev O'Neill's 13-year stint as a Blackall shire councillor, from 1991 to 2004, which she said had put her in the fortunate position of being able to advocate for a Barcoo Family Care Group with authorities.
In the early 1990s, government services for people needing social welfare - people suffering domestic violence, those seeking disability and adult literacy services, and mothers in need of daycare - were very limited in regional Queensland.
Thanks to the advocacy of Rev O'Neill and others, Blackall was chosen to offer a pilot program, along with Goondiwindi and Cooktown, easily proving the value of such a service for the whole of the state.
It's an achievement she rates highly, for the more disadvantaged in our communities, and she has gone on to be a crisis contact person for the neighbourhood centre that the family care centre morphed into, and stood as a member of the volunteer management committee from 1992 to 2006.
She has also been drawn to other service institutions, working as the local ambulance committee secretary from 1995 to 2017, is a member of the Blackall Hospital Auxiliary, and is the chaplain for the Barcoo Living aged care facility.
Her grasp of the situation many are in as the result of the drought that has plagued the district for many years has also seen her installed as a valuable member of the Blackall-Tambo Regional Council drought recovery fund board since 2016.
It's a job she said needed a calm thought process to work through what was often an emotional situation.