The Queen’s Baton is currently making its way through the many island nations of Oceania, a region that is home to tropical paradises and some of the world’s most remote and culturally isolated villages. 

It is due to arrive in Australia on Christmas Eve.

Eleven people will carry the baton during the Bellingen Shire portion of its Australian journey.

Four are from Dorrigo, including Patricia Green (Patsy) and her daughter Tianaha Willson-Baker.

Patsy heard about the opportunity to nominate people from the shire to carry the baton, and she thought it would be a pity if Dorrigo missed out, so she put her daughter forward as a possibility.

That provoked Tianaha to nominate Patsy, too.

Tianaha started going to the Dorrigo Youth Room with friends when she was 15, and within a year or two she was joining committees and taking up leadership positions.

“We had two really good youth workers at the time and they were really good at motivating kids to get involved,” she said.

With her sister Rebekah she owns and runs the Dorrigo Sweet Shop.

She also works part-time at Pacific Legal, across the road, and has applied to study law externally through the University of New England next year.

“It will be online and part-time, juggling it around working here and over there and juggling kids,” Tianaha said, gesturing towards her two workplaces and her three young children.

Asked about her long-term plans, she said her ambition was to become a solicitor, then a barrister and eventually a judge.

“It’s what I’ve wanted to do since I was 15,” she said.

Patsy Green, Tianaha’s mother, is a senior jobs advisor with ETC (Enterprise and Training Company), which offers employment services, business services, and is a registered training organisation.

She is also president of the Dorrigo Chamber of Commerce, and like Tianaha (who was there first) she is involved with the Youth Room.

“I started volunteering there because she encouraged me to,” Patsy said. “

Nomination stories:

“Tianaha has always contributed to the local community in a positive manner. She became a Youth Room supervisor at 17 and represented youth on community committees from that time. She has a young family and is active on both preschool and primary school committees. She has been president of the preschool management committee several times and secretary of the P&F of Mt St John’s primary school. She is co-owner of a local retail business and is the secretary of the Dorrigo Chamber of Commerce Inc. She is also involved with the Bellingen Shire Drug Action Team.”

“Patricia is a committed community member of Dorrigo. She works full time, is a mum, a grandma and still has time to be on several community committees. She is currently in her second term as President of Dorrigo Chamber of Commerce, is a member of Dorrigo Plateau Community Inc., secretary of Dorrigo Youth Clinic and Youth Room Committees, sits on Bellingen Shire Council S355 Community Hall Committee and is a part of the very successful Made in Dorrigo Street Market subcommittee, which won the Community Event of the Year award in the Bellingen Shire Australia Day awards.”