Across the state next week, many will gather to celebrate the diverse contributions of women from all walks of life during NSW Women’s Week.
This week at The Times we had a chat with former Cootamundra Miss Wattle and Bungendore’s 2021 Citizen of the Year Chloe Pailthorpe.
Chloe spent all of her high school years in town at Cootamundra High School, graduating in the class of 1998.
Her first job earning pocket money was at Video Ezy when it existed (now a funeral home) and she also volunteered her time to the Salvation Army.
Towards the end of Year 12 Mrs Pailthorpe was involved with the Cootamundra Youth Network and was one of the founding members.
At the centre, she invested her time working to provide a safe space for youths as well as planning plenty of activities to keep them engaged.
At the end of 1998, Chloe won the prestigious Miss Cootamundra Wattle prize and then went on to represent her community at Showgirl competitions the year after, as well at Miss Wagga Wagga Quest.
During her high school stint, she was involved in senior girls soccer, an active member of the student representative council and the school’s vice-captain during her senior year.
Mrs Pailthorpe said whilst growing up in Cootamundra she had great influences and that she felt very much involved in everything she did.
“Growing up in Coota was fantastic, I had wonderful teachers who invested a lot of time, energy and interest in me,” she said.
“From a community aspect, adults focused a lot of their time with young people and there were lots of mentoring and support and development for youth.”
In 2014, Chloe made the move to Bungendore with her partner Mike and her kids after spending almost a decade living in Wagga, Sydney, Bathurst and then Grenfell.
While her parents and brother are still living in Coota, she said it was about “inching back” to country routes with the move to Bungendore.
Having settled into her new community for six years now, Mrs Pailthorpe is no stranger to the Bungendore faithfuls.
Just this past Australia Day Chloe was awarded the prestigious Bungendore Citizen of the Year Award and that came as no surprise if you knew her involvements in the community.
Chloe said she was both astonished and grateful to win the award.
“It was a shock as I only found out the day before. We even had plans to go to Coota for Australia Day,” she joked.
“There are a lot of amazing people here in Bungendore that do more than I do in my opinion. But I think myself winning this is credit to the community as you are only as effective with the people around you.
“It was a lovely honour but I thought there were at least 10 more people that are more deserving than myself. I wished it could have been a group award in some way.”
Being a mother of three Mrs Pailthorpe recalled not long ago when one of her children asked her a question that has now stuck with her throughout.
“What do you want to do when you grow up Mum”, one child asks, and then Mum Chloe replied “Just to help people in time of need, in whatever crisis”.
The little one then said, “You are already doing that now Mum”, and she replied, “Yes I am, in different ways and through different avenues”.
And indeed Mrs Pailthorpe is.
During one of the tougher years for the community last year due to the adverse impacts of a global pandemic, she oversaw a community food hub that worked with local Rotary, CWA and doctor’s surgery to identify community needs and how they could all work together.
Items included food and care packages, as well as firewood when winter arrived.
Chloe also manages Phil Emporium Op-Shop and during the peak of Covid restrictions the Op-Shop doors had to be closed.
The Op-Shop was a huge community outreach asset in Bungendore.
However when things began to ease, the Op-Shop were allowed appointments and even made phone calls and delivered meals to ensure local folks were not feeling isolated.
“It was not just the elderly feeling lonely, it was families too and it was great when people were able to drop into the Op-Shop again and meet up with others,” Chloe said.
“It was also great to be able to pull in different resources and deliver them such as toys and household needs for these families.”
On a day-to-day basis Mrs Pailthorpe coordinates over 50 volunteers, is involved in a few committees including a voluntary role at the local school and also helps out at Captain Flat’s Op-Shop occasionally.
“Whatever the day brings, its always different,” she humoured.
In November 2018, Mike and Chloe Pailthorpe received the Monaro Service Award from Member for Monaro and NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro MP.
2021 NSW Women’s Week runs from March 8-14 in-line with International Women’s Day and the NSW Women of the Year Awards.
Christopher Tan