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Ros Goodsell
Awarded for Community Service, Education and Training and Multicultural Affairs
Born: 20 April 1947
'The spirit of volunteering and giving back.'
Growing up in post-war Melbourne, Ros experienced community volunteering as an integral part of family life. Both parents used their training and life-skills to volunteer for many years, and it became a natural choice for both their daughters to follow this tradition. Widely varied studies, inspiring workplaces and personal interests have enabled Ros to contribute to the Tasmanian community through volunteering. After graduating from Melbourne University in 1968 with an honours degree in languages, comparative linguistics and comparative religion, she lived and travelled in Southern Africa. It was this experience that sowed the seeds of her eventual involvement in wider issues of social justice, cooperative living in modern communities, and lifelong learning.
On returning to Australia, Ros moved to Tasmania in 1970, initially working in language teaching. She began volunteering as an English tutor with immigrant families in 1972. In that year she also embarked on a journey of study, work and volunteering in the plant sciences, which continued into the 1990s. Ros completed the qualifying program towards a Master of Science by research in 1975, a Certificate in Horticulture in 1986, and a Graduate diploma in Agricultural Science in 1993. While working in this field, she volunteered for nine years as a Friend of the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, and also assisted with landcare activities in the South Channel area.
Since the mid-1990s, Ros has worked and volunteered in English as an Alternative language with classes, small groups and individual students aged from the early teens to early eighties. To help support greater interfaith and intercultural understanding, she joined Religions for Peace, Australia, in 2005. She regularly participates in local community multifaith gatherings for special events and annual observances, and has volunteered in activities to raise awareness of faith-based persecution occurring in several countries. Ros hopes to continue in community volunteering when the time comes to retire!