Councillors Mary and Dale Langford have served 12 consecutive years together at Belyando Shire Council in Queensland. Now married for 38 years, Dale joined Council in 1992 with Mary following soon after in 1994. Their combined Local Government experience spans over 25 years.
“While we do have some difference of opinion occasionally, we predominantly share the same values and ideas and I think that is what makes it work,” said Mary Langford. “We both have the same interests in the community and it was only natural that we both joined Council,” Dale Langford said. “We had worked together before at a bowls club and had also been on several of the same committees. So working together on Council was not a new thing for us.”
Mary Langford said that while some Councils may consider having a married couple on Council a barrier, they both had the community at heart.
“We think it is a good thing,” she said. “The Belyando community just accept it. It is not something that people dwell on. I consider it a privilege that we are able to work together, and I thank the community for allowing it to happen.”
Mary and Dale recently worked together as Joint Secretary for the Australia Remembers Celebrations. The Federally funded event remembered 60 years since the end of World War II.
Each community was given $1,000 to create a lasting memory of the anniversary and also to raise further funds.
“Over a five and a half week period, we raised over $6,000,” Mary said. “We installed a memorial clock in the town centre and also worked with Belyando’s youth to create a mural for when the returned services come to town. Because the kids made it, it has never been graffitied. It something they have come to appreciate.”
Along with two other people, for the past ten years, Dale and Mary have dressed up as Santa and his helpers, touring the town on the back of a trailer distributing presents.
They also chair the Australia Day Committee together.
