During this Jubilee Year of Hope, Carol Briscoe, who was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the 2025 Australia Day Honours List, reflects on her time as a volunteer with St Agnes’ Catholic Parish in Port Macquarie and what brings her hope for the future.

Modest by nature, Carol is one of the very few people surprised that she was awarded an OAM. Nominated by her Parish, the award recognises Carol’s service to the church and to the community, especially her contribution to making education more accessible.

Carol says all she did was say ‘yes to a few things’ that needed doing and it grew from there!

Some of the few things Carol said ‘yes’ to over the years include:

· Chairing the St Agnes’ Catholic Parish Finance Council (for 13 years and a member for 35 years)

· Chairing the St Agnes’ Education Council (for 20 years)

· Chairing the Diocesan Education Board, overseeing 45 schools and 20,000 students/year in the Lismore Diocese

· Chairing the St Joseph’s Family Services Management Committee, and supporting the growth of St Agnes’ Catholic Parish’s early childhood centres

· Establishing Saints Netball and Port Saints Football clubs

· Serving as Company Director of St Agnes’ Assist and St Agnes’ Care & Lifestyle

· Founding the Kathleen Briscoe Tuition Scholarship along with husband, Peter

She speaks simply about the roles she has taken on in the Port Macquarie Parish and in the Lismore Diocese, as if they are unremarkable – just par for the course God has asked her to walk.

When Carol and her husband Peter arrived in Port Macquarie in 1976 St Agnes’ Catholic Parish was small but ‘quite vibrant’. Everyone knew everyone.

It was having their five children attend Parish schools that first got Carol involved in volunteering for the parish.

“At that time the preschool and the St Joseph’s Infants school (Kinder to Year 2) had been built in Warlters Street for the younger children; and the older children (Years 3 to 6) were still being schooled in Hay Street, where the St Agnes’ Parish Administration building now stands,” says Carol.

“I started doing small things at the preschool and school, and being involved in one thing led to another,” says Carol. “It was cutting up the fruit at the preschool, it was tuckshop, and I was involved with P&F for a while.”

Carol remembers a race day had been organised as a fundraising event, which was not her scene at all, so she came up to the Presbytery to see Parish Priest, Fr Leo Donnelly to voice her concerns or as she puts it ‘to have a whinge’.

“I told Fr Donnelly I was not keen on the race day but that I would like to help in some other way – he took me at my word, so I started doing some book work for him in a little room out the back of the presbytery.”

As the parish grew, Carol’s volunteering also blossomed with other opportunities to learn, grow and be involved.

“One thing led to another, and I came to understand a bit about the schools so Fr Donnelly said, ‘why don’t you just come along to this Finance committee meeting so you can answer questions about the schools’.”

“I wasn’t officially on the Finance Council then but that’s where my involvement started.”

‘When Steve Quirk became business manager at the Parish, we realised some families were really struggling with their school fees, so we formed the School Fees Committee, which I chaired.”

The committee would meet every two months to look at individual cases to understand the story behind their situation, and how the Parish could support them. Later, a school fees system was developed and funded by the Parish.

Education

Carol’s passion for accessible education stems from the educational opportunities she had when she was growing up. She attended Holy Cross College in Woollahra and later gained a Bachelor of Science majoring in Pure Mathematics at the University of Sydney.

“I attended an all-girls school run by the Mercy Sisters, where academia was valued. We had a wonderful relationship with the nuns. Nothing was a problem, anything was possible,” says Carol.

In 1993, at Fr Donnelly’s behest, Carol initiated the St Agnes’ Catholic Parish Education Committee, which she chaired for twenty years.

“The purpose of the Parish Education Committee, which is still active today, was to enable parent representatives and principals to talk and work together so that all Parish schools enjoyed equal opportunity,” says Carol.

In her role as Chair of the Diocesan Education Board, Carol visited all the schools in the Lismore Diocese at various times to promote with principals the value of having parents involved in the schools.

“Some of the principals at that time were reluctant to get parents more involved in school, I think because they weren’t sure what the outcome would be. I was tackling it from the parents’ side of things.”

In this role, Carol also advocated for the formation of a forum, funded by the Diocese, to support parents. It became known as the Parent Assembly.

“We set up coordinators in each region and they would organise gatherings where parents could listen to a guest speaker talk about topical subjects such as online bullying. The main aim was to provide parents with tools and information to support them in dealing with outside pressures and to enable parents to meet each other.”

Kathleen Briscoe Scholarship

The Kathleen Briscoe Tuition Scholarship emerged from Carol’s involvement in the Parish School Fees Committee.

“I had seen so much… people were finding things so difficult, particularly paying for the extra curricula things,” says Carol.

The scholarship, which is offered annually to families of eligible Year 6 students facing financial challenges in meeting the cost of secondary schooling at St Agnes’ Catholic Parish schools, started in 2014.

“When Peter’s mum passed away in 2013, we received a share of her estate and decided to use it to establish an educational scholarship in her memory,” says Carol.

“Like many people, Kathleen struggled her whole life, enduring hardship to put Peter and his siblings through school; there was very little money, but she persevered.”

Eleven years later, the scholarship is still in place, relying now on tax deductible donations from all kinds of people wanting to support families seeking a Catholic education.

Sporting Clubs

Carol and Peter became involved in establishing the Port Saints Football Club and Saints Netball Club when their children were young.

“Our eldest son was playing soccer for an RSL team that won the competition every year,” remembers Carol.

“When our next son started to play, we asked Sister Peter Julian (School Principal at the time) about starting school teams with the idea of building teams of children with different levels of ability… and that’s how Saints Football Club and, eventually, Saints Netball Club were formed.”

“The work of many people, like (former Parish staff member) Sue Ryan who was Club Secretary for years, has contributed to the clubs still fielding teams today.”

Carol says in those days you just got in and helped.

Volunteering

Even though the legalities and compliance around volunteering now make the simple act of offering to help much more complicated than it was, Carol says it is still a very worthwhile thing to do.

“When I started out, I didn’t think I would end up where I am today. I have found it so rewarding and I have met so many wonderful people along the way. There are so many charitable organisations that need volunteers – it is a way to give, to build community, and to forge strong relationships.”

Faith and the Jubilee of Hope

In this Jubilee Year of Hope, Carol says it is her children who give her hope for the future.

“They all give. They are all volunteering in some way even though they probably don’t see it as volunteering… they spend an awful lot of time doing things for their community when they could be doing other things,” says Carol.

Carol also sees hope reflected within the St Agnes’ Catholic Parish community through people’s attendance at church and their willingness to volunteer.

“We get a very good attendance at church and there are a lot of people volunteering to help with things like our Christmas Hamper drive.”

Of her own faith, Carol says ‘It’s just there all the time… it’s a part of my life… in everyday things’.

From a community point of view, Carol says ‘nobody does it alone’.

As is her way, Carol is keen to pay tribute to all those who came before her and who have worked alongside her to achieve better outcomes for those in need in the community.

“I think of people like, Elaine Hallam and Toni Roach who were instrumental in starting up family groups in our parish. I remember, John Worner just knocked on Fr Donnelly’s door and said I am new to town, and I’d like to help; Brian Tierney was much the same; They, and so many others, were outstanding in their willingness to build our community.”

People often refer to Carol as being astute, committed, just, professional and tenacious. She has excelled in the governance roles she has taken on through her ability to ask the right questions at the right time.

Those who know Carol know she prefers to be in the background. Nonetheless, Carol has had the courage to say ‘yes’ to the things God entrusted to her, carrying them all with quiet faith and dignity.