SHE boasts an Intermediate Certificate from the Cootamundra Public School, a Railway Institute Certificate in Commerce and an Honours in Bookkeeping obtained via a correspondence as the sum of her formal education.
But in the school of life and the college of common sense, Cootamundra woman Beryl Ingold AO, MBE, ranks up there with the best minds in the country.
Mrs Ingold was honoured yesterday at Charles Sturt University (CSU) – Orange Campus for her ‘significant and distinguished contribution to the University and its predecessor institutions’ with the naming of one of the campus accommodation units in her honour.
Ingold House, was one of six units dedicated yesterday in front of family and friends, members of the University Council, invited guests and CSU staff.
The former Vice-Chancellor, Emeritus Professor CD Blake, AO, was one of the special guests at the naming ceremony.
Mrs Ingold held a position on the University Council from the institution’s inception as the Orange Agricultural College in 1978 through to 2004 when the University became part of The Sydney University, for 10 of those years acting as Chair of the University Council.
Mrs Ingold vividly remembers the conversation that led to her accepting a position on the Council.
She had received a written invitation weeks earlier indicating the names and credentials of the other invited Council members, many of whom were Professors and other skilled educators and business leaders.
“I was on the Board of the Agricultural Bureau (she was State President) at the time and Dr Fred Butler, rang me up and asked me why I had not replied to the invitation he’d sent me to join the Advisory Council.
“I told him that given my limited education, I didn’t think that I could offer anything to the Council,” Mrs Ingold said.
“He said to me, ‘We academics need someone on the Council who is prepared to tell us when we haven’t got it right and I can’t think of anyone better than you’”.
Mrs Ingold has lived all her life in Cootamundra and district.
Her pedigree; the granddaughter of the first Railway Station Mistress in NSW, the daughter of a hard working railwayman and an entrepreneurial mother (co-founder of Elizabeth Anne Florist), probably gives and indication as to how and why she has become the remarkable woman many perceive her; yet surprisingly she says she never expected to lead the life she has.
“My dad was a railway worker and he always instilled in his family that we owed a commitment to our community,” Mrs Ingold said.
She also credits her father for her thirst for knowledge and life’s passion, the push for better educational opportunities for rural people.
She fondly remembers a youth full of travel with educational opportunities always built in.
“Trips to Newcastle on the train to see the coal mines, to Kiama to see the blow-hole.
“We even used to get bundled onto the South West Mail train to Griffith and back home on the Temora Mail; that was how I learnt about the MIA (Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area),” Mrs Ingold said.
Mrs Ingold says it was her late husband Ned who got her involved with the NSW Agricultural Bureau, pointing to that involvement as the pre-cursor to her many district, regional and state appointments.
“I suppose it was the start of the recognition that women could contribute and quite substantially if given the chance,” she said.
“Although, I can remember thinking at the time that I wanted to be accepted on my merits, not just because I was a woman.”
“I never planned to become involved in the things I have, it just seems to have happened,” Mrs Ingold added.
Those things that have “happened” include:
* Life Memberships to the CWA of NSW, Agricultural Bureau of NSW and the Cootamundra Show Society.
* Cootamundra Citizen of the Year – 1979.
* An MBE for ‘Service to the Community and Agriculture’ – 1979.
* Centenary of Federation Medal – 2003.
* Bicentennial Medal – 1988.
* Riverina Murray Institute of Higher Education – Bachelor of Science and Agriculture (HC) – 1988.
* Appointed Fellow of the University of New England – 1990.
* Awarded a Doctorate to the University of New England (HC) – 1991.
* Bestowed the Department of Education Sesquicentenary Award – 1998.
* Ambassador for the International Year of Older Persons – 1999.
* Australia Officer - Order of Australia for her contribution to Regional Development and Education – 2001.
* Cootamundra Shire Council Recognition Award - 2008.
* Dedication of Ingold House CSU Orange – 2009.
To assume that this 82 year old great-grandmother is ready to pull up stumps and ride her ‘gopher’ into retirement would be premature to say the least.
Mrs Ingold still holds a position on five Government Boards among many other involvements including the Cootamundra Public School Council.
Mrs Ingold fondly recalled a recent luncheon at which two prominent Cootamundra teachers were present.
For a laugh she had taken along her last school report card which sported six B’s and the comment ‘Good Leadership Qualities’.
“The told me that was teacher speak for ‘can’t mind own business’.
“They teased me that if I had stopped sticking my nose into other people’s business, maybe I’d have gotten better than B’s,” she laughed.
Luckily Mrs Ingold’s sense of community and inbuilt curiosity continues to get the better of her.
Past involvements
* State Vice-President CWA of NSW - 1968-70
* State President Agricultural Bureau of NSW - 1975-79
* Riv Regional Advisory Council – 1977-79
* Orange Agricultural College Advisory Council – 1978-80
* Orange Agricultural College Board of Management – 1981-83
* NSW Women’s Advisory Council to the Premier – 1981-84
* Education Commission of NSW Task Force – 1981-84
* NSW Family and Children’s Services Ministerial Advisory Committee – 1983-95
* Meat and Allied Trade course review Committee, Ryde School of Hotel Management and Catering – 1983-86
* Albury/Wodonga Post school Education Council – 1985-87
* National rural Education Working Party – 1987
* Chair Cootamundra Housing Committee – 1980-88
* Orange Agricultural College – First College Council - 1984-88
* Riverina Industry Development Board – 1979-90 (Chair 89-90)
* Chair Orange Agricultural College – Second College Council – 1989-90
* Murrumbidgee Agricultural College Council - 1975-2004
* NSW Board of Adult Education – Deputy Chair – 1989-91
* Law Society Solicitors Statutory Committee – 1985-91
* Chair Riverina Council of Adult Education – 1987-92
* Director NSW Education Training Foundation – 1990-93
* Chair UNE – Orange Advisory Council 1990-93
* Legal Profession Disciplinary Tribunal – 1991-94
* Cootamundra Hospital Board – 1980-96
* Orange Agricultural College – The Sydney University – 1993-2004 (Chair 1993-99)
Current interests
* Riverina Area Consultative Committee
* Riverina Institute of TAFE Advisory council
* Coota Public School – Community Representative Riverina Area Scout Assn of Australia council – 1978 – current
* Patron NSW Rural Youth State Council
* Cootamundra Development Corporation
* Health One Committee
* Critical Friends Group
* Cootamundra District Land Board
* Riverina Region Development Board
* Contact Inc NSW Project for Isolated Children
* Probus Club
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