Community
10 September, 2024
I think it is my calling to be here, says Edna
One of Mount Isa's most selfless residents has reflected on the Multicultural Festival.
When Edna Anderson arrived in Mount Isa during Australia’s 1988 bicentennial year, she immediately searched for the Catholic parish.
“It is the Filipino way,” she explained to North West Weekly.
“The first thing a Filipino does when they arrive anywhere new is look for the nearest Church. As a Catholic and a Christian, our community is built around the Church.”
Edna did not have to look very far in the city with a then-population of 23,000 to find the Good Shepherd Catholic Church. She has been a mainstay of the parish ever since.
It is perhaps no coincidence that the Philippines-born Edna arrived in our city the same year that the very first Immigrant Sunday gatherings were being held at Good Shepherd – which was the precursor to the Mount Isa Multicultural Festival.
Edna said she remembers a handful of nuns serving plates of food at those small gatherings after Mass in the early days.
It would be a few more years before the newly arrived Father Mick Lowcock took that concept and drastically overhauled it into the standout calendar event it has grown into, where thousands of locals descend on the parish grounds for an evening of food, music and celebration, as they did for the 28th year on Friday night.
Edna assisted with cleaning and cooking to prepare the Church for its very first Multicultural Festival in 1996 and she has volunteered at every festival since.
When North West Weekly spoke to her last week, Edna was whipping around the parish kitchen juggling several tasks at once.
She was cooking mince for a spaghetti sauce; inspecting the written lists of equipment required for each food stall and overseeing the draping of flags and outside decorations.
She proudly points out the red, white and blue Philippines flag she has given pride of place outside.
Mount Isa has a Filipino population three times the national average. On her long list of community roles, Edna is president of the Mount Isa Filipino-Australian Association.
Yet despite the mountainous scale of tasks at hand in preparation for the Church festival, Edna still finds a moment to dive into one of the rows of fridges scattered across the room to retrieve a small bottle of soft drink.
“You must be thirsty – it’s very hot outside,” she says while plonking the bottle down, before hurriedly returning to stirring the mince in the frying pan.
Ever modest, Edna says she is still trying to improve her cooking skills, however speaking to just a handful of people at the parish reveals her culinary ability is beyond reproach.
Edna is the type of modest, unassuming and selfless volunteer that paths a light for our community.
She is among that small group of people who would never accept the mantle – but it is true to say – that her dedication to the community truly makes our city feel like a home.
Such is her community spirit that there have been attempts to convince her to run for council, which she simply smiles and lets off a gentle laugh at the absurdity of even the mere suggestion.
Her list of roles and tasks is exhausting – from leading the Filipino Association, conducting Bible classes for youngsters, volunteering as a trained Christian spiritual adviser to cleaning the floors and dusting the ornaments in the Church.
And that’s just to name a few of the tasks she completes every month.
When you consider she manages all these things while also working 30 hours each week and still finding family time, it’s clear that she is someone who always puts the needs of others above herself.
With a jam-packed schedule, the grandmother says she enjoys living in Mount Isa because everything can be reached in five minutes. It is a five-minute drive to her workplace; a five-minute drive to the parish grounds and a five-minute drive to collect her grandson from school.
But she said it was the people of the city that keeps her spirit alive.
“I have made many friends in Mount Isa from many different countries and cultures, and I have always enjoyed my time in the city,” Edna says.
“I think it is my calling to be here.”