By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
EVERYONE has the right to a voice.
For more than 40 years Tony O’Hara has lived by this mantra as a passionate member and long-time treasurer of the Hampton Park Progress Association.
But after four decades, and a list as long as his arm of successful achievements for the suburb he has called home since 1973, Tony has moved from Hampton Park to live closer to his daughter in Pakenham.
And while he plans to stay involved with the progress association in a small way, he admits it was time to step aside from his role as treasurer after giving so much to the group over so many years.
“It was around about 1974 when I joined,” Tony said of the Hampton Park Progress Association.
“At the time Councillor Arthur Wren made this statement where he said everyone had the right to a voice and no-one should be afraid to approach councils with their own opinions.
“This stuck with me and kept me interested.
“He was right, you could talk to people.”
When Tony first joined the association, Hampton Park was part of the then Shire of Cranbourne. He said the suburb was like a “village” where “you knew everyone and everyone knew the association.”
“Hampton Park was the furthestmost northern point. We had to fight for bus stops, footpaths, everything,” Tony said.
“The progress association was an advocacy group looking after issues on behalf of the community.”
Tony reflects on the achievements the association helped advocate for throughout the last few decades with more than a touch of pride.
These include the introduction of a library to Hampton Park, the overpass on the Monash Freeway near Pound Road, and the successful protest against an advanced waste treatment plant being set up in the area.
But the most significant community campaign may have come in the wake of 2009’s car crash tragedy – the duplication of Hallam Road.
In February this year the State Government completed a $40 million upgrade to the section of the road between Pound and Ormond roads where five young lives were lost in two weeks.
Narre Warren P-12 students and friends Riyani Lowen, 16, Anja Miller, 15, and Joel Brimble, 19, and a fourth teenager in another vehicle were all killed in the two-car collision at the intersection of Hallam and Ormond roads in the early hours of 28 June 2009.
A fortnight later as she drove past a roadside memorial erected for the lost teenagers, a 21-year-old woman was killed instantly when her car was hit by a B-double truck at the same intersection.
After the tragedy the campaign to have Hallam Road upgraded reached fever pitch – culminating in the Walk for Hallam Road – but Tony remembers writing a letter pushing to have the road fixed as far back as the mid-90s.
He said it was just a pity it took so long and “had it not taken so long may it have not had the tragedy but you just don’t know.”
“It was a real shock when it happened, it stunned us all,” Tony said.
“But with others being involved because of all the people that were killed, including friends and relatives, we had others to help us.
“Everyone pulled together and we had the one aim and some were determined to walk down the middle of Hallam Road.”
