Denise Davidson is from a family synonymous with volunteering, so much so that the top award in Cardinia for community work bears her father’s name. This year, she not only presented the Stan Henwood award in honour of her father, but was nominated for it. Denise spoke to Gazette reporter Corey Everitt about the legacy of the Henwood family, volunteering today and why the honouring of her father each year is a bittersweet moment.
Denise Davidson, née Henwood, is always at Cardinia’s annual volunteers’ dinner.
The night, held during National Volunteers Week in May, celebrates the best of the shire’s community by awarding an individual as Volunteer of the Year, under the title of the Stan Henwood Award.
As the daughter of the late Tynong legend, she attends the dinner every year with her family to present the award.
This year was a little different. For the first time, she was nominated for the award, raising the possibility that her mother might present it to her.
“One of the things Dad always said was you don’t do community work for recognition,” she said.
“On one hand, I felt honoured and privileged to think that I was following in Dad’s footsteps. On the other, I’m thinking, oh my God, if I happen to win this, they’ll just say, ‘Oh, they only did it because it was his daughter.’”
It would be hard to question her worthiness if she did receive the award. Denise certainly follows in her father’s footsteps.
Stan Henwood OAM is best known for his long involvement with the Tynong Hall Committee, the Tynong Recreation Reserve Committee, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
He received his Medal of the Order of Australia in 2003, only a year before he died in 2004.
He was a life member of the Tynong Tennis Club, the West Gippsland Tennis Association, the Tynong Fire Brigade, and the Tynong Progress Association.
On two occasions, he was named Citizen of the Year—in 1981 and 1990. A year after his passing, the local volunteering award was named in his honour.
It is a long list of achievements, but when Denise was growing up, it just felt like normal life.
“Back in those days, things were a lot simpler. He was a farmer, so he was home all the time.
“You’d go to a local hall meeting, the progress meeting, the hall committee, and then the recreation reserve. Dad was very community-minded.
“He was always hands-on, you know, with the fire brigade. Then, as us kids got involved with tennis, he became the president of the West Gippsland Tennis Association.”
Denise has served as secretary and treasurer of the Tynong Hall Committee for a combined time of over 20 years. She has also been on the committee of the recreation reserve for more than 40 years.
Even Denise’s mother, and Mr Henwood’s widow, Bev Henwood, is still on the hall committee at the age of 94.
Collectively, her family has contributed over a century of volunteering in Tynong alone.
She is also treasurer of the Nar Nar Goon RSL and has been involved with the Pakenham Football Club and its junior club.
A large part of volunteering is helping your children through sport or schooling, and Denise followed that example from her father.
“I was just doing what my dad did for my kids.”
Unfortunately, much of the quiet culture of volunteering from her father’s time seems to have faded. Many dedicated members are now older, and their numbers are shrinking.
“People are time-poor, but I don’t think they realise what they’re missing.
“He never went to a nine-to-five job, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t working.
“Dad was always home, but always there for you. We followed the footy, and it meant nothing for us to go to Geelong to watch a game. Then Dad would come home and milk the cows. It was just what you did as a family.”
She also recalls that getting things done used to be much simpler.
“If something needed doing at the hall, you’d ring your local councillor and say, ‘Well, what can we do here?’ And it was just done.”
Denise hopes that the community spirit instilled by her father and wider family can thrive once again among younger generations, supported at an institutional level.
Volunteer Week in May is a bittersweet time for Denise and her family. As much as it celebrates Mr Henwood, it is also a reminder that he was one of many men taken by prostate cancer.
In 2019, Denise’s brother was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He died from the disease in 2023 at the age of 61.
She was by her brother’s side for much of his battle. That same year, Denise was invited to speak about it at the Cardinia Casey Biggest Ever Blokes Lunch. It was the first lunch without Norm.
“Some in my family worried that there’d be 300 blokes there who wouldn’t stop talking.
“I spoke, and you could have heard a pin drop. It was just unbelievable.”
In sharing the painful experience of losing both a father and a brother, she emphasised how important it is to take the disease seriously and do more to catch it early.
“It’s a cruel, cruel disease. It’s a secretive disease.
“I said to the guys, if you’re going to the doctor, just ask them for a check. And if they don’t want to do it, then find a doctor who will.”
“People came up to us afterward saying it was so great to hear. It was a family story.”
Even though the Henwood family’s story holds tragedy, it is also a powerful reminder that the quiet work of volunteering always leaves a lasting legacy.
