Liz to her mates.
Liz Spicer to the world.
Liz Spicer OAM. As of January 26. To everyone.
Yet the woman herself can’t help thinking it’s got a funny ring to it.
She has absolutely no idea how it came about, who nominated her, not even what, almost certainly more than two years ago, possessed someone to go online and download an entry form to kick the process into gear.
Which ended up with Liz this week being formally outed as one of the very few to be named in the 2024 Australia Day Honours List.
So, there’s no getting away from it now.
Even before this week’s announcement, there’s no denying Liz was in that one-of-a-kind category.
Because all she ever wanted was to be a missionary, ideally somewhere in the depths of Africa, or among the teeming billions of Asia.
And she did.
Become a missionary.
But only got as far as Kyabram and its P-12 school, where she has been a beacon of hope, advice, support, compassion, friendship, and love for the past 23 years.
And where, most times, Chaplain Spicer doesn’t walk into a room. This bundle of energy, complete with trademark slash of lipstick (ranging from blood red to hot pink) tends to erupt through the door.
At the same time, she is also the real deal. Liz has made loving people her life’s work. And loved every minute of it.
However, as surprised as she was, and still is, to have received the call from the Governor-General’s office, there is another emotion which has ranked much, much higher from the minute she hung up the phone.
“Embarrassment, the whole thing is so embarrassing because this is an individual award, and I doubt I could achieve anything in the work I do on my own,” Liz explains.
“I am a community chaplain, incredibly, so generously, supported by the whole Kyabram community, and that means the town has a say in how we operate and a seriously big hand in anything we are able to achieve,” she says.
“As a representative of my community I am just another face in the crowd, and while I do truly appreciate that someone would consider me worthy of this, I genuinely see this as a testament to Kyabram, which has raised money and supported the chaplaincy program, expecting nothing back but wanting to really help people doing it tough.
“You would not believe how often people just come up and put money in my hand and ask me to put it towards the people doing it hard — and I do.”
A lifelong Christian, Liz cannot remember any time in her life which did not revolve around a church and the community it served.
She can drop God into any conversation as happily and liberally as any Geelong fan can with Gary Ablett (senior and/or junior) stories.
Just as she is unshakeable in her belief God circumvented her missionary dreams, deciding she would be of more service in Kyabram than some not-quite-confirmed place elsewhere on the planet.
When she was previously nominated for a community award, one of the people who signed the entry form, a teacher at Kyabram P-12, wrote: “There would not be a single day when co-ordinators do not rely on Liz to help calm, counsel, feed and/or clothe our students, alongside providing a haven for those who are lost, alone or afraid. Liz takes the most difficult students in our school and makes them feel valuable and cared for.”
And it’s not just the people she works with every day who feel the same way.
Just a quick glance at her resumé provides an eye-opening insight into what makes this individual the remarkable individual she is.
• A chaplain since 2001;
• A social worker;
• Founder of the national Prayer for Rain group during the millennium drought;
• Former national co-ordinator of the drought relief committee (and still a member);
• Justice of the Peace;
• Supporter and trauma counsellor during Black Saturday bushfires at places such as Kinglake and Strathewen;
• Flood chaplain 2022;
• Victoria Police chaplain and emergency services chaplain;
• Established a bullying program;
• Feed and clothe students who need it;
• Extend support and advisory options to teachers and staff at Kyabram P-12;
• Provide a focal point for both students and staff and the whole Kyabram community;
• Working with the disabled to ensure they get (at all times when and where possible) support they need; and
• Working with the Indigenous on everything from a Koori garden to key events on the Indigenous calendar and building close relationships with local Elders.
“I was at Kyabram P-12 on a placement as part of my social worker training and the school was looking for a chaplain,” Liz recalls.
“One of the people there at the time told me I should apply,” she says.
“When I asked why, they said ‘you talk about God all the time, so why not do it as our chaplain’?”
So, the social worker with dreams of being a globetrotting missionary took the job, a decision which changed Liz’s life, and the lives of many with whom she has worked.
She has helped countless students through the challenges of school and teenage years, and many she has worked with still stay in contact with her because of those oh, so valuable, connections.
Some of the most vital work she does is rarely, if ever, seen or fully understood. At these times, the public face of Liz Spicer, OAM, disappears behind closed doors as she privately, respectfully, hands out school uniforms and books to struggling students, cash to help families pay for excursions, and dressing seniors for their deb balls (and lifelong memories).
But while Liz loves this grassroots aspect to her role, she is crystal clear on the soul of chaplaincy itself.
Service.
“Our students and staff must always come first,” Liz explains.
“If they need our support it is our role to be there, and we are only able to do that with the amaz-ing backing of the whole Kyabram community, which is the bedrock on which the P-12 Korus Connect chaplaincy has been built,” she says.
“Love and devotion are the fundamentals, but it costs money to ensure our school community gets the breadth of services we are able to deliver.”
But Liz has become such an integral part of the Kyabram story, her work cannot, must not, be weighed against medals and personal honours.
“It is my honour, indeed, my privilege, to be the Korus Connect chaplain at Kyabram P-12 and in Kyabram. That is all the reward I will ever need,” she says.