Anne Knight moved to Laverton with her Air Force husband in the early 80s, but they split soon after their youngest son was born.
Having nowhere to live and three children to support, Mrs Knight turned to the Altona Meadows/Laverton Uniting Church and became an advocate for low-income housing.
On Australia Day, she was awarded a Medal of the Order for Australia for service to the Laverton community.
“Community housing has been a big part of my life because I was a single mum with kids so young,” she said.
“My ex was still in the Air Force when my marriage broke up and I had a tiny baby.
“Through necessity, I got involved with lobbying for more public housing.
“That led to being involved in setting up the Common Equity Rental Housing program, which started 30 years ago as a federally funded program to set up housing co-operatives.”
Now a church elder, she reads liturgy and teaches Sunday school.
She has also chaired the Laverton Community Association and was also a founding member of the Laverton Community Garden.
In 1992, at age 42, she went back to university and earned a nursing degree becoming a disability instructor with Mambourin Enterprises. More recently, she became involved in the Epsom Street project which aims to build social housing on the former Laverton primary school site.
“I see what I do in the community as living my Christian faith,” Mrs Knight said.
“The things I’ve been involved in are very much, one thing’s led to another in terms of where my life was at the time.”
