By Molly Magennis
Rodney Johnstone has been named Maribyrnong council’s 2022 Citizen of the Year for his continual and tireless community service.
Mr Johnstone was recognised during the council’s Civic Award ceremony on February 24, where a host of awards were given out to deserving community members.
While he knew he had been nominated for the award, Mr Johnstone was pleasantly surprised when he was officially named Citizen of the Year.
Over the past decade, Mr Johnstone has been involved in a string of community organistions and initiatives.
His longest stint has been at the Footscray Hockey Club, where he initially joined in 1988 before taking up various coaching roles, board member roles and finally serving as club president.
“The people at the hockey club are fantastic, so it’s a great family atmosphere and just a good place to be,” Mr Johnstone said.
“I just like the sport, it’s a terrific equalizer because you know whether you’re 6 or 76 You can still run around and play at any level or standard.”
The project he’s most proud of however is establishing Footscray’s Community Bike Hub in 2014, which repairs donated bicycles for those in need, and helps to reduce the amount of bikes going in to landfill.
“It was just something where there was a constant demand because of the number of people coming into our community from overseas as refugees or asylum seekers,” he said.
“It’s kind of a passion project because I just enjoy meeting different people.”
While Mr Johnstone has family ties to Maribrynong, what he loves most about the community is the hunger that exists to get things done.
“It’s a space where you can take a project to either council or service groups or people of influence and you can get them up and running….it’s a place where ideas sort of, the rubber hits the road.”
