June Baker reflects on decades in local government

Ms Baker was one of the first women to be elected to the council, but it was only by chance.

Her husband had planned to run on Greg Watson's ticket in the 1977, but was unable to. Cr Watson asked Ms Baker if she would like to run instead, and she went on to have a long career as a councillor.

"I was a bit lost at first," she said.

"But you get hooked."

Ms Baker, from Cardiff in Wales, caught the travel bug early, when her family lived in South Africa for a time.

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In 1966, she, along with her husband, their six-month-old baby and Ms Baker's mother, made the move to Nowra.

Coming from a much damper climate, the new migrants thought the locals mad when they saw them dancing in the rain, but soon came to love their new country.

Of her time on council, Ms Baker said there was a sense of camraderie that enabled the group to get things done, despite the odd disagreement.

"The staff were wonderfull too - it was like a big family," she said.

One of her proudest achievements was the Shoalhaven Library, originally planned to be further from the bus route. Ms Baker fought for its present location, to make it easily accessible to seniors and those dependent on public transport.

Her greatest disappointment was not getting an armaments depot built on the fringes of Jervis Bay, a development she believes would have created more employment opportunities in the area.

She believes an increase in the number of councillors with close affiliations to larger political parties eroded the trust and respect in the chamber she enjoyed during her time there, although she acknowledged she had been a member of the Labor Party for a while.

"When politics came into [the chamber] it wasn't a strong debate anymore, it was nasty," she said.

"Politics divided us very badly."

Ms Baker said for local government to work well, the best interests of the community must be front of mind for all councillors.