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AT the age of almost 79, Patricia Gould has spent more than half her life serving the city of Albury.
The longest-serving woman councillor in Australian local government history marks her 40-year anniversary on Tuesday.
It is a phenomenal achievement and one to be applauded.
At the time of her first election in 1974, Cr Gould and husband Noel had five sons to look after.
She soon realised that not all women who wanted to return to work after starting a family had the kind of support network that she and her husband enjoyed, and she pushed for more childcare options for Albury parents.
Cr Gould went on to spend six terms as mayor and another as deputy, and admits it hasn’t always been plain sailing.
But Patricia Gould has always known her own mind. She did not embrace the One City notion for Albury-Wodonga, and not even prime minister Gough Whitlam could persuade her.
But she says the nature of local government is you get all kinds of people, with all kinds of different ideas.
Indeed you do, but not many would be quite so devoted to a city as Cr Gould has been to ours, and she is deserving of our thanks and congratulations.