This latest award makes it a very special year for the Ferguson family with Margaret's husband Kendall receiving  an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in  the Australia Day honours list.

NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Katrina Hodgkinson, said 153 women have today had their names added to an important list acknowledging their volunteer roles and valuable contribution to NSW rural communities.

“These inspiring women from across NSW have been formally recognised in a unique annual honour roll known as Hidden Treasures,” Ms Hodgkinson said.

“This honour roll provides a long lasting legacy to tireless women volunteers, who are the backbone of many rural and regional communities.

“With more than 500 women now enshrined on the honour roll, this is our way of saying thank you and honouring what you do”

“Women are doing a great job across regional centres and small villages, playing an important voluntary role by providing support to community organisations, local businesses and of course families”.

Margaret and her husband Kendall moved to Putty in 1976 and where they both were  founding members of the Putty Community Association which organises social events for the Putty community.

In her story on the Department of Primary Industries  Hidden Treasure Honour Roll it says Margaret has applied for government grants to upgrade the building and the equipment it houses. Margaret also helps organise the building maintenance and social events, so that the hall continues to be available to the community. Whenever there is a project involving the hall Margaret is there to help. 

She has also represented Putty at meetings of the Singleton Council’s Rural Halls Committee for several years and is Secretary of that committee. 

Margaret became involved in the Rural Fire Service in 1977 and in 1999 she and Kendall lobbied government for funding to build a fire station for the Putty Rural Fire Brigade. The station, built by volunteers including Margaret and her husband, was officially opened in 2006.

As a trained member of the Brigade Margaret attended many fires. She has been the Secretary of the Brigade for several years, a position which involves organising community meetings during fire alerts.