LOCAL PROFILE: MIKE BODSWORTH
Empowering Local Communities By Jenna Crawford
On day trips from his childhood home on the Bellarine Peninsula, down the Great Ocean Road to Lorne, Mike Bodsworth became endeared to Point Roadknight. Its natural beauty intrigued him, but to his frustration the family car always continued further down the coast. Finally, 15 years ago, after studying in Melbourne and spending many years living in Western Australia and France, he had an opportunity to settle here. Mike is a landscape architect, but it was a job as a project manager with the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee that enabled him to fulfill his old desire to become a Point Roadknight local. He saw the job advertised while living with Isabelle in Paris, applied and got it after a long-distance phone interview. The job, based in Torquay, saw him managing many different projects, some of those were devoted to
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conservation and volunteering, visitor facilities, signs and interpretive facilities, Aboriginal-heritage conservation and land-use planning.
The big move from Paris to Anglesea to raise a family with Isabelle has posed challenges, particularly staying connected to faraway family and friends, but it’s a move they’ve never regretted. Now Mike’s a “home dad”, as well as a Surf Coast Shire Councillor, sharing home and parenting duties with Isabelle
who operates her own business. The couple feel very fortunate to be able to raise their two children in Anglesea. I asked Mike to nominate the skills one should have to succeed as a Councillor. He said one needs to be a good listener and be open minded. One had to have sufficient time to commit to the community, and be aware of the dilemmas between development and growth and the need to preserve the uniqueness of towns like Anglesea and Aireys Inlet. “Surf Coast councillors have a responsibility not just to locals, but also to visitors who are counting on us to look after the place for them too – and for future generations,” he said.
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