Councillor and civil celebrant Carol Provan awarded OAM

"It can be a little thing from someone having a problem with a tree or a fence," she said. "It might not be a big deal to the council, but its a big deal to the resident."

Cr Provan has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Australia Day Honours for service to local government, and to the community of Sutherland Shire.

"I am very humbled and overwhelmed," she said. "I have been on council for six terms, and I must say I enjoy it.

"I enjoy working for the community, I am just there to represent people.

"Footpaths, public toilets and other facilities might seem dull and boring, but they mean a lot to people.

"You can't help everyone, but when you can it is very satisfying," she said.

Cr Provan laughs as she tells the story of former shire clerk (the position is now CEO) Athol Hill telling her when she was a new councillor, "You can't please everyone, so you have just got to vote with your heart and make sure its legal".

The former model and fashion show co-ordinator joined the council in 1983 and served two terms until 1991, including being president in 1987-1988.

She returned in 2008, serving as mayor in 2011-2012 and intends to seek another term at the this year's election in September.

"I will be the oldest councillor there, but there are a lot of young ones coming up and I think if I can be there to be a bit of support for them as well as represent people as I have always done, that will be a pretty good thing for me," she said.

Cr Provan is also well known as a civil celebrant. She has conducted about 3200 memorial services, as well as many weddings, over 18 years.

Cr Provan took on the role when her husband Peter, who captained the 1969 premiership winning Balmain Tigers rugby league team, was seriously ill.

"Peter was in Stella Maris nursing home at Cronulla for four years before his death in 2010," she said.

"I needed to get out there and earn a living.

"At the time, there was a waiting list to become a wedding celebrant, and I couldn't wait, so I went to the funeral places and they welcomed me.

"You just need the confidence to talk to people and have a lot of empathy for people. I think all those years of Peter being sick put me in the head space that I could handle that emotion."

The mother of two and grandmother of three married Ross Howie, a widower, in 2011.

"Life has been unusual for a girl from Bankstown," she said.

"My brother and I used to get on the train and come over here, and my mother had the lease on the old kiosk where Zimzala was later built. I met Peter on the beach."

Cr Provan left school at 15 and worked as a receptionist at the Royal Aero Club, Bankstown from 1959 to 1966.

Her mother, who was widowed when Carol was nine and worked many jobs to support her two children, sent her to the June Daly-Watkins Deportment School.