Mannering Park recognises a stalwart

The late Coral Burnham has been recognised as a selfless individual who donated countless hours to the Mannering Park community.

Mannering Park Progress president Kel Wynn dedicated a memorial bench seat to Burnham during the opening of the Mannering Park Historic Trail on Saturday, November 23.

“Coral worked closely with all levels of government and was the ‘go to’ person for our community; no issue was too large or too small for her attention,” Wynn said.

“She had an excellent working relationship with Delta Electricity which has provided a number of facilities around our local area as well as making generous donations towards this beautiful seat along with a Central Coast Council community grant,” he said.

Burnham was involved in a broad range of activities in Mannering Park and beyond, including the local Public School Parents and Citizens Association as an office bearer, working in the canteen and with reading groups. 

For the Mannering Park Public School students, Burnham managed to organise for every student to receive a piece of fresh fruit daily, garnering funds from Delta and using the local grocer in town. 

She was an office bearer of Mannering Park Progress, serving as secretary for more than 20 years and represented Progress at the Delta Care Forums, run by Delta Electricity which operates Vales Point Power Station.

Burnham’s services to the community were recognised by previous Federal Member for Shortland Jill Hall who presented her with the Long Service to the Community award in 2014. 

Some of the highlights of her successful lobbying included the lights at the Pacific Hwy / Ruttleys Rd intersection; the shared barbecue facilities and covered seating at Garth’s Point; seating around the oval; the garden with an entry sign to Mannering Park and the maze with pelican sculpture outside the community Hall; shark nets at The Point maintained and kept; the Lone Pine planted and dedicated at the community hall.

“The shared pathway was an over-30-year struggle secured by a federal government grant and Coral would be so delighted to know that another decade later on, thanks to joint federal and Central Coast Council funding, it will now continue all the way to Kingfisher Shores, which will then connect all of our local communities,” Wynn said.

He said that from the day Coral and husband Dennis arrived with their family to take up residence in Mannering Park, there would not be many community projects that Coral didn’t have a hand in establishing. 

One of them was the Mannering Park Historic Trail which was also officially opened on the day.

The trail includes signs that outline the history of non-Indigenous settlement in Mannering Park.