General News
16 June, 2026
Rewarded for devotion
A FORMER Yorkeys Knob kindy and preschool educator has been honoured in the King’s Birthday Honours List with an honorary Medal of the Order of Australia.
Wendy Lion, a former long-serving director of Yorkeys Knob Community Kindergarten and Preschool, has received an honorary medal because she is a British citizen.
Mrs Lion, 82, established the centre and taught hundreds of children during her 20 years at the centre.
While Mrs Lion taught in Birmingham (UK), Sydney, Newcastle and Toowoomba during her 44-year teaching career, Yorkeys Knob was where she made her mark, driving establishment of the current centre and teaching hundreds of children during her two decades as director.
Mrs Lion said she was grateful for the award.
“Thank you to the Yorkeys Knob community for their support during my time as director and today with this lovely surprise,” she said.
“This recognition is dedicated to all the staff, committee members, parents, local businesses and children who have embraced the centre to make it such a great community asset.”
Mary Wilson, who was a teaching assistant from 1978 to 1989 and still catches up with Mrs Lion, said “Wendy’s enthusiasm and expertise was instrumental to reach the very high standard required for C&K affiliation, delivering significant funding and support”.
“We went from two morning sessions a week with a handful of kids to a full-time facility with kindergarten and preschool classes while training aspiring early childhood practitioners,” she said.
Mrs Lion joined the-then four-year-old facility in 1978 when it was located in the former ‘humble’ Yorkeys Knob Progress Hall, which was shared with other groups, had minimal enrolments on only a couple of days a week and no proper learning program or equipment
After much fundraising, building and expansion in the late 1970s and early 1980s at a new Best Street site where the centre remains today, the facility received C&K affiliation and later a special C&K commendation as a full-time centre with kindy and preschool classes.
Mrs Lion was known for her tireless work with fundraisers and parent ‘working bees’ on weekends, landscaping or building a new addition to the centre with parents and staff. The centre celebrated its 50th birthday in 2024.
