Celebrating Nillumbik Women 2009 - Nillumbik Shire Council

Jenni Bundy
1953 - 2009
Nominated by Lynlee Tozer
How does one describe Jenni Bundy?
Tenacious? Determined? Single-minded?
Focussed? She was all of these things. And
more…
Jenni had a phenomenal ability to absorb
information – she remembered everyone’s
birthdays, historical dates, and, of course,
information relating to all matters to do with
planning! She also had a phenomenal ability
to produce copious quantities of written
material about planning matters, in a very
short timeframe, and lodge those papers to
the relevant authorities to be dealt with.
There was never any doubt about Jenni’s
commitment to the Shire of Nillumbik. She
was indeed a main player in the formation
of this Green Wedge Shire, and was a
long-standing member of the Green Wedge
Protection Group as the Secretary and
Treasurer for many, many years. Jenni was
determined that the Green Wedge would
be valued by the residents, all forms of
government, as well as the wider Melbourne
community. Beyond the Green Wedge, she
was active in the Green Wedge Coalition
and a card-carrying Labor party member
– a membership she passionately threw
on the table and threatened resignation to
emphasise the importance of issues being
discussed.
Jenni’s determination to protect Nillumbik,
and all Green Wedge areas, sometimes
came at a cost to her own well-being and
good health. Despite Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome, she would push herself to get
all the details into submissions, never
missing a single point. She used every
available moment to produce something to
educate and inform decision-makers of the
importance of an issue, and demonstrate
how wrong decisions would grossly impact
the Green Wedge. Jenni’s approach
sometimes offended – her passion often
overcame her ability to contain it! She was
determined to make sure people knew that
the issue she was fighting was important.
If Jen was still around, she would continue
to be in our faces, driving us mad, racing
about making sure our beautiful Nillumbik
way of life and its wonderful bushland
wasn’t destroyed by poor decision-making
and lack of understanding. She valued the
beautiful green wedge Shire in which she
chose to live and defend to her last breath.
Jenni, along with her passion, was a tragic
loss in the Black Saturday fires – Vale Jen.