Published on Friday, 5 December 2025 at 7:54:15 AM
The Shire of Ravensthorpe is devastated by the tragic death of our Deputy President Cr Mark Mudie at the West River fire on Monday.
We offer our sincere condolences to his wife Elaine, their children, family and friends.
Shire President Rachel Gibson said Mark was a knowledgeable and well-grounded councillor.
“His expertise, knowledge and common sense will certainly be missed. When he spoke, we listened,” she said.
“We will all miss the farming chats at council with Mark and I offer my heartfelt condolences to Elaine, Nathan, Jessica and families.”
Mark was elected councillor in 2019 and had just started his second term as Deputy President. His local knowledge proved valuable in council discussions and decision making and his main concern was always what was best for the community. He was incredibly proud of the agricultural sector in our region and was a great advocate for them.
We will miss Mark’s respectful and considered approach to new ideas and the professional and courteous way he engaged with stakeholders and members of the community when representing the Shire of Ravensthorpe at events.
We will also miss his smile and his laugh. Mark was fond of a cheeky quip to lighten the mood and bolster spirits during some of our long meetings.
Investigations are ongoing into what happened at the West River fire and we fully support WA Police throughout this process.
It has been an incredibly challenging week for our team. We were already mourning the loss of our former Shire President Keith Dunlop, and Mark’s sudden passing has left us reeling.
While we continue to come to terms with this loss, we ask the community to please be patient with us. Many in our team worked closely with Mark and they are grieving a respected and much-loved colleague.
We also express our heartfelt thanks for everything our volunteer firefighters have done this week in such extremely challenging circumstances. They provide a critical and essential service to our community, often in the most dangerous and confronting of situations and we are deeply grateful for their courage and commitment.
All staff and volunteers have been offered support via our confidential Employee Assistance Program and this extends to their family members too.
Livingston Medical will be running a community workshop soon for anyone in the community to attend. They will discuss avenues of support, availability of free appointments and more.
We will get through this difficult time together.
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