Wagga Wagga Australia Day Award recipients announced

Published: 29 May 2018 4:43pm

Wagga Wagga Australia Day Award recipients announced

Three outstanding Wagga residents were honoured for their community contributions at the 2016 Australia Day Awards held at the Civic Theatre tonight.

Citizen of the Year was awarded to mental health advocate, youth worker and charity ambassador Joe Williams.

Young Citizen of the Year went to Hannah Kempton for her positive promotion of rural medicine.

The newest Walk of Honour inductee is teacher and sportsman John Brasier.

Wagga Waggafest short film competition People’s Choice winner was also announced, with Karnie Spalding taking out the top prize for her production Rockyroad.

A list of award winners and nominees is below.

AUSTRALIA DAY AWARDS

2016 Citizen of the Year – Joe Williams:

Joe spends much of his time working to inspire youth and individuals through motivational speaking workshops. He works with disengaged youth in local schools, drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres and jails and is a mentor to many youth and adults within the community.

Joe has dedicated much of his time to community partnerships and supporting various not-for-profit organisations including the Amie St Claire Melanoma Trust, Wagga Wagga Takes Two, Wagga Wagga Relay For Life and Cancer Council NSW. Joe has shared his own battle with mental health and now advocates and raises awareness around depression

Citizen of the Year nominees:

Trevor Argus

Trevor has dedicated his time tirelessly to the Walk to D’Feet MND and has raised thousands towards assisting people with motor neurone disease. Trevor has also volunteered for the Cancer Council NSW for more than a decade.

His approach to engaging the community and contributing to activities to build a stronger community has been selfless and has had a great impact on those around him. He has also been involved in many fundraising efforts for the Wagga Wagga Base Hospital.

Phil Hoey

Phil has spent many years of his life volunteering for the betterment of others. His biggest passion is Kidney Health Australia and to date he has raised an amazing $100,000 by mowing lawns and a further $40,000 through raffles.

Phil also dedicates his time to the Asthma Foundation, Heart Foundation, the Lions Club and the National Stroke Foundation. He is currently part of the Wagga Wagga Veteran and Vintage Motor Club and manages to still find time to drive a school bus.

Judith Galloway

Judy has always been passionate about the growth and development of Wagga Wagga and in 2011 saw an opportunity for a non-political body to bring together the three levels of government and other stakeholders to aid the growth and prosperity of the city.

Judy was instrumental in the establishment of the Committee4Wagga and has served as its chairperson since its creation. Judy has spent the whole of her adult life giving to the businesses of Wagga Wagga and beyond while also supporting her family.

Jim Rees

Jim has a vision to teach people the skills of vegetable gardening in a way that has minimal impact on the environment, is organic and environmentally friendly. Since starting the Wagga Wagga Demonstration Gardens in 2001, Jim has spent the past 14 years as the volunteer coordinator at the gardens.

He oversees the management and opening times three mornings a week as well as coordinating the behind the scenes tasks required for the gardens to operate. Jim is an optimist who is humble, compassionate, community-minded, resourceful and generous in sharing his skills and knowledge.

James Hamilton

James has provided long and faithful service to the Anglican Parish of Wagga and Diocesan agencies. He has been instrumental in facilitating the restoration of the St John’s rood and is actively involved in the future plans for the Wagga Anglican Parishes.

James has also dedicated a significant amount of his time to Wollundry Rotary where he has fulfilled a wide range of leadership roles including treasurer, secretary, community service director and chairman of the Sunday markets committee, community health awareness, career training and youth connection. He has also been public officer since 2000 and attendance officer for even longer.

Garry Gurtner

Garry has been a lifetime resident of Wagga Wagga and is well known for his generosity to charities and organisations, regularly donating significant prizes of raffles as well as providing cash donations. These donations would total many thousands of dollars over the years and he has never expected recognition.

Garry and his wife have also been overnight volunteers at Ronald McDonald House, provided substantial support to the Cystic Fibroses group, the Amie St Clair Melanoma Trust, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, Kurrajong Waratah and has a long and active participation in the Lake Albert Rural Fire Brigade.

Andrew Wallace

Andrew has been a major driver in the Riverina region for understanding climate change, as well as being the strategic leader of the Riverina Conservatorium of Music as the chair of the board – initiating sweeping strategic changes that have transformed the conservatorium into one of the most significant music education organisations in Australia.

Andrew also dedicated thousands of volunteer hours to support staff, students and the organisation as a whole.

Kevin Kerr

Kevin has been involved with a variety of service organisations within the city including the Forest Hill Rural Fire Brigade, the NSW Rural Fire Service Riverina Zone Aviation Brigade, Forest Hill Progress Association, Wagga Wagga RSL Sub-Branch, 332 Squadron Australian Air Force Cadets as an instructor and Commanding Officer, Aircare and the RAAF Wagga Heritage Centre.

Kevin devotes a great majority of his time to working with all of these organisations in an effort to improve his community. Kevin is truly passionate about the community.

Genevieve Fleming

Genevieve has been involved with the Wagga Women’s Health Centre for a number of years and under her leadership the centre secured funding for a permanent home. Genevieve has also served as the president of Women in Business Wagga – aiming to support and inspire women in the region to achieve their best in their careers and business. During her tenure, the organisation has almost tripled its membership numbers, developed a 12-part video series through WaggaWagga.TV, held more than 15 networking events, developed discussion papers, undertaken advocacy to represent business women’s interest in the region and introduced a successful mentoring program.

Genevieve has also served on the Children’s Medical Research Institute’s committee and participated in the Ignite Mentoring Program.

Young Citizen of the Year – Hannah Kempton:

Over the past two years, Hannah has not only maintained an excellent performance as a medical student, she has made a positive contribution to the community via the promotion of rural medicine.

This year, Hannah cofounded the 'Eyes Wide Open' program, an initiative that provides mentorship services from rural medical students for secondary students in the Riverina who are interested in pursuing degrees and careers in rural health. In addition to this, Hannah volunteered as an official at the Youth in Ag Day at the Royal Easter Show.

Young Citizen of the Year Nominees:

Brianna Peet

Brianna is a qualified Level 1 instructor with NCAS Equestrian Australis. As a coach, Brianna has spent much time travelling the state to Dubbo, Rankin Springs, Tumut, Yass and Cobar coaching Pony Club children while studying psychology and counselling, and running Overflow Equestrian.

2016 Walk of Honour – John Brasier:

John was an outstanding teacher and sportsman. He spent tireless hours working for junior sport as well as being involved with the Wagga Harness Racing Club and Senior Cricket.

John was the president of the Wagga Harness Racing Club for a collective total of almost 10 years. He was president of the South West and Riverina Harness Racing clubs for approximately seven years. In 1980 and 2000 he was instrumental in coming to the rescue of the Wagga Harness Racing Club when it was facing financial difficulties to help secure its long-term viability.

John’s contribution to school sport went far beyond regional and state duties, in that he made a massive development to the furthering of student and teacher sporting skills and knowledge in all schools which he taught. He passionately wished for children to have equal opportunities, often personally financing them to enable their participation in excursions and other school activities.

Walk of Honour Nominees:

Jim Rees

William Kennedy

Bill was born in Wagga on Australia Day 1928. He worked as a surveyor general and assisted the survey branch of the Department of the Interior to undertake several significant projects associated with Australia’s social, economic and cultural development, including programs of infrastructure development, protecting Australia’s heritage, Aboriginal communities and Defence.

Wagga Waggafest short film competition People’s Choice: Karnie Spalding

Rockyroad - https://vimeo.com/groups/waggafest/videos/137572332