Liam McNally
Moorabool council celebrated January 26 with an Australia Day Awards and Citizenship Ceremony at the Mechanics Institute in Ballan.
Moorabool chief executive Derek Madden was the Master of Ceremonies on the day, and began the event by acknowledging that the event was taking place on the land of the Wurundjeri and Wada Wurrung people.
He then welcomed “distinguished guests” – the federal Hawke MP Sam Rae, Eureka MP Michaela Settle, and Melton MP Steve McGhie.
After the Australian anthem was performed mayor Rod Ward gave an opening speech, he said that Australia Day is “a time for all Australians to come together, to reflect and celebrate”
“We can and should respect the stories of others and celebrate our great nation. We all have a contribution to make, we are all a part of this story, and we are all a part of the Australian history,” he said.
After a speech from Mr Rae and a performance by the Moorabool Light Orchestra the Australia Day Awards were presented.
Ophelia Fernando and Daniel Webb received Certificates of Achievement, the Mayoral Award went to Glenda and Jeff Jones, and Community Event of the Year was awarded Brendan Hehir and Darren Lynch on behalf of the Blackwood Woodchop and Easter Carnival.
Young Citizen of the Year was awarded to Noah Barlow. Noah is an advocate for young people with disabilities who has raised over $100,000 as the captain of Noah’s Ninja’s for the Mito Movement in The Bloody Long Walk. There are currently 791 Noah’s Ninja’s who have raised more than $236,000.
Noah is also the co-founder of Voices podcast, was instrumental in setting up the first ever junior wheelchair AFL team, and has contributed to a book by Melissa Doyle called “15 Seconds of Brave: The Wisdom of Survivors”.
Citizen of the Year was awarded to Judy D’Attoma. Ms D’Attoma is the driving force behind Bacchus Up to Pay it Forward, which has set up a food voucher service that has raised over $25,000 for people experiencing food insecurity, a community pantry, has provided 30 fruit trees to two primary schools, and has set up a community garden.
Ms D’Attoma said receiving the award was “a bit overwhelming”, but was “happy” for the opportunity to “draw more attention to the charity”.
Hawke MP Sam Rae said it was an “honour” to be at the event.
“It was fantastic to see so many people from our community come down and celebrate Australia Day but also celebrate our newest Australians,” he said.
