Congratulations to Janet Auchterlonie-Citizen of the Year
Nominees for the 2021 Citizen of the Year and Young Citizen of the Year awards were invited to a private celebratory dinner with Chair Administrator Julie Eisenbise, Administrator Christian Zahra AM and South Gippsland Shire Council CEO Kerryn Ellis, on Wednesday Jan 20th.
At this dinner, the overall winner was announced in both categories. The winner of the Citizen of the Year is Janet Auchterlonie and that of the Young Citizen of the Year is Danni Amore.
A full description of the works and achievements of all the nominees along with this year’s Citizen of the Year are shown below.
Janet Auchterlonie
Janet has been an active member of the community since moving to Dumbalk from Driffield 16 years ago.
Janet has played a pivotal role in the Dumbalk Fire Brigade taking on a number of roles over the years including Training Officer, Lieutenant and Captain which she did for six years. She is heavily involved in group and district training and planning and helped establish the Dumbalk Fire Brigade’s Junior Group which gave local kids a focus and place to meet. She also made a significant contribution to fire-fighting efforts during Black Saturday, and more recently, the New South Wales and East Gippsland fires where she donated 28 days to the firefight.
Janet has also been a regular contributor to a myriad of local events such as:
The South Gippsland Relay for Life event where she, and her husband Rob, collected lights to shine on the Dumbalk event for the past five years.
Catering for the Tarwin Valley Camp Draft held on Labour Day the past several years – with profits going to the Fire Brigade and the Dumbalk and District Progress Association.
The Annual Village Market is another event where Janet encouraged participation by Dumbalk Fire Brigade members as well as collecting and returning table and goods from the Community Centre and cooking at the Sausage Sizzle.
Christmas at Dumbalk each year you may see Janet climbing the Gum Tree at the crossroads to safely place Santa in the tree, helping out with the portable lighting in the park as well as helping to transport Santa to the party.
To raise money for a new toilet at the Dumbalk Recreation Reserve Janet gave her full support and assistance to “The Dumbalk Stomp” at the Hall.
At the 2008 Dumbalk “Back to…” Celebrations Janet helped by attending many working bees to prepare for the celebrations, helped deliver stands for historical photos, tables and goods to the hall. At the celebrations, which took place over 14 days, Janet was the official photographer for the entire event.
Janet established a partnership bringing in the Fire Brigade to support Dumbalk’s Annual Garden Walks around the district, as well as volunteering to sell entrance tickets, taking photos and/or as a Traffic Controller at entrances to properties that were opened for the Walk.
Janet has also been a proud local voice for the Dumbalk community on a range of matters such as dairy and the Dumbalk community logo. She is a very committed team player.
In the dairy industry, Janet has been part of the Genetic Evaluation Standing Committee at DataGene Limited. She has also played a pivotal role in discussions with GippsDairy on a number of issues including herd fertility. In these discussions, Janet was seen as a key voice of the farmers. She brought issues to light that others in the meeting were not sure about. Her interest in understanding the science and her already established knowledge of farming was key to unpacking some important topics.
Janet is a dedicated, committed, generous and hardworking person who is willing to help however she can. Whether that’s getting her hands dirty, cooking up a storm, or climbing a tree to get everyone in the festive spirit.
Australia Day Awards – Young Citizen of the Year
Danni is a very committed young lady – committed to giving back. She is a Scout, a volunteer and a great sportswoman.
Many describe Danni as a quiet achiever who is always there working in the background not trying to take the limelight. She gives her time selflessly to those who need it and never bats an eye when asked to help. Although she has been unable to participate in her favourite sport due to a knee injury, Danni has still been helping others where she can.
Danni is a member of the Korumburra Scouts where she has been part of setting up the Scout Hall for Australia Day events, serving customers at Coal Creek every month at the BBQ, writing the schedule for the Scouts on a chalkboard, preparing maps and counting out phone books and helping with the clean up after Scouts is over.
On top of Scouts, Danni also volunteers giving help to those with disabilities. Her sister has autism, and Danni is a huge support for her. While taking care of her sister, she usually also supports two other individuals who have intellectual disabilities.
The work she does for those who are vulnerable or are less able to help themselves does not go unnoticed or unappreciated, but Danni does not do it for the praise. She is a selfless young lady who does her community proud, even though she is not very old.
The nominees for the citizen of the year are below.
Tara Hollier
Tara is well known for being a quiet achiever in her community.
Even with a full-time job and two kids, Tara still finds time and energy to fulfil her volunteering commitments without complaint. She is also among the first to put her hand up when duties arise with the aim of purely helping the community.
Tara is an extremely active member of the Toora community through her association with the following committees:
Toora Community Action Team – Secretary
Toora Football Netball Club – Secretary
Toora Primary School Council – President
Toora Primary School Parents and Friends Association – General Member
Throughout COVID-19, Tara has worked tirelessly to stay abreast with all the regulations to make sure every group can continue to find funding opportunities. Part of her COVID-period responsibility has also been to guide the Football Netball Club through the league change, which included some tough negotiations and mountains of paperwork.
With the challenges COVID has brought our way, it has become increasingly important to think of new ways to tackle projects – one of these projects has been tourism. Tara has worked hard to increase tourism in Toora, as well as set it up for future generations to enjoy.
Dr. Sonya Moncrieff
COVID-19 has seen so many changes and has allowed, those who want to, the chance to stand up and help their community. Sonya Moncrieff is one of those people, but her contribution transcends COVID-19.
Sonya is a local Mirboo North doctor who sees patients through the Mirboo North Medical Centre. She also goes into Japara House, Mirboo North’s aged care facility to tend to her more elderly patients. You would think that keeps her busy enough, but she also runs a Facebook page where she reaches a vast number of people with her updates.
During COVID, her popularity on social media soared as she provided honest and factual updates on COVID numbers. This sent her page viral, with people from around the world viewing her page every day to keep up-to-date with the latest numbers and to receive information on how to stay healthy and support one another.
A quick click on any of her Facebook posts during the pandemic shows how well the information was received and the positive messages that were communicated, even during challenging times.
Through this simple task of sharing knowledge with her community, Sonya has put Mirboo North on the global map for its beauty and caring health service.
Sonya is highly commended for spending time commenting back to people where appropriate, but this does not stop at the keyboard. Her patients appreciated her unwavering help on all their health matters. If they need additional resources, she will find them and provide them to the patient or patient’s carer.
She also helps those who need to go into care. Sonya lends a helping hand for those who need support with the transition of going into aged care. She ensures they integrate well and checks in on them now and again just to make sure.
She is a highly respected doctor both within and outside of Mirboo North and is a much-loved community member.
Meredith Freeman
Meredith Freeman loves South Gippsland and is passionate about clean, green and environmentally sustainable living. She has been a pioneer fo the Grow Lightly Connect social enterprise which brings together small growers from across the region and gives them the ability to participate in local farmers markets and supply restaurants, retailers and customers across South Gippsland and Bass Coast. Many say that without Meredith’s dedication, generosity of spirit, time commitment and energy this enterprise would not have happened.
Meredith’s heart lies in sustainability. She has extensive gardening knowledge that she uses to connect with people who want to learn about getting their plants to thrive in South Gippsland conditions. To do this she runs workshops, networks, teaches, writes a regular newsletter and is more than willing to answer any questions.
During COVID-19, many were expecting Meredith to seek solace indoors to protect herself from the virus. However, that’s not really in her nature. Instead she inspired those around her by continuing on with her commitments as well as she could.
In fact, Grow Lightly Connect – which runs as a not-for-profit company with many volunteers and four part-time, paid staff members – has gone from strength to strength and in 2020 was supplying locally grown produce to around 40 local households.
Even though most of her contributions have been through Grow Lightly Connect, Meredith has been able to impact the broader Korumburra community through this enterprise. Due to her hard work and persistence, this resource will be available for Korumburra community members and visitors for years to come.
Marty Thomas
Martin, more affectionately known as Marty, has been part of the Meeniyan community for 11 years and is still loving it. He is passionate about South Gippsland which shows in the significant contribution he makes to his local area.
He is best known for the much-loved Moo’s Restaurant, which has been a great addition to Meeniyan. With Moo’s, Marty has been able to hire and train many young locals, encouraging them and helping them to reach their potential.
What they get is much more than just a job. Marty takes it upon himself to be a mentor for these kids no matter where they want to go in life. He emphasises mateship and hard work, but he consistently makes time to catch up outside work to show his appreciation and grow the relationships of his workers. All up over the past 11 years, Marty has employed over 100 young South Gippslanders with some even going on to forge strong careers in the hospitality sector.
Simply put, Marty lives and breathes local. He is passionate about local food and events. Local food allows him to deal with local suppliers and highlight our region to visitors. He also contributes heavily when events are on to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Marty has also been involved in humanitarian efforts. He has been over to Cambodia as part of the Opportunities of Development thru Art Organisation. As part of that, he was a teacher, a mentor and a volunteer, helping local children to get the supplies they need for school. Each year he helps the group raise funds for school uniforms as Cambodia’s strict No Uniform = No School policy often prevents poorer children from accessing an education.
This year, even with COVID-19, Marty has still been out in the community doing what he can. He helped provide take-away meals through the Bowls Club and later delivered meals to the elderly all while his restaurant underwent renovations.
Marty is co-founder of the South Gippsland LGBTI Social Group which has over 150 members and, until COVID, held monthly meetings in local hotels, restaurants and wineries. He has also been an active member of many local groups and associations and even hosted a new event “Marty Gras” in the Meeniyan Town Hall to celebrate his 50th Birthday – and by its very nature – inclusion and diversity. A second “Marty Gras” was held the following year, raising $3300 for charity.
Kerry Senior
Kerry Senior has been an active member of her local community for many years. She started off as a junior member of the Fish Creek Fire Brigade, and from there, she has only become more involved.
Kerry is an active member of the Fish Creek Fire Brigade who has held a number of Officer positions. She is currently the first female Captain of the Fish Creek FIre Brigade.
Through her CFA volunteering, she has been part of the Road Accident Rescue Unit and assisted many members through her role as a Training Officer.
By day, Kerry is an Advanced Support Paramedic with Ambulance Victoria. With that training, she has been able to train members of the community on CPR and other resuscitation techniques. This is held as part of the annual heart smart program.
Her Paramedic training has also allowed her to volunteer at the Fish Creek Tea Cosy Festival as a first aid repsonder. She has even used her paramedicine training to help new paramedics learn the ropes.
During the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal, Kerry is out in the community collecting donations, and has done so for many years. She is also passionate about fire safety, each year taking time to deliver the ‘Fire Safe in Schools’ program.
Despite Kerry’s demanding shift work job, she continues to devote considerable amounts of time to her community through her leadership and commitment to the Fish Creek Fire Brigade.
Give Kerry an opportunity to participate in an even she loves and she will give it her all. From fire training and information evenings to CPR and public AED training, Kerry will do it all. In 2020 she even took the time to sew over 150 face masks, donating many of them to be sold to raise funds for the South Gippsland Hospital with the remainder given to CFA members and others in the local community.
Her caring and compassionate nature makes her a great asset to her local community.
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