Locals were acknowledged for their outstanding community efforts at the 2023 Mount Gambier Australia Day Breakfast and Citizen of the Year Awards.
People started their day at the Cave Garden/Thugi with a tasty breakfast cooked by the Lakes Rotary Club of Mount Gambier, with all proceeds donated to SAPOL’s Law Enforcement Torch Run.
Joanne’s Espresso Express ensured people got their caffeine fix and there was plenty of live entertainment from Trish and Isaac Bruggemann, Adrian Sutton and Ben Hood, Strings Attached and the Blue Lake Highland Pipe Band.
Formal proceedings included the singing of the Australian National Anthem, a flag-raising ceremony by the 48th Army Cadet Unit and the Citizen of the Year Awards presentation.
A grant from the National Australia Day Council also enabled some special changes at the event this year, including the event interpreted on stage in Auslan, the language of the Australian Deaf Community and accessible matting laid on the lawn to improve wheelchair access.
The 2023 Citizen of the Year Awards were presented by the Mayor of Mount Gambier Lynette Martin OAM.
The Citizen of the Year Award was presented to Graham Carter OAM, Allen Woodham OAM was presented with the Senior Citizen of the Year Award and Zane Serdarovic was awarded the Young Citizen of the Year Award.
The Community Event of the Year Award was presented to the Fantasy Medieval Festival and the Blue Lake Highland Pipe Band was awarded the Active Citizenship Award.
“It is wonderful to recognise those deserving citizens in our community for their selfless service to the community,” Mayor Martin said.
“We have many volunteers in our community that make up the fabric of our city and without them we would not be the city that we are and I thank everyone for their volunteering to our city.
“It is wonderful to recognise those citizens who have gone above and beyond in their service to our community and we thank them.”
Last year a private awards ceremony was held at City Hall, so Mayor Martin said it was great to have the community back for the event for the first time since COVID.
“It was wonderful that so many of our citizens came together to celebrate Australia Day and what it means to them, and to also acknowledge our Citizen of the Year Awards recipients,” she said.
“I think they really enjoy being together and celebrating these occasions in our wonderful, natural centre of the city.
“Rotary and all service clubs offer support to our community and, once again, they are wonderful volunteers in our community.”
Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister Clare Scriven said the Mount Gambier City Council did a great job organising the event as always.
“It was a good opportunity to get together as a community and celebrate those who have done great things,” Minister Scriven said.
“I think it is great to recognise local people who often do not recognise themselves as having done anything particularly outstanding.
“Often the recipients say ‘this is just things that we do because it is the right thing to do, we enjoy it, we enjoy giving back to the community,’ but it is worthwhile to actually publicly acknowledge some of the things that local people are doing.
“And also, that provides more inspiration for other local people as well in the different things they may want to do.
“Each of them that I spoke to said it was about giving back to the community, so I think that was a really strong sentiment that came through.”
Minister Scriven said it was important to have community events such as this because it was important to acknowledge and celebrate the contribution that every Australian makes.
“We are one community, we are a diverse community, so it is an opportunity to celebrate the things that are important about our nation,” she said.
“That includes things like our resilience, a sense of a fair go, the real freedoms that we enjoy, all of those are tied up with being Australian.
“It is also a chance to reflect on our past, both good and not so good, but then having done that, to celebrate the things that are really outstanding.”
