ON A very hot 39 degree Celsius day, people across the Wheatbelt celebrated Australia Day in true Australian style last Thursday.
Hundreds of community members gathered at various events to enjoy free events such as barbecues, activities at the pool and local award ceremonies to recognise and honour those people who have made a valuable contribution to their community over the years.
A crowd of 328 people gathered at the Merredin District Olympic Pool for its “Aussie Sports” themed Australia Day.
The day went off without a hitch and everyone was treated to a free hot dog with a drink and many activities such as ride the worm, poolside cricket, the ever fun water slide, a treasure hunt and poolside racing.
Pool manager Neil Lavers said it was the perfect family day out and he received lots of positive feedback from people who attended.
Mr Levers also wished to thank Trans-Tyres for supporting the event by donating the pool tubes for children to play on.
At the Merredin Regional Community and Leisure Centre, a Welcome to Merredin, Australia Day Beach Party was held and citizen awards were presented.
Lisa Arthur was awarded the Citizen of the Year award and Cale Jones won the Eric Hind Music Scholarship (see page 1 for story).
The main oval had paddling areas, beach volleyball, cricket, water slides and bouncy castles for young children to enjoy.
Many people in Merredin also hosted their own backyard celebrations with a true Aussie barbecue among friends and family.
In Kellerberrin, residents enjoyed the annual Australia Day breakfast and awards, which were held at the Kellerberrin Memorial Hall.
Jenny Yaran was awarded Citizen of the Year for her work with indigenous and non-indigenous health.
Through her work and in her own time she has helped to organise mother’s groups, helps out with young children and the elderly and promotes healthy living with the Healthy Tucker Day, blood pressure testing, diabetes and podiatrist clinics.
Morgan Ware was awarded the Young Citizen of the Year for her many achievements in horsemanship and involvement with numerous sporting clubs.
Chris Rowe won the Community Service Award for his involvement and commitment with the Kellerberrin Junior Fire Brigade, Kellerberrin Volunteer Fire Brigade and the St John Ambulance Association.
The second Community Service Award was awarded to David Fox, in particular for his dedication to junior sport in Kellerberrin.
He is also really passionate about Kellerberrin Hockey and encouraging others to take up the sport.
The Kellerberrin and Districts Club Centenary Celebration won the Community Event of the Year.
In Mukinbudin, a crowd of 270 people attended the shire’s Australia Day celebrations at the Mukinbudin Swimming Pool on Thursday evening.
The crowd was treated to free entry and a barbecue cooked by the Mukinbudin Planning and Development Group.
Entertainment was plenty with a bombie competition, racing along an inflatable bullet, duck diving for coins and the traditional 50 metre sprint.
The master of ceremonies Geoff Seaby recited a topical bush poem about unwanted city guests and kept everyone entertained with his dialogue.
The recipient of the Shire of Mukinbudin Premier’s Australia Day Active Citizenship Award for a Community Group was the committee of the Mukinbudin Community Resource Centre (CRC).
The Mukinbudin Shire said their CRC took great pride in being a business that offered excellent services, modern equipment and an open mind for new ideas.
They were continually looking for new ways in which to support the community through the courses and events that they host each year.
Because of this enthusiasm and effort, the Mukinbudin CRC in turn is supported by the local community, by local businesses and by the Shire of Mukinbudin.
The award was attributed not just to the present committee but to all those persons who have served on the committee in the past and hopefully it will inspire others to also serve the Mukinbudin CRC in the future.
The recipient of the Shire of Mukinbudin Premier’s Australia Day Active Citizenship Award for 2012 was Gil Williams.
A shortened version of the speech for Gil Williams is as follows:
“This award was for displaying outstanding citizenship over many years through leading by example.
As we all know and mainly because he keeps reminding us, Gil is over 80 years of age.
But to those who see him working at Elders, watering trees around the golf course and Botanical Walk, spraying and chipping weeds around town, see his involvement with the Mukinbudin Community Shed restoring machinery and working on the community cropping program it would seem that age is largely irrelevant to Gil and useful only as a reminder to others much younger than himself that age should never be an excuse for slowing down or doing nothing.
Gil cares very much for Mukinbudin and he knows the value and meaning of community spirit and how important it is to keep communities together.
Gil has the most positive attitude toward community, life and farming that you could possibly imagine.
Farming is a long term proposition and short term set backs are to be expected and we’ve been through this before.
When Gil discusses farming with younger people it is worth listening to in the hope that some of the positive attitude he expresses rubs off.
In summary this award is not just for last year, or for the year before that, but for every year that Gil has served the Mukinbudin community.
It is richly deserved, for Gil’s actions, for Gil’s example and for Gil’s attitude.”
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