Deputy shire president Martin Morris welcomed everyone to the event followed by the raising of the Australian and Aboriginal flags and the playing of the National Anthem.

Local resident and Merredin Shire executive manager for corporate and community services Evelyn Arnold immigrated to Australia from New Zealand earlier in her life and spoke about her life prior to coming to Australia and the opportunities she experienced when she arrived here.

Mr Morris then named Lisa Arthur as Citizen of the Year for her valuable contribution to the community.

This type of award hasn’t been awarded in Merredin for many years.

Shire president Donna Crook accepted the award in Lisa’s absence and praised her for her volunteering efforts over the years and deemed her a very worthy winner.

In Mrs Crook’s speech, she said Lisa strongly believed in supporting the young people and connecting the old and young generations together.

She said she would like to see the old generation share their knowledge with the younger generation and believes it’s important to support the young generation as they are the future.

The Eric Hind Music Scholarship was awarded to Cale Jones, son of Phil and Robyn Jones of Bruce Rock.

The gifted and extremely talented young musician has played the piano for seven years as well as trying his hand at the guitar and now the saxophone.

He was recently accepted into Wesley College with a headmaster scholarship and said he was really excited about starting high school.