MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council has recognised some of its most outstanding citizens and groups at the 2024 Australia Day local awards ceremony.
Nancy-Joy Gardner was chosen as Citizen of the Year for her commitment to road safety over the past 25 years.
Her nominator says, “Auntie Nance”, as she is often referred to, was someone who “shakes up her community and is a force to be reckoned with”, someone who “knows how to make events happen and get people involved”.
Gardner has run road safety programs on the peninsula and south east Melbourne for 30 years with Wiser Driver Programs.
Since 2016 she has run senior driver expos, to help older drivers improve their driving skills and knowledge of road rules.
Gardner is a volunteer judge of junior awards for the Lions club and has been involved in the Sir Hubert Opperman Bicycle Education Competition for more than 20 years. The event encourages grades five and six students to show their bicycle skills and compete against other primary schools in a friendly environment.
Gardner is a Justice of the Peace and a volunteer for the Coast Guard at Safety Beach.
The mayor Cr Simon Brooks said Gardner’s contribution to the peninsula was highly commendable.
The Young Citizen of the Year, Hannah O’Loghlin, 16, has several volunteer roles in the community. For four years she was involved with the Mornington Peninsula Shire Youth Advisory Group, now known as the Youth Advisory Committee.
In 2023 O’Loghlin was invited to apply for the 2023 Mornington Peninsula Shire Citizens Panel.
The panel covered such issues as the open air burning local law, visitor paid parking trial, waste collection, urban forest strategy, safer speeds, and road safety.
While on the panel O’Loghlin spoke about her experiences with the citizens’ panel at the Australian Local Government Women’s Association national conference.
She is also a Venturer with the Dromana, Rosebud, Red Hill, Sorrento Venturer unit. She led a group of eight peninsula scouts at the 25th World Scout Jamboree, making sure they were covered and informed during the heatwave, looming typhoon, COVID outbreak and misconduct allegations at the event.
O’Loghlin was recently recognised and interviewed for her efforts by Getrude Matshe, founder of HerStory Circle. O’Loghlin also volunteers with the Dromana Community Garden and the Country Women’s Association and has leadership roles at her school.
The 2024 Community Event of the Year award went to the Dromana Australia Day Event.
The event has been running on Dromana foreshore for 18 years and was attended by about 7000 people last year.
Originally started by the McCrae Lions Club with a free breakfast on the foreshore to celebrate Australia Day, it is now organised by the Dromana Australia Day Committee’s more than 30 volunteers. Sponsorship and donations are received from more than 50 sources, including the shire.
The morning starts with a free community breakfast. There is live music, children’s entertainment and free activities including a giant slide, face painting, as well as displays by community groups, food vendors, announcement of the Ray Barnard Brown community youth awards, a boat shed competition and flag raising.
The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Bruce Foster Turner, in recognition of his long service to the Rosebud RSL sub-branch.
Turner joined the club in 1986 and became a member of the committee in 1987. He was vice-president in 2003 and has been president since 2013.
Turner is credited with encouraging and developing a professional committee culture which led to the club’s first annual strategic planning workshop in 2021.
Since the introduction of gaming, Turner has been involved in hiring entertainers, as well as for commemoration events, such as Anzac Day with themed shows.
An accredited tribunal advocates Turner has represented thousands of veterans and widows, while maintaining his status as the senior welfare officer in Rosebud.
In 2022, Turner was inducted into the RSL hall of fame and awarded a life membership with gold bar in August 2023 for services to the RSL and the community.
Greg Fitzgerald also received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his service to Rotary and the Dromana community. he joined Dromana Rotary Club in 2000 and has been president twice. He received a Paul Harris Fellow Award which recognises achievements in Rotary.
He has lobbied the shire on behalf of Rotary many times to get things done around Dromana and was behind the building of barbecue shelters and picnic tables around the town with Rotary support for the football club and scouts.
Fitzgerald got club members involved in the Hillview Reserve project and was the main driver in forming the Peninsula Mountain Bike Committee.
The reserve now has picnic spaces, a barbecue shelter, walking and bike tracks, toilet block and playground.
Fitzgerald initiated the Town Crier Facebook page for Dromana news and events. He was also instrumental in establishing the Halloween event with bonfire and the Dromana Christmas decorations. He represents the club on the Bay Trail project and is lobbying for a walking track under the chairlift on Arthurs Seat.
The Community Spirit Award was presented to Somerville Family Day, a volunteer-run event held each March.
The event includes market stalls, rides, sporting clubs, community groups, scouts, Country Fire Authority and State Emergency Service, historic displays, food vendors, a car show and free children’s activities. Money raised is given to groups and associations in need.
The event began in 2015 as a sausage sizzle to raise money for Auskick and now attracts more than 10,000 visitors a year.
Since 2017, nearly $45,000 has been donated to such groups and causes as the Country Fire Authority, Tyabb Primary School and Somerville Secondary College, Somerville Community House, Nathan’s Cause, Breast Intentions, Somerville Bowls Club.
First published in the Mornington News – 30 January 2024
