Australia Day accolades

February 2017 | David Claridge

ON THE 25th of January, Australia Day for Meander Valley was celebrated at the Country Club Casino.

Attendees were part of witnessing the area’s newest Australians sworn in at a citizenship ceremony. This was followed by awards presented to people who have stood out in the community as well as memorable performances by a local musical group, the Various Deeths of Weetah.

New Australian, Artem Filipovskiy, from Russia, was delighted to be become an Australian citizen. Now working in Westbury, he studied at the University of Newcastle.

“My wife and I originally travelled to America and we fell in love with the people and the values of western society,” explained Artem.

“After some research, we decided to move permanently, so we came to Australia.”

Among the award recipients were volunteers who have given countless hours of their time to the community and were recognised by the Mayor, Craig Perkins.

Local sports enthusiast,Taneil Bloomfield was overwhelmed about receiving the Sports achievement award.

“Just to be nominated is a bit of a shock,” she quipped.

Bracknell’s, Sharmane Jones was awarded the 2017 Citizen of the Year award.

Mayor Craig Perkins was present to thank people for their contributions and to meet the new Australians.

“I don’t think we can underestimate the toll that the fires and then the floods took in the past twelve months. As a community we have rallied behind those who have lost,” Cr Perkin said.

“The Australia Day event was about recognising the amazing work that many people in our community do.”