Salute to Shire's top citizens
Australia Day celebrations scheduled for Saturday, January 26 promise to be bigger than ever, combining the celebration of local achievements and a salute to Australia Day.
This year the prestigious Shire-wide awards for Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen of the Year and Community Group/Event of the Year will be presented at the RSL Memorial Park in Euroa commencing at 12 noon along with local awards for the district.
Local Awards will also be presented at Avenel, Longwood, Strathbogie and Violet Town.
The awards recognise the outstanding achievements and contributions of local people and organisations to the Strathbogie Shire community.
Celebrations across the Shire will be held at Jubilee Park in Avenel, RSL Memorial Park in Euroa, the Community Centre in Longwood, Buckley Park in Nagambie, and the Community Complex in Violet Town.
Celebrations will include singing the national anthem, raising the Australian flag, presentation of awards along with a variety of entertainment.
Read or print the Australia Day 2008 program. Click image
The official ambassador program will include addresses from a variety of Australians who have each served their country in different ways. The focus of these presentations will be on what Australia and Australia Day means to each of them. Ambassadors will also be called on to assist with the presentation of awards.
Visiting ambassadors for 2008:
Ted Hamilton - Avenel: Combining strong business and entertainment careers, Ted has achieved success both in Australia and overseas, producing and starring in many nationally successful shows for television and film. During the early 1970s Ted was co-convener of a new political party: The Australia Party, which was the formative initiative for the Australian Democrats. Ted has also composed a number of songs recorded and performed by Dean Martin, Glen Campbell, Tom Jones and Barry Crocker. He has also been principal advisor to the Board Chairman of the International Food Products Group (USA).
Dale Newman - Euroa: Studies in architecture and photography soon turned to aviation for Dale, who grew up in Hobart. Dale has worked as an air traffic controller at Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport while also served as a professional pilot and instructor. Dale was a Royal Flying Doctor Service pilot based in Launceston, Tasmania, a First Officer aboard a Boeing 737 for Australian Airlines and later captained a Boeing 737 for Qantas Airways. Out of the cockpit Dale has been a lecturer, a mentor, flight operations PR captain, corporate liaison captain and convened a fear of flying course. Other activities Dale has been involved in include an organiser of the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal charity flights, and an Angel Flight volunteer pilot.
Russell Rees AFSM - Longwood: Russell Rees originally joined CFA as a career officer in 1978. Prior to that, he had been a volunteer firefighter at both Moe and Belmont, and had been a junior firefighter from the age of 11. Russell has had a long and distinguished career in CFA working across a range of locations, including Melton, Ballarat, Ararat, Geelong, Seymour, Colac and Lilydale. For some time he was an instructor at CFA's Training College at Fiskville and in his last two years was the Officer in Charge Operational Training.
In 1998, Russell was appointed a Deputy Chief Officer at CFA headquarters, with responsibility for Policy and Standards. In August 2001, he was appointed by the CFA Board to the position of Chief Officer, and in 2006 was re-appointed for a further three years. The role of chief officer is a statutory position under the CFA Act and brings with it responsibilities and leadership accountabilities as the senior operational commander of CFA.
Rod Fitzroy - Nagambie: Founding director of Fitzroys - a Collins Street (Melbourne) based commercial real estate consultancy with 50 employees. Rod is Chairman, Almond Orchards Australia Limited and a director of Almonds Australia Pty Ltd plus Radio Sport 927 Pty Ltd.
Rod's involvement in the horseracing industry includes joining the VRC Committee 1993. He was elected vice chairman of VRC 1998, then chairman in 2003. Rod is chairman of the Epsom Working Group and the Flemington Grandstand Sub-committee. He is an owner/breeder with interest in five racehorses and three broodmares. Outside racing, he is a Fellow of the Real Estate Institute of Australia, an Associate of the Australian Property Institute and Trustee of the Epworth Medical Foundation.
Tony Beddison AO - Violet Town: Chairman of The Beddison Group which is a national recruitment and staffing organisation that includes Hoban Recruitment, CCS Technology Recruiters, SACS Group and Wendy Rae Recruitment and was founded in 1977.
He is also the Chairman of the Royal Children's Hospital, Chairman of the Melbourne 2007 World Swimming Championships Corporation, a Director of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and a Director of the Australian War Memorial Anzac Foundation, a Director of the Royal Children's Hospital Foundation and a member of the Committee at Moonee Valley Racing Club.
Tony was previously Chairman of the Australia Day Committee 1999 to 2004, and was Chairman of 'Australia Remembers' (Vic). He was a member of the Council of the Australian War Memorial for five years until 2000 and was a member of the Committee for The Centenary of Federation (Vic) for four years until 2001.
He is a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Fellow of The Australian Institute of Management, an Associate Fellow of The Australian Human Resources Institute and a Certified Recruitment Consultant. In 2002 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for service to business and the community, and in 2003 was awarded the Centenary Medal.
Strathbogie Shire Mayor Gregory Carlson said Australia Day marked an important day on both the national and local calendar.
"We look forward to celebrating Australia Day, but also to recognising the contribution of our Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen of the Year and Community Group/Event of the Year."
For more information: Jodi Bjorksten, (03)5795 2010 January 8, 2008
For details/interview call the Editor on (03) 5798 1858