Ashfield Council Announces its 2010 Australia Day Award Winners
Australia Day is an important day of both national and local celebration, in Ashfield this is the day we publicly acknowledge the enormous contribution and achievements of our local residents. We have a wonderful thriving community in Ashfield - and the reason it thrives is because of people like our Australia Day Award nominees volunteer their time and energy to help others - mostly behind the scenes, often without any recognition. In giving the Australia Day Awards, Ashfield Council offers a heartfelt thank you to those people for the fantastic work they do.
Council held the 2010 Australia Day Award Ceremony on Tuesday 26 January 2010 in Allman Park. Warren Mundine officiated as the Australia Day Ambassador, Michael West from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council performed the Welcome to Country and there was music from the string quartet Q'Trio.
2010 Citizen of the Year - Col Jones
Summer Hill resident Col Jones was born in Newcastle and works as an electrical engineer.In 2002, he formed ASHBUGS - the Ashfield Bicycle User Group. The organisation is a cycling advocacy group which also runs outings every weekend. From a small core group of people, numbers have grown to a database of 250 interested cyclists. Col considers the greatest achievement of the group has been to raise community awareness of the environmental and health benefits of cycling. He is also proud of its work with Council to improve roads and cycle paths in the area. Mr Jones volunteers with an variety of other community organisations and has inspired many locals to get out and have a go - he says by volunteering people can help the community and help themselves in so many ways.
2010 Young Citizen of the Year - Joshua Favaloro
Joshua recently completed year 10 at De La Salle College and has a passion for history and the environment. His interest in history led him to research and later construct an impressive website capturing the essence of the life of fallen Ashfield hero, Reginald Hast. Joshua was recently awarded the Premier's Anzac Memorial Scholarship. He has presented his website to History teachers at their State Conference, is part of the Gifted and Talented Program and is currently working on a 3D computer generated model of his school which will be available on line in the near future. To read Joshua's speech on receiving his Australia Day Award click here
2010 Young Sportsperson of the Year - Cham Chen
Cham at just 14 years of age has excelled in his chosen sport of badminton at both national and state levels. His outstanding skills saw him take out the under 15/s Boys Singles Championship in Badminton at the National Titles in 2009. He was also runner up in the Boys Doubles and the Winner of the Open Men's Doubles Championship. Cham attends Ashfield Boys High School where he is actively involved in developing badminton at the school supporting teaching staff and students through mentoring and coaching.
2010 Young Artist of the Year - Silvan Rus
Silvan recently completed Year 12 at De La Salle College, Ashfield where he gained the College Year 12 ‘Esto Vir Award' - which is translated as ‘to be a man' and ‘be the best person you can be'. Not only is he a gifted actor, Silvan is a talented singer and dancer who has used his skills to organize and perform in a Talent Quest extravaganza - proceeds from which were donated to the Heart Foundation. To read Silvan's speech on receiving his Australia Day Award click here
2010 Achievement Award Winners
Clifford Musson
William Harry James
Roberta De Souza
Janice Melville
Bruce Mitchell
Dennis Laris
Susan Laris
Catherine Walsh
Stephanie Mora
Scott Sio
George Verginis
Alofa Alofa
Catherine Walsh
Congratulations to all our 2010 award winners, without them, the Ashfield community would be a poorer place to live. Thank you for helping to build a strong, vibrant and caring community.