Awards celebrate unsung heroes

THE winners of the City of Ballarat’s 2023 Australia Day Community Awards were announced at Town Hall’s Trench Room last week.

The event saw nearly 30 nominees acknowledged in the Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen of the Year and Community Event of the Year categories.

Creative and event organiser Liana Skewes received the Citizen of the Year Award while volunteer Millie Collins took home the Young Citizen of the Year Award.

The Community Event of the Year went to the Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre, represented by chef David Bending.

Mayor Cr Des Hudson said the awards were all about celebrating the achievements of Ballarat’s individuals and groups.

“This is about recognising those people that make a significant contribution to Ballarat,” he said.

“A theme that ran through the night is they don’t do it for any accolades… but the fact is this is one time of the year we actually can stop and recognise them.”

The other Citizen of the Year nominees were Bernard Blood, Dr Keith Ho, Daniel Richards, Diosdado Jr Rivera, and Michael Saha.

The Ballarat Tweed Ride, Wallaby Track Parkrun, St Peters Community Playgroup Ballarat, and Ballarat Mental Health Collective’s Lake Esmond event were also nominated for the Community Event of the Year Award.

Young Citizen of the Year nominees were Liam Wright, Lila McIntyre, Meghan Lee, Indya Hayes, Luke Harbour, Rohan McMaster, Sarah-Jane Sloane, Karlea Fitzpatrick, Ashleigh Kanoa, Hades Slater, Yual Reath, Will French, Ruby Lloyd-Vendy, Liam Ryan and Dhuvarrishlanth Veerabahu.

Citizen of the Year – Liana Skewes

Through a lens of creativity, fostering inclusiveness and belonging is at the heart of Ballarat East-based Ms Skewe’s many roles.

As founder of the social cycling event Ballarat Tweed Ride, and president of theatre company Ballarat National Theatre, Ms Skewes said those aims are integral to her creative endeavours.

“There’s four drivers about why you do something…things like [financial benefit, career advancement],” she said.

“The one that I find the most important is it has to make your world a better place. With all the projects I’ve done…it is about that feeling of community.”

Ms Skewes joined the eight-decades-old BNT in 2016 and said it allowed her develop her talents within a group setting.

“When you’re in a community theatre company, the feeling that you’re contributing to something greater is wonderful,” she said.

“There’s so many people that use BNT both as a launching pad to go find their joy but also to find other people that help them feel like they belong. That was essential for me during 2020.”

In 2020, Ms Skewes co-developed a Webby Award-honoured podcast adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Since establishing the annual Ballarat Tweed Ride in 2012, she said the initiative has become more fun and inclusive with every year.

“When Tweed Ride started, it was seven of us on bikes and it has been quite a wonderful opportunity each year to go how can we make this more inclusive?” she said.

“Adjusting the fashion awards so they were gender-neutral was a really wonderful step so people could see the visibility of how they were included.

“It’s so wonderful seeing other people’s outfits and hearing every single participant ring a bell and horn at the same time.

“There’s a real beautiful sense of community in that.”

Young Citizen of the Year – Millie Collins

The COVID pandemic affected many people in different ways, and for Delacombe resident Ms Collins, it ignited a passion and drive to help others.

She said her “eyes were really opened” to those struggling during the pandemic, which led to her organising care packages for Ballarat’s young homeless people.

“There were a lot of people I knew of in my school community and locally to me that found those times very, very challenging,” she said.

“I’m very fortunate that I didn’t find them as challenging as a lot of other people so I feel like that really opened up my eyes.”

Ms Collins’ volunteerism has extended with her efforts with Uniting’s homelessness support program and the Delacombe Salvation Army’s thrift store.

She is also part of the Ballarat Climate Action Group, and is a representative and spokesperson with Oryen/Mission Australia with a focus on the psychological impact of the pandemic lockdowns.

Ms Collins helped organise last year’s Ballarat Youth Awards, where she won the Compassion and Care Award and the overall award for ages 12 to 17.

With this year’s school captain at Phoenix P12 College adding to her roles, Ms Collins said she remains passionate about helping others.

“When I finish school, I want to make a difference. I want to help the community. I want to get involved,” she said.

“I want to support people and change lives, and just be a person people need.

“I feel there’s so many people in our community especially that do need that extra support and I feel like as a community we really need to band together.”

 

Community Event of the Year – Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre

Each Friday during school terms, the Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre runs community lunches provided by Our Kitchen Social Enterprise.

Chef, David Bending, has been at the helm of the lunches since 2020 and said they’ve provided accessible meals and an inclusive space.

“It’s a space where people can come back, have a really good cheap meal and an opportunity to talk to someone for what might be the only time they get to during the week,” he said.

“They can grab a little bit of free bread or something that’s there and it’s just that sense of community and something to do each week.

“We utilise what we can that comes out of the garden. Anything we can get for free, we use that up first. That’s why there’s no set menu.”

When not using ingredients from the centre’s garden, the meals are also created using community donations and rescued resources provided by SecondBite.

The regular lunches also double as a learning program for volunteers and adult learners, who assist Bending in meal preparation and cooking, as well as serving customers.

“I teach a Cooking Up Jobs program. What I like to teach people is to perhaps utilise what they’ve got in the fridge and use up what you can,” he said.

“Winning the Community Event Award shows appreciation and gives our centre and what we do a little bit more awareness.

“It’s just a really nice energy and a great space to be.”