Everyday community achievers recognised

THE man behind many of the City of Ballarat’s flower displays was awarded the title of Citizen of the Year at a ceremony held at Town Hall last week.

Horticulturalist Kevin Moneghetti is responsible for growing and maintain the plants which are used in the municipality’s Christmas decorations as well suppling begonias for the Begonia Festival.

He is also part of many local gardening groups and grows and transports flowers for the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show.

Mr Moneghetti said he was not expecting to receive that accolade.

“I could have picked a dozen around the town that I felt deserved it,” he said.

Horticulture has been a lifelong passion for Mr Moneghetti and a career he said is very rewarding.

“All my life I’ve been interested in horticulture, from when I was young and ran a wholesale nursery, which I still run today,” he said.

“It makes you feel like you achieved something seeing people look at your work, if they get the happiness out of that.”

Young Citizen of the Year was awarded to Jacob Osenaris, a youth ambassador for Ballarat who has organised projects with the aim raising awareness about youth mental health, domestic violence, and bullying.

He is a member of the Y Ballarat and is part of the YMCA’s Youth Parliament program where he won a Parliament Prize for his skills writing and debating legislative bills.

Mr Osenaris now has ambitions to become a politician.

“There is so much more work so be done and so much more to be achieved,” he said.

“I think that this award isn’t an end point, it’s more to show the start and what young people are capable of.”

The 2023 Mega Ganesh Festival was announced as the Community Event of the Year.

The free festival, which is a first for regional Victoria, attracted more than 7000 people with interactive sessions held to develop cultural understanding as school sports competitions to create conversation about diverse cultures.

“This was the first event of it’s kind in Victoria all together,” said treasurer of the Ballarat Hindu and Cultural Centre, Raveen Chilukuri.

“We, a team of seven or eight people, worked so hard with a lot of volunteers around Ballarat and we were able to attract more than 6000 to 7000 people for a three-day event.

“We want to continue this as a legacy every year.”