Borough lauds its community champions

A PAIR of the Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale community’s hardest-working volunteers are the joint winners of the Borough of Queenscliffe’s Citizen of the Year award.

In a limited-capacity ceremony held at the Pelican Bar in Queenscliff as part of the council’s Australia Day festivities, Peter Deacon and Peter Callahan were each recognised as the Citizen of the Year for 2021.

Winning Citizen of the Year is a recognition of years of community service for Mr Deacon, who was an active member of the Queenscliffe Rotary Club for many years, including a term as president.

He secured more than $150,000 in funding for new exercise stations throughout the Borough and was instrumental in leading the innovative project, which now provides free and accessible exercise equipment to people of all abilities in Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale.

Peter Callahan is a face recognised by many throughout the sporting and music scene in the Borough, and the Citizen of the Year gong is a reminder of his ongoing dedication to the community.

Mr Callahan has volunteered extensively throughout our community for decades, including serving on three committees: the Point Lonsdale Tennis Club, Queenscliff Football and Netball Club and the Queenscliff Music Festival. He has been instrumental in securing financial support for community groups for many years, as well as lending a hand on the ground in a vast array of roles and responsibilities.

Young Citizen of the Year Frankie Davis made newspaper and radio headlines in September last year when her hand-delivered, home-made Cheer Up Weekly publication gained interest in the community and beyond. The newspaper helped keep a smile on the faces of many when we were going through the struggle of another lockdown.

Community Organisation of the Year, Cottage by the Sea, has been a fixture of Queenscliff for 130 years.

During the pandemic, when the organisation had to suspend its childrens’ programs, Cottage by the Sea turned to helping out the local community care and food care program to support those most vulnerable in our townships.

The Community Environment Project of the Year was taken out by the Queenscliffe Community Indigenous Nursery, which propagated a record number of more than 20,000 plants throughout the last calendar year. These plants have gone on to be used in many vital revegetation projects, including by the Bellarine Catchment Network.

Queenscliffe mayor Ross Ebbels paid tribute in his opening speech to the people and groups “that have continued to serve their community throughout what’s been the most challenging 12 months any of us can remember”.

“Even though we have not been able to get together as we have in previous years, people such as yourselves have continued to contribute meaningfully to our community,” he said.

For more information on the borough’s award winners, head to queenscliffe.vic.gov.au.