Decades of public service recognised with state honour

NEWTOWN’S Ross Synot hopes his recent state honour of receiving a 2022 Senior Achiever Award encourages others in the community to nominate people who deserve recognition for their work.

The prolific social advocate said the recognition by the Council on the Ageing (COTA) at the recent Victorian Senior of the Year Awards was also a vindication of the numerous causes he’s championed, despite being told they were unattainable.

“A number of times I’ve been told things are impossible or couldn’t been done and yet we’ve done it,” he said.

“We were told there was no way we were going to get it,” he said of the 2013 Australian Masters Games that was staged in Geelong.

“I was told a by senior government official to stop wasting people’s time and get a life, three months later I was standing with the minister announcing we’d got it.”

He recalled similar opposition to his lobbying for what’s now the Barwon Sports Academy.

Mr Synot has worn many hats in his career and alongside being a fellow of the Certified Practising Accountants of Australia and the Governance Institute of Australia, he helped establish the Geelong branch of the child protection organisation Braveheart, was instrumental in creating the Geelong Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Support Group and was the former chief executive of Grace McKellar Centre.

He remains an active inaugural member of the City of Greater Geelong Ageing Well Committee where he’s contributed to the city’s 30-year plan and has been the face of its campaign to stop elder abuse.

He’s also a dedicated champion of the city he’s long called home, holding a family trust with the Geelong Foundation that provides grants to help the needs of the local community.

“We believe in Geelong and helping Geelong… I don’t believe in retirement,” he said after receiving the seniors award.

“We hear a lot of negative about the community, but there’s a lot of good people out there trying to help.

“I would encourage people from Geelong to look at these awards and put in for them, because it encourages others and there’s plenty of people who deserve it.”