Local legends honoured

By Lachlan Ellis

This year’s Moorabool Shire Australia Day Awards were officially handed out last Thursday 26 January, honouring the hardworking locals who make Moorabool the place to live, work and invest.

As reported in last week’s edition of the Moorabool News (24 Jan 2023), Judy D’Attoma was the Citizen of the Year for her work with food relief program Bacchus Up to Pay it Forward (BUTPIF), with the Young Citizen of the Year, Community Event of the Year, and Mayor Award winners unveiled on Thursday.

12-year-old Noah Barlow was awarded the Young Citizen of the Year award, for his work advocating for people with disabilities. Mr Barlow has raised over $100,000 as the Captain of ‘Noah’s Ninjas’, raising money for the Mito Movement in The Bloody Long Walk.

The Mito Foundation supports people affected by mitochondrial disease (mito), funding research into prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cures of mitochondrial disorders, and increases awareness and education about the devastating disease.

The 791 members of Noah’s Ninjas have raised over $236,000 for the Mito Movement. Mr Barlow is also a co-founder of Voices Podcast, in which children share stories for children in hospital or hospice to listen to, and he also helped set up the first ever junior wheelchair AFL team, currently playing for Richmond, and playing powerchair soccer for Melbourne City.

Noah said that winning the Young Citizen of the Year award was an honour.

“It felt really good to be recognised as Moorabool Young Citizen of the Year…I feel like I’m just getting started. There’s so much more we can do as a community to make things better for people with disabilities,” he told the Moorabool News.

“The inspiration came from being disabled myself, and seeing how hard it is for me and all my mates to do things people do for granted. I want to help other kids like me know they can do anything with the right support, that anything is possible. Thank you so much to everyone who’s supported me from the start, and everyone who sees me for who I am.”

The Community Event of the Year went to the Blackwood Woodchop & Easter Festival, which celebrated its 120th year in 2022, welcoming around 5000 people on Easter Saturday.

The event celebrates Blackwood’s history, and includes longstanding activities such as the gumboot throw, treasure hunt, pet show, and of course the woodchop.

The Bacchus Marsh Christmas Festival and Carols also received a Community Event of the Year award.

Glenda and Jeff Jones took out the Mayor Award, having both played a major role in promoting tourism and local food festivals in Bacchus Marsh. For over 15 years, the couple worked as volunteers for the Bacchus Marsh Tourism Association (BMTA), and have hosted garden parties and ‘meet the grower’ events on their farm.

As part of the BMTA, the Joneses contributed to organising the Bacchus Marsh Strawberry & Cherry Festival, and the Bacchus Marsh Harvest Festival.

A Certificate of Achievement was also awarded to Ophelia Fernando, who was nominated in the Young Citizen of the Year category.

The winners were formally awarded at a ceremony at the Mechanics Institute in Ballan, where 86 new Australian citizens were also welcomed, from countries including but certainly not limited to India, Pakistan, United Kingdom, United States, Philippines, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, Fiji, Singapore, the Netherlands, Vietnam, and Afghanistan.