West Tamar recognises community excellence

Thursday, 25 January 2024

The West Tamar Council has announced its Australia Day award winners at a ceremony at the Tailrace Centre on Wednesday evening.

More than 200 guests attended the event, which also welcomed 13 conferees from the UK, Malaysia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Colombia, India and Nepal - who all took the Australia Day citizenship pledge.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of Australian citizenship, with the first ceremony taking place at Albert Hall in Canberra on February 3, 1949. Since then, about six million people from more than 200 nations across the globe have been granted Australian citizenship.

This year, West Tamar Council recognised Australia Day award nominees from across five categories. The awards recognise individuals and community groups who have made a significant contribution during the current year or have provided an outstanding service over a number of years to their local communities.

Outstanding contributions and community service includes areas such as education, health, fund-raising, charitable and voluntary services, business, sport, arts, the environment, or any other area that contributes to the advancement and well-being of the region.

The West Tamar Council 2024 award winners are:

Citizen of the Year - Jane Bovill

Jane is one of the most esteemed and celebrated figures in Tasmanian education. She is an award-winning educator with a 40-year career in education - 20 years as principal. In that time, Jane has received a multitude of awards, including the

Tasmanian Principal of the year in 2012 and the National Excellent in Teaching Award for community education in 2004. In 2005, Jane was awarded the State Government's Westfield Premier's Education Scholarship and studied in the US and Germany.

She has held range of school leadership roles in Launceston, she has volunteers as State Director and Northern President of the Australian Literacy Educators' Association and was a representative on the Principal Advisory Group and a facilitator of the Rive Principal Induction program.

In 2021, Jane was selected as an expert member of the State Government’s Literacy Advisory Panel, which aims to create a community-wide framework to achieve a literate Tasmania.

Young Citizen of the Year - Emily Britton

Emily has been a volunteer in the West Tamar community for the past eight years - joining the Glengarry Fire Brigade cadets in March 2015. Since then she has progressed to a full volunteer member, serving the Glengarry community for six years, before moving to the Gravelly Beach Brigade at the end of 2021.

In August 2020, Emily also joined the West Tamar SES, skilling up in many areas including road crash rescue, rooftop safety, general rescue operations, advanced resuscitation, traffic management and storm and water damage operations.

She has also volunteered with St Johns Ambulance for a number of years, recently progressing to a paid employee of ProMed. Aged just 24, Emily has already dedicated more time to her local communities than most and is always a friendly, caring face to many people in their time of need.

Young Sportsperson of the Year - Isabella Wing

Since Isabella joined Little Athletics just over two years ago, she has gone from strength-to-strength, breaking many records along the way.

In 2022, she qualified for the Australian Combined Event Nationals where she finished third in the under-16 heptathlon - her first national level event.

She was then selected for the Australian Little Athletics Championships, where she finished second in the same event. At the end of 2022, she competed at the National All-Schools in Adelaide and was ranked sixth nationally in the 200m and 100m hurdles and seventh in the 100m.

In April this year, she represented Tasmania at the Australian Junior Track and Field in Brisbane where she won gold in the under-17 heptathlon and silver in the 100m hurdles.

She has broken or currently holds State records for the under-16 100m, multiple school athletic records, the Northern 100m, 100m hurdles and open 60m record and is ranked third in the under-17 girls 100m nationally.

Community Event of the Year - Exeter Community Carols

The West Tamar Community Carols is a vibrant, free community event now in its fourth year. The first community carols was held in 2020 and instigated by the Tamar Valley Community Church, working in collaboration with the Exeter Show Society, Rotary Club and Rural Youth.

The event was initially called the Exeter Community Carols and was held with strict COVID restrictions, where masks were compulsory for the audience (and volunteers). Due to the great success of this inaugural event, it was decided to make the carols an annual event and the name changed to the West Tamar Community Carols to reflect the wider scope of the audience.

Since then, the even continues to grow, and so does the content, to now include several school choirs, professional singers and of course, Santa. And the best part is, it's still a free public event.

Community Group of the Year - CFLC Champions

The CFLC Champions are a group of parents that work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure families at the Beaconsfield Child and Family Learning Centre feel included, supported and welcome.

Their role is to advocate and spruik the importance that the CFLC plays in the winder community and to support the staff at the centre with events and programs.  The group meets once a month at the CFLC, where agenda items are discussed and the opportunity to share new and innovative ideas are provided.

It is through this group that adaptable skill sets are strengthened for employability purposes such as growth in self-esteem and assertiveness, dependability, chairing meeting, organisational skills, to name but a few. The group is open to any family member of a child aged 0-5 years living in the 7270, 7275 or 7276 post code areas.

Mayor’s Award - Jane Bovill

The 2024 Mayor's Award recognises Jane's incredible contribution to the West Tamar, specifically the education sector. The Council has worked with Jane over a number of years, including collaborating with her on a number of occasions on project to improve student safety in and around Riverside Primary School. At the end of 2023 school year, Jane announced she was retiring after more than 12 years at the helm of the state's largest primary school.

Mayor Christina Holmdahl said the awards recognise those in the West Tamar community who have made outstanding contributions to the region.

"Our award winners represent hard work and selflessness, often over a number of years, and reflect true Australian values," Mayor Holmdahl said.

"On behalf of the West Tamar Council and our community, I thank them most sincerely for their contributions."

Mayor Holmdahl also congratulated the 14 conferees, who could now - officially - call Australia home.

"Every citizenship ceremony is important in my opinion, but to become an Australian citizen at an Australia Day ceremony is an incredibly proud moment for each and every conferee," Mayor Holmdahl said.

“Citizenship is a life-long commitment to Australia’s shared values, including respect for the freedom and dignity of the individual, the rule of law and democracy, and equality of opportunity for all people,” Mayor Holmdahl said.

“Each year we are privileged to welcome new Australians to our growing community and look forward to sharing in their culture, and paying tribute to the diversity of experiences which we all bring”.