Women shine in W’bool Australia Day awards

The founder of the hugely successful Peter’s Project fundraising campaign, Vicki Jellie, has topped the list of Warrnambool City Council Australia Day awards for 2015 as one of six women awardees.

Vicki has been named Warrnambool’s Australia Day Citizen of the Year in recognition of her work in driving the fundraising campaign for a cancer treatment centre in south-west Victoria.

“It is really lovely to receive this recognition for my work, but this award belongs to all of the Peter’s Project board and to the community – it is really about the community,” Vicki said.

The other winners include Ann Krause, Megan Nicolson and Julie Eagles, each of whom received a Warrnambool Australia Day Local Achiever Award, together with disability advocate Lorraine De Kok, the inaugural president of the Inner Wheel Club of Warrnambool, Kaye Slater, and firefighter and mentor Wayne Rooke.

Young Citizen of the Year is Sam Maloney who was recognised for his mentoring work with young people through 3WAY community radio and Brophy Youth Services.

It is very different picture to 2014, when the council received only two nominations for women and neither were among the winners. (Teenager Olivia Niddrie was Young Citizen of the Year.)

This prompted a concerted effort within some sections of the the community to ensure that more women were among those in contention for an award in 2015.

Bluestone Magazine was among those to nominate Vicki, Ann, Megan and Julie and encouraged our readers to either do the same, or nominate a woman candidate of their choice.

We are thrilled to see such inspiring women formally recognised for their contribution to our community.

Ann Krause was recognised for her incredible work with supporting breast cancer survivors, having been diagnosed with breast cancer herself in 2007.

Ann was one of Bluestone’s Quiet Heroes and, as we have written previously, volunteers for a range of breast cancer support groups.

She is the regional community liaison officer for Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA), a group that ensures women and their families are given the very best support upon diagnosis, and is also the co-ordinator of the Warrnambool Social Breast Cancer Support Group.

Ann was also the instigator of the Warrnambool South C Dragons women’s paddling group and remains its president. This social group is soon to head to its first Tasmanian regatta.

Julie Eagles – who was another of Bluestone’s Quiet Heroes – was recognised for her contribution to the conservation and promotion of local history.

The WCC said Julie has been a “tireless campaigner for many years” toward recognising and preserving the city’s built and social heritage and assisted in critical decision making and planning processes around this heritage.

“As a key player in the Warrnambool Heritage and Planning Group, Julie has helped to protect and preserve our irreplaceable built and social heritage for the enjoyment of the community and for generations to come,” the council said in its media statement.

And, as it so happens, local achiever Megan Nicolson was our very first Quiet Hero, way back in September 2013.

As a long-term member of the F Project artists’ collective, Megan was instrumental in establishing The Artery art space in Timor St, which has not only revitalised the local arts scene, but also a key part of Warrnambool’s CBD.

Megan, an artist, has since played a pivotal – and often exhausting – role in the highly successful Fletcher Jones community picnics and arts markets, held at Pleasant Hill last September and December.

Congratulations to all the award recipients, including the Community Event of the Year, the Rotary Hole-in-One Competition.

The award winners will be officially recognised at a ceremony in the Warrnambool Botanic Gardens on Monday, January 26, from 10.30am.