New South Wales

Local Hero - Metropolitan

Michael Stringer ESM OAM
Emergency services volunteer

Michael Stringer has performed nearly 900 rescue missions over his thirty-three years volunteering with the Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol and the Marine Rescue Council. He and his crews have been responsible for more than 260 life saving rescues and another 1,800 Australians have been directly assisted in marine rescue situations. It's estimated that he has personally contributed well over 45,000 unpaid hours. He remains a tireless advocate of recognition for all emergency service volunteers. An example of the innovative way he operates was seen in the 1994 bushfires, when he converted pumps on board marine lifeboats into water borne pumping facilities to fight fires on the Pittwater foreshores. Apart from his significant contribution to Australian emergency services, Michael has also written books and articles on Australian history, agriculture, transport, and computing.

Local Hero - Regional

Len Wallace
Men's Supporter

Len Wallace's work in establishing the Men's Shed in Grenfell has put his town on the map. People come in busloads to see what Len has done for his community. Housed in a restored railway goods shed, the Men's Shed idea is based on Len's own backyard shed. Created out of the need to address the growing problem of depression among men in the community, the Men's Shed is a self-help organisation where people share their experiences in life, their stories, and their talents and skills. The Men's Shed has become the gathering place and social hub for the menfolk of the community. It's a place where the retired, semi-retired or just plain lonely get together to make toys, furniture, and handicrafts from scrap metal and wood and where friendships are made and men gain a sense of purpose, learn new skills, and, like Len, contribute to their community.

Victoria

Local Hero - Metropolitan

Shanaka Fernando
Social challenger

By establishing the "Lentil as Anything" concept, Shanaka Fernando has set a wholly successful example to society of how a commercial enterprise can be operated on a socially responsible, idealistic and altruistic basis and still be financially successful and popular with the public. Since Shanaka relinquished his personal capital in the first restaurant and turned it into a cooperative and youth training enterprise, the business has grown into four restaurants employing about eighty young people and providing space for artists and writers. This not-for-profit business celebrates compassion, individuality, and artistic expression under a philosophy that challenges and defies our consumerist society. The policy of "no set prices" where customers pay only what they can afford or what they think the meal was worth is a social experiment that encourages people to have an internal conversation with their conscience and their ethics. And on top of that, the food is terrific.

Local Hero -Regional

Dr Bernard Jenner
Paediatrician

Throughout his career, Dr Jenner has shown outstanding dedication and leadership in his role as a community paediatrician. His qualifications and experience in family therapy as well as medicine enable him to provide a holistic approach to supporting families with complex needs. Bernie's community recognises him for his outstanding achievements as the founder and president of two organisations. Gateways Support Services helps families deal with the grief of a family member having a disability. Hope Bereavement Care is a program for those who suffer the unthinkable, the death of a child. He also established a program of home dinners for young Geelong footballers displaced by the draft. Bernie has the knack of creating support networks for people facing all kinds of disadvantage and then backing away from the limelight to let others take the credit.

Queensland

Local Hero - Metropolitan

Ross Sharman
Wildlife rescuer

Ross Sharman never says no to any animal needing help, regardless of the hour and whatever the weather. The work of wildlife carers quickly wears thin by the long, unpaid hours and out of pocket expenses. But for around twenty years Ross has never flinched, always being there to collect an injured animal, nurse it back to health, and release it when it is ready. As a volunteer wildlife officer in the Caboolture district, Ross spends seven days a week rescuing, caring for, raising, and relocating wildlife back into their environment. He has an open licence to handle all types of animals, birdlife, and reptiles and is often called on by police to help animals injured on the roads. He has travelled many thousands of kilometres and spent many sleepless nights caring for his charges, great and small, because he believes that all animals have a right to share our planet.

Local Hero - Regional

Carole Caswell
Respite care founder

Since 1994, Carole Caswell has been the driving force behind Rural Lifestyle Options, an organisation she helped found to integrate people with disabilities into the Beaudesert community. RLO provides assistance through respite care and through a supported accommodation system for young people. It works with disabled people to prepare them for everyday tasks so they can assume as much independence as possible and have a quality of life they otherwise wouldn't achieve. As the inaugural and continuing president of RLO, Carole's cheery, outgoing nature, creative oratory skills, and her professional leadership have gained her the respect of all who know her. Carole's vision and drive, her consistent commitment, her tireless dedication to people with disabilities, and her leadership have been a wonderful example of her ability to move beyond personal tragedy to encourage, support, and work with other parents in establishing and growing an invaluable local community resource.

South Australia

Local Hero - Metropolitan

Pat Rix
Inclusive arts pioneer

Pat Rix founded Tutti Ensemble ten years ago to give people the opportunity to live out their dreams through music, theatre, and performing to audiences. The ensemble is a vibrant community where people from all backgrounds and abilities come together, create music, and perform with pride. With more than half of its members identifying with a disability, it has become an internationally acclaimed model of integrated arts with a truly unique voice in Australian music theatre. Under Pat's leadership, the group's strength comes not only from a shared love of singing and adventure, but also from an acceptance of difference. From small beginnings, the Tutti Ensemble has evolved into a socially and spiritually enriching arts community that brings joy to all who see and hear them perform. Through her hard work and dedication, Pat has shown how people with disabilities can be recognised as individuals capable of great achievements in their community.

Local Hero - Regional

Wendy Gambling
Sporting leader

Wendy Gambling has for many years been a tireless advocate and voice for her local Riverland sporting community, especially netball. Wendy has been an active contributor to her community in many ways over the years, but it is her lifelong dedication to the Riverland Netball Association, first as a player and later as an administrator, for which she has become best known. She has umpired all grades and was the manager of the team that won the 2004 World Masters Over 40's Championship in Brisbane. Her work behind the scenes and as a media commentator has kept netball in the forefront of female sports at a time when there are so many tempting distractions. Wendy can rightfully take much credit for there being hundreds of girls playing netball in her community every weekend. Wendy is a Life Member of both the Riverland Netball Association and Netball SA. She truly is a local hero.

Western Australia

Local Hero - Metropolitan

Yvonne Bali
Health campaigner

When Yvonne Bali found out that her rare lung disease would eventually lead to a transplant, she realised that that WA had a heart transplant unit but not one for lungs. She started a journey to raise funds for the Royal Perth Hospital in the hope that a unit would be operational by the time of her operation. Despite holding her highly successful annual Gala Dinner Auctions in 1996, when her time came she had to travel to Melbourne. But Yvonne kept on going, raising funds first for equipment for the heart transplant unit and then for WA Transplant Support Group, which covers lung transplants as well. Her leadership has brought very generous donations and sponsorship from WA business. Yvonne is founder and patron of the Heart and Lung Foundation of Western Australia and now no-one in her community needs to be away from family while waiting for their life-saving transplant.

Local Hero - Regional

James Hamersley
Town Saviour

The scenic Greenough River meanders for 250 kilometres through the countryside to meet the ocean at Cape Burney. But in 2007 it flooded, the biggest flood in living memory. As the waters rose at an alarming rate, it became clear that the town of Walkaway , twenty-five minutes out of Geraldton and five hours from Perth, was going to be totally inundated. James Hamersley took stock of the situation, immediately started up his front-end loader, and built a levee around the town. He worked around the clock, day and night, thirty-six hours non-stop, until the floodwaters subsided. The levee held and saved the community from terrible financial loss and emotional devastation or, at worst, total loss of the town and its heritage, including the 1887 railway station which is now a museum well known to railway buffs. He, with his front-end loader, is truly a local hero in every sense of the word.

Tasmania

Local Hero - Metropolitan

Allan Crawford
Residental support provider

Allan Crawford runs Dudley House in Launceston, a residential boarding house catering almost entirely for severely disabled people with a chronic psychiatric illness. Where others baulk at having such boarders, he does much more that merely provide accommodation. Allan is unfailingly kind to those under his care - he pays close attention to their overall well-being in a most unassuming way, without seeking to make a name for himself. However, his reputation has travelled far. One of his referees, for example, has told how her son found refuge and solace at Dudley House after being discharged from an institution in another state as being capable of being released into the community. He couldn't cope and was terribly exploited before he found out about Allan's safe and caring family-style environment. This story is just one of many successes that have never been publicised. Allan Crawford truly is an unsung local hero.

Local Hero - Regional

The Beaconsfield Community
Community spirit

Few communities have captured the world's attention as the mining town of Beaconsfield did last year. For two weeks, the world joined the people of Beaconsfield in their rollercoaster ride of despair, hope and, eventually, their indescribable joy as church bells rang out for the first time since the end of World War II marking the rescue of Brant Webb and Todd Russell, as well as their grief for fellow miner, Larry Knight. The folk of Beaconsfield have known since the discovery in 1877 of quartz studded with gold that mining is a hard way of life. Its people have always understood what binds them. With that great story of survival and rescue, the rest of the world has also come to understand the power of mateship, community spirit, and teamwork that drove the tremendous effort behind the miners' rescue. The world saluted the wonderful support given to the rescuers by this united community and for the graceful hospitality with which they embraced their visitors.

Australian Capital Territory

Local Hero - ACT

Beverley Orr
Foster carer

Beverley Orr cares for kids, literally. For almost thirty years she has opened her heart and her home to children in need of care, whether it's for a day or for weeks. Beverley's contribution to the welfare of children hasn't just centred on the Orr home. She was one of the co-founders of the ACT Foster Carers' Association and still holds the office of Vice-President. She has taken her work to the national level through her presidency of the Australian Foster Carers' Association. Beverley is currently on the ACT Children's Services Council and is Deputy Chair of Families Australia. All this while working full-time in Parliament House, being a Guide Leader for the past fifteen years, and being only the second woman to be awarded life membership of the YMCA Sailing Club. While she promotes the welfare and care of children throughout Australia, Beverley remains our local hero.

Northern Territory

Local Hero - Metropolitan

Frank Fotiades
Community leader

Frank Fotiades channels his boundless energy and his thirst for serving his local community through the Northern Territory arm of Kiwanis, an international club dedicated to community service. Frank is one of two remaining Foundation Charter members in the Territory and has maintained a perfect attendance record and introduced more new members than anyone else. He's the only Territorian to become District Governor of Australia for Kiwanis International. Frank has spearheaded fundraising of many thousands of dollars, mainly for children, and distributed truckloads of food for the Salvation Army at Christmas time. There have been many special projects, such as the Terrific Kids program, fighting iodine deficiency, building playgrounds and, most notably, a dairy project aimed at providing fresh, free milk daily to 5,000 kids in East Timor . Frank is one of those special people who, when they take on a job, give their life and soul to it.

Local Hero - Regional

Carmel Hattch
Paediatric nurse

Carmel has devoted her life to improving the health of babies, children, women, and families in remote and urban communities in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, and South Australia. Based in Alice Springs, she gives tirelessly, both personally and in her professional nursing role, and is widely respected across the Territory and interstate for her knowledge, skills, and dedication. Her coordinating non-acute paediatric care in Central Australia has been remarkable enough, but perhaps her greatest contribution has been her extraordinary ability to communicate, particularly with young Indigenous mothers, and her encyclopaedic knowledge of her vast local community. Carmel 's interest in Indigenous children doesn't stop when she goes home. She has fostered a boy with a complex medical history who was unable to be cared for by his family in the bush and she often provides emergency foster care for kids who need a home, food, and love in times of crisis.