Victoria's finalists for Australian of the Year, Senior Australian of the Year, Young Australian of the Year and Australia's Local Hero awards were announced today. They include a legendary jazz musician, a charity founder, a Paralympian, an Indigenous leader, a deaf community volunteer and a woman who saved her regional town by taking on every key role and service to keep the town ticking.
There are four finalists in each award category and recipients will be announced at the Victorian Australian of the Year Awards event on Tuesday 18 November 2008 in Melbourne. The Victorian recipients will then join recipients from all other States and Territories as finalists for the national awards. The national awards will be announced on 25 January 2009.
Ms Tam Johnston, Director of the Australian of the Year Awards, said the finalists were selected from more than 3,300 nominations received from across the nation.
"The finalists in Victoria this year reflect the diversity of our communities and also the many different types of achievements which us proud," said Ms Johnston.
"All of the finalists have made a real impact on others and their achievements and contributions are truly inspiring."
The Victorian finalists are:
VICTORIA AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR
Dr Berhan Ahmed - African-Australian community leader (Mill Park)
Paul Briggs OAM - Indigenous leader (Shepparton)
Don Henry - Environmental campaigner (Carlton)
Rachel Stanfield-Porter - Charity founder (Canterbury)
VICTORIA SENIOR AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR
Susan Alberti AO - Diabetes campaigner (Wheelers Hill)
Stephanie Alexander OAM - Chef & author (Hawthorn)
Don Burrows AO MBE - Jazz legend
Pat LaManna OAM - Entrepreneur & philanthropist (Balwyn)
VICTORIA YOUNG AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR
Kelly Cartwright - Paralympic athlete (Belmont)
Leigh Mathews - Cambodian charity founder (Fairfield)
Ellen Sandell - Environmental advocate (Flemington)
Jing Zhang - Deaf community volunteer (Heidelberg)
VICTORIA LOCAL HERO
Dr Rhonda Galbally AO - Social justice advocate (Richmond)
Father Joe Giacobbe - Charity founder (Melbourne)
Craig Schepis - Homeless awareness campaigner (Ballarat)
Beverley Wall - Town hero (Woomelang)
This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Commonwealth Bank's involvement with the Australian of the Year Awards.
For more information of the Australian of the Year Awards visit www.australianoftheyear.org.au.
Ends.
Finalist bios attached with this media release or downloadable from www.australianoftheyear.org.au
For further information or to arrange an interview please contact:
Nicole Browne, Media Opps 02 9954 7677 or 0414 673 762 or nicole@mediaopps.com.au
VICTORIA FINALISTS 2009
Australian of the Year - Victorian Finalists
Dr Berhan Ahmed
African-Australian community leader
At the age of 15, Berhan Ahmed became a Sudanese refugee. He was fortunate to be awarded a scholarship to study in Egypt and, in 1987, came to Australia as a refugee with little English. He began working as a tram conductor to learn about Australian society and practice English. From these humble beginnings he has gone on to complete his PhD in Agricultural Science and is now a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. He has been instrumental in building bridges between the African and wider Australian communities, forging relationships with politicians, community, business leaders and philanthrophic organisations. He encourages people to focus on the things that unite us as human beings, not the superficial differences. He initiated and implemented a number of projects for Melbourne's African community to raise the standard of living, educational engagement and achievement, level of employment, and integration. He has personally supported many newly-arrived refugees, and is always there to offer guidance and a helping hand through the difficult process of arriving in a new country after traumatic experience. His core philosophy is that every individual deserves a fair go and a chance to make a better life. He actively encourages young people in shaping their own futures with a confidence that comes from a sense of pride in their identity.
Paul Briggs OAM
Indigenous leader
Paul Briggs is a Yorta Yorta man from Shepparton with a wealth of experience in Aboriginal community development. He was the founding chair of the First Nations Australian Credit Union, the first Indigenous credit union offering national access to financial services, but he is also well-known as the founding president of the Rumbalara Football Netball Club. The club came about as a result of his recognition of the vital role sport plays in Indigenous communities. The club not only provides sporting, recreational and social opportunities, but also addresses the spiritual, emotional and physical well-being of its players. In 2005, Paul was the first Indigenous man to join the Council of the University of Melbourne in its 150-year history. He was also founding chair of the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and a founding member of the Koori Economic Employment and Training Agency Committee. He is a significant Aboriginal leader in Australia, working quietly, modestly and patiently towards improving the lives of his people. Melbourne University's Professor Ian Renard describes him as 'a natural leader held in high esteem not just by the Indigenous community and the Goulburn Valley but also by many other groups that have had the good fortune to work with him.'
Don Henry
Environmental campaigner
Don Henry first began campaigning for the environment as a student in the 1980s when he discovered plans to sand mine Moreton Island in the Great Barrier Reef, a favourite spot of his for fishing, bushwalking and surfing. With three other students he formed the Moreton Island Protection Society and began a public campaign that stopped the plans to sand mine. The area is now a national park and Don feels proud that he played a role in saving such a significant place. This experience was the start of a significant career in environmental protection as commissioner with the Australian Heritage Commission, and president of the Australian Committee for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. From 1989-92 he was the Australian director of the World Wide Fund for Nature. During this time he co-chaired a global forest initiative with the World Bank designed to conserve 250 million hectares of forests. In 1998, he took up the position of Executive Director of the Australian Conservation Foundation. In addition he is currently Director of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland and the editor of Wildlife Australia. Through his work he has succeeded in generating grassroots support for conservation among both rural and city people.
Rachel Stanfield-Porter
Charity founder
Rachel Stanfield-Porter lost two babies before she was able to have a healthy child. Struck by the fragility of life, and galvanised by her previous tragedies and the lack of support available, she founded the Bonnie Babes Foundation. Her mission was to help other families struggling with the emotional pain she and her husband had experienced and to reduce the number of babies that die each year. So in 1994, while pregnant again, she began the Foundation from her lounge room. She established support services and counselling, and relentlessly pursued sponsors to help fund resources for distribution to families and through hospitals. Fourteen years later the organisation has been overwhelmingly successful in reaching out to the 50,000 Australian families each year who experience the traumatic loss of a baby and providing vital equipment to hospitals to help save the lives of newborns. Rachel now manages a team of 1,000 volunteers. She has set up a free crisis line that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and has established branches throughout Australia and in New Zealand, UK and the US. With limited resources she has built one of Australia's leading authorities in the area of perinatal loss, grief counselling and pregnancy loss issues.
Senior Australian of the Year - Victorian Finalists
Susan Alberti AO
Diabetes campaigner
During her life Susan Alberti has invested a great deal of time and energy into voluntarily supporting those suffering from diabetes. She is President of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Australia, a voluntary organisation that has contributed $52.6 million to diabetes research and related initiatives. In 1992, she helped found the annual Melbourne and Sydney Walk for the Cure for diabetes research, which is now in every state of Australia and has raised more than $23 million. She has chaired the organising committee for the Juvenile Diabetes Ball in Melbourne for most of its 24 years, and raised over $4 million. In 1995, Susan joined the International Board of Chancellors Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, which administers an annual international research budget of $US200 million. She is the first and only Australian ever elected to this position and served nine years in total. She has established a number of centres, including the Diabetes Discovery Wing at Monash University to undertake epidemiological diagnosis and research, the Susan Alberti Complications Unit in Parkville, and a memorial centre for diabetes complications at the Baker Research Institute. Susan's contribution to juvenile diabetes research has been far reaching and is making a real difference in young lives affected by diabetes.
Stephanie Alexander OAM
Chef and author
Stephanie Alexander is one of Australia's most renowned and acclaimed chefs, restaurateurs and food writers. Her dedication and pursuit of promoting excellence in the hospitality and tourism industries has been well recognised. Stephanie's Restaurant was an icon on the Melbourne dining scene from 1976, pioneering techniques and ways of looking at ingredients, championing small producers before anyone else understood the importance of this, and setting new standards of service. In 1988, she established the award-winning Harvest Picnic, a public event that celebrated quality food and was a precursor to today's Farmers' Markets. Stephanie's first book was published in 1985 and since then she has produced a further 10 books on food. Her famous bestseller and kitchen bible, The Cook's Companion, has sold more than 400,000 copies, vindicating her belief that young adults have little understanding of how to cook or utilise fresh food in their daily lives. To help educate young people further, she developed a comprehensive gardening and cooking program at the Collingwood College in 2001. Following its success a foundation was set up to raise funds for the implementation of kitchen garden programs in other schools, and the state government announced a $2.4 million contribution. Stephanie is highly respected for her dedication to promoting Australian culinary resources and educating future generations.
Don Burrows AO MBE
Jazz legend
Legendary musician Don Burrows has been at the forefront of the jazz world for most of his 65 years in the business. Renowned for his musicianship and his enthusiastic support of his fellow jazz musicians, he is an internationally-respected figure who has been touring annually to great acclaim since 1960. He is a composer and arranger of great note, and one of the world's finest interpreters of the jazz tradition, playing flute, clarinet and saxophone. He has achieved many firsts in the world of music. He was the first Australian jazz artist to win a gold record, the first to play Switzerland's famed Montreaux Jazz Festival and America's Newport Jazz Festival, the first inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, and the first chairman of the NSW Conservatorium of Music. He has released close to 40 albums and partnered some of the all-time greats, including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Tony Bennett. Don has mentored many emerging jazz musicians, including the now world-famous trumpeter James Morrison. Throughout a long, varied and successful career Don's musicianship and ability to communicate his passion for music have become legendary. It is no wonder he has been twice-named a National Living Treasure.
Pat LaManna OAM
Entrepreneur and philanthropist
Having come from a poor background himself, Pat LaManna readily relates to the misfortunes of others. He battled racism and economic adversity during the years after his arrival in Australia from Italy in 1948, but he persevered and became a successful entrepreneur. He has used these skills to give back to countless charities in Australia and the Third World. He has been a member of the Lions Club for 40 years and founded the Lions Club of the Melbourne Markets in 1972 which has become the highest fund raising Lions Club in Australia. Due to his commitment, he has been elected president of the club seven times. Pat also started the Hand-to-Hand Appeal for the Bionic Hands Department at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital, raising $198,000, and the Pat LaManna Cancer and Research Stroke Foundation which has raised $1.5 million to date. He established the annual Melbourne Passion Play in 1997, an outdoor re-enactment of the story of Christ that is funded by Pat and is free to the public. These are but a few of the generous contributions Pat has made to the community, serving it with energy and devotion.
Young Australian of the Year - Victorian Finalists
Kelly Cartwright - 19
Paralympic athlete
When she was 15, Kelly Cartwright was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare type of soft tissue cancer that is chemotherapy-resistant. She had her leg amputated above the knee and began a gruelling rehabilitation process. She has now been cancer free for four years. Kelly's friends rallied around her to raise $40,000 for a carbon fibre running leg, and 18 months ago she began running. She endured many falls and weeks of frustration even just learning to walk, but she persevered. She began training five times a week and was soon running within a second of the world mark for the 100m sprint. She was then selected to go to the Beijing Paralympics and ranked fourth in the world in her class. She made history as Australia's first above-knee amputee runner at the Paralympics and finished sixth in her event. In a very short space of time Kelly has come through a huge ordeal to compete at the highest level. As her dad, Bill, says, 'Most people would have crawled into a hole. She's been amazing, a real inspiration.'
Leigh Mathews - 27
Charity founder
At just 23 years of age Leigh Mathews founded the Future Cambodia Fund, an organisation working with disadvantaged children and their families in Cambodia. After travelling the world she was struck by both the beauty of Cambodia and the tragic circumstances of its people. She made the decision to stay in Siem Reap, volunteering for charitable organisations until her money ran out and she returned to Melbourne to set up her own charity. Over the last four years she has worked seven days a week in her determination to help Cambodia's children, and in a short time has made an enormous difference. Programs delivered by the organisation include remedial education; health and dental support; and activities for children including sports, recreation, dance and drama. They also run a water, sanitation and health program to educate women, and have built a children's centre which now has 160 children in attendance. Despite devastating setbacks and enormous hurdles to overcome Leigh has never wavered in her vision and commitment. She demonstrates that when you truly believe in what you are doing you can achieve anything.
Ellen Sandell - 23
Environmental advocate
Ellen Sandell is passionate about protecting our environment. In 2007, she conceived and single-handedly created LEAP (Leadership in Environmental Action Program), an environmental conference designed to fill a gap in environmental education and leadership training for high school students. The first three-day conference attracted students from 17 schools across the state, offering workshops led by young environmental leaders, excursions to native forest, and an opportunity to plan their own environmental project. LEAP was so successful that the students used the skills they gained from the conference to start the Victorian Inter-School Environment Network that now includes over 20 high schools. Ellen is also the Environment Officer of the University of Melbourne Student Union, and was instrumental in getting the university to commit to 50 per cent greenhouse gas reduction by 2010 and becoming carbon neutral by 2030. She is currently the Victorian Schools Coordinator of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, and was one of ten Australians chosen to represent the organisation at the United Nations Climate Change Convention last year. Ellen has already done so much to protect our environment and empowers others to do the same.
Jing Zhang - 28
Deaf community volunteer
Jing Zhang was born with a bilateral profound hearing loss and at the age of eight her parents made the decision to emigrate to Australia from China so that she could have a cochlear implant. Jing has never let her hearing impairment hold her back and now works as an architect. In her spare time ,Jing volunteers to help the deaf community. She has acted as a Hyper Deaf Youth Group Leader, volunteer buddy for Deaf Children Australia, and is a member of the Victorian Deaf Tertiary Student Group Committee. In 2002, she represented the Victorian Services for Deaf Children at the DeafWay International Conference, organised by the Gallaudet University in Washington DC. She also volunteered at the twentieth Deaflympic Games, held in Melbourne in 2005. In addition, Jing helps deaf children with their studies, teaches Auslan sign language to those interested in communicating with the deaf, and meets parents of deaf children who are unsure how to cope with their child's disability. Jing is a positive role model who demonstrates that deafness should not get in the way of study, work and life. Jing wants everyone to know that deaf people can do everything 'other people can do and make contributions to our society.'
Australia's Local Hero - Victorian Finalists
Dr Rhonda Galbally AO
Richmond
Social justice advocate
Dr Rhonda Galbally has focused her life's work on making our society more equitable. Rhonda established the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation and was its CEO for a decade. Under her leadership it was the first body in the world to use a dedicated tax on tobacco for innovative health promotion, and was recognised by the World Health Organisation in 1996. As Executive Director of the Myer Foundation, Chair of Philanthropy Australia and trustee of the Reichstein Foundation for 20 years, Rhonda helped direct large amounts of funding into grass roots community organisations. She has always been a strong advocate for social justice and currently chairs a number of organisations including the Disability Advisory Council of Victoria. After 25 years in the business, philanthropic and government sectors, she used her extensive knowledge to establish Our Community. It offers an online hub of resources, training and advice for Australia's 700,000 community organisations in fundraising, grant seeking, governance, marketing and formation of partnerships with business, local, state and federal governments. She is committed to empowering community organisations by providing them with practical resources in the belief that it will allow Australia's social infrastructure to become strong, influential, vibrant and allow us to achieve our greatest potential.
Father Joe Giacobbe
Melbourne
Charity founder
Father Joe Giacobbe's involvement with inner-suburban Melbourne parishes in the 1960s and early 1970s made him acutely aware of the difficulties facing families and young people. This was particularly evident in the high rise housing estates, where many of the residents had limited financial resources and there was a lack of community support services. Father Joe, as he is affectionately known, wanted to offer these young people opportunities to improve their circumstances. And so, in 1972 he established Doxa Youth Foundation as a non-denominational organisation. Doxa works to create opportunities for disadvantaged young people by investing in education-related programs. Father Joe started with nothing and has now helped 150,000 children through a variety of programs, including two schools for at risk children; a city camp for country kids and a country camp for city kids; a tertiary cadetship program; an Indigenous football and netball club; a rural Back to School program; and an Indigenous school program. Doxa is a Greek word meaning greatness, and Father Joe chose this name for his foundation because he wanted to give young people the chance to achieve their own potential and strive for greatness.
Craig Schepis
Ballarat
Homelessness campaigner
Craig Schepis is passionate about helping the homeless, and when not running his own personal training business he is constantly trying to raise awareness of the issue through media, public speaking and documentaries. It all began one day when he decided to introduce himself to a complete stranger on the street. That man turned out to be homeless and sparked the beginning of Craig's campaign to make a difference. For his documentary One Month Before Christmas, which screened on pay TV, Craig spent a night on the streets of Ballarat to give viewers a firsthand idea of what it is like to be homeless. He has also created a community bus to provide food and support to the town's homeless. In addition Craig works for a number of other causes. He is the ambassador for SpringFest, an initiative of the Ballarat Rotary Club to raise money for a number of local charities, and for White Ribbon Day, which highlights the issue of violence against women. Craig is currently working on another documentary about domestic violence which he hopes will draw attention to the issue. He hopes that others will start to become more involved in helping those less fortunate in their communities.
Beverley Wall
Woomelang
Town hero
Woomelang has a small population of 200 and Bev Wall has committed her energy to maintaining the town's services. When the local post office was facing closure she not only bought it to ensure that postal services were maintained, but also expanded its role to meet gaps left by the closure of other postal services in the region. Within 24 hours of the local supermarket closing, Bev again expanded the post office to supply groceries. It is now the hub of the town, the focal point where everyone meets. With the pressure of the drought on the community, the local garage was the next to close. But Bev would not see the town without this essential service so she began ordering fuel and organised a roster of volunteers to man a petrol depot that she set up. She also worked to obtain a certificate to become the town's only Justice of the Peace. In addition she is a member of several committees, including the Woomelang Bush Nursing Centre, Country Women's Association, and is Secretary of the Development Association. Bev has kept her town alive. The quality of life for Woomelang's residents is much improved by her efforts.
